The grace we are asking of God: to discover Jesus in my own personal story so that my personal myth may be transformed in Jesus, as was that of Ignatius, that I will be disposed to hear God’s call and follow it wholeheartedly

Horizons of the Heart is inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius and my own notes from my thirty-day Ignatian retreat in 2022. See an index for the whole series.

Begin by relaxing your body, your mind, letting go of anxieties and ambitions and expectations and plans… Lay all that you notice and all that you are bare and exposed before the Father who welcomes you with a gaze that is gently loving. Settle into the silence that runs deeper than emotional turbulence… Move beyond imagination where you wait upon the stirring of the soul and the movement of the heart. Return to Jesus to find the Rest he offers…to welcome the gift…to become a child held in safe arms….

Entering into the Mystery

Ask Jesus that every aspect of this prayer will please him and will give glory to God.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1).

Slowly read the passage for your meditation once. Leave some moments of silence and then read it again with the intention of entering into the story, of observing the details of what is happening. Take some time to set the stage and enter with your senses into the environment in which the story takes place.

Here in the desert Jesus was seen by no one. He wasn’t planning what he would do when he left the desert to begin his mystery. He wasn’t imagining what it would be like to be an itinerant preacher. He wasn’t thinking about the people he might ask to join him. He wasn’t strategizing. He wasn’t identified with work and ministry and role…

In the desert one learns that we are completely dependent on God. Walk with Jesus, wander around, hungry, tired…. Help him prepare a place to sleep for the night. Watch as he prays to his Father….

Sinking still deeper into the mystery of Christ, allow your heart to taste, to smell, to touch the infinite gentleness and sweetness of Jesus.

As you do this your mind’s activity will fade into the background, and the mystery you are intuitively contemplating will begin to take over and engulf you, planting within your spirit an inner knowledge of the Lord…. Take as much time with this as you are able….

You will at some point begin to intuitively sense the difference between the way Jesus spontaneously feels, speaks, and acts in the desert and the way you yourself feel, speak, and act in similar situations in your own life.

Where have been the deserts in your life? What have these treks through the wilderness been like for you?

Notice how Jesus abandons himself into his Father’s hands, as a child held in safe and loving arms… Taste the sweetness and the trust in this relationship between the Father and Jesus…

Another desert experience is recounted in Deuteronomy 8:2-4. God says he led the Israelites into the desert “to humble and test you… to know what is in your heart… to see if you will keep my commands…. I caused you to hunger and then fed you with manna to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” God tested the people to demonstrate to them that they were absolutely dependent upon him for their survival…. that they would see that God is their God, not just the God of their ancestors.

We cannot become holy by sheer effort, nor can we do good things for God solely by applying ourselves to the task…

What would it be like to rely upon God to give direction and meaning to your life?

We are, in truth, radically unable to determine what we will become. What could a life of radical dependence on God look like for you today?

Entering into the mystery of what we contemplate, we humbly allow Jesus to be our Master, to educate our senses and feelings according to the pattern of his own life and teachings. It is a matter of becoming saturated with Jesus’ own way of being and feeling. It is learning how to resonate with everything Jesus resonates with, as we gain this felt understanding through our contemplation, and of rejecting whatever Jesus rejects….

Allow your spirit to soak up what has been felt and known in this contemplative prayer.

Colloquy

Allow an image or object that encapsulates all these experiences to form in your mind. Take some time to speak with God about the meaning or significance of this object.

Ask Jesus to show you one specific gift he wishes to give you. Receive it and remain in stillness and quietly relaxed presence under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Reviewing the Graces of Prayer

When you finish praying, write down the main gifts and discoveries from this time of intimate contemplation. What is one concrete thing you can do to solidify these gifts in your life.

Image: Moretto da Brescia, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons