Considerations, the Second Part of Meditation


5: “Considerations, the Second Part of Meditation”

Flannery O'Connor's Andalusia Farms. Perhaps, like O'Connor, we should all find a place where we can let our imagination explore the presence of Jesus. More importantly, we should take the time to really reflect on how His presence transforms us. (photo. P. Smith) 

                De Sales is careful to remind us that it is not enough to just imagine these scenes from Scripture; we need to use our intellect to examine how we are responding to what we have imagined. That is, we cannot just go outside and imagine we are on a mountain with Jesus; we should take the time to reflect on how that imaginative experience affected our minds, our bodies, and our emotions.  There always needs to be a period of reflection following meditation where our intellect applies vocabulary to our experience. Otherwise, that form of prayer can be empty and lack a lasting effect. As teachers, we should do this reflection alongside our students; the imagination may never change throughout our life, but the way we reflect and the effect of the prayer almost always does deepen .

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