Ways to use the Prayer Guide
Our monthly Prayer Guide can be used in various ways. For we all have to “pray as we can, not as we can’t”.
First a little time has to be set aside to read the material set for the day. This may involve learning about something new. A link is usually offered to take you to some further information. To read mindfully it might be helpful to start by consciously settling yourself, mind, body and spirit. Relax and take a deep breath, hold for a moment and then breathe out slowly. Let yourself be in the moment. Then read slowly and reflectively.
The reading itself can be prayerful. You might follow the four steps in the traditional Christian practice of lectio divina (divine reading): reading the passage (getting its meaning) – meditating (chewing it over) – praying (listening to how the Spirit then moves within us, or simply as a dialogue with the Lord) – contemplation (resting quietly to where that takes you).
Another way to pray the Prayer Guide is to visualise the situation to which the material for that day refers. Ignatian spirituality suggests two ways in which the imagination can be used to foster a deeper relationship with God. The first is to imagine the situation from the perspective of God’s unconditional compassion. The second is to visualise oneself within the situation, so to open up to its implications – and to see what that might suggest for our Way of Life.
Alternatively, and most simply, you could just read the passage for the day and include that in your time of intercession.
Andrew Norman (Green Christian Chaplain)