Ignatian Forms of Prayer

There are many ways to pray.

Ignatian spirituality is first and foremost a means to help you develop a deeper friendship with Jesus, so there is no “correct” way to pray.

With that said, there are a few methods of prayer that are central to the Ignatian way of proceeding.

The Examen

Ignatian Contemplation

The Colloquy

This is often how I picture praying the Examen. Jesus is sitting down next to me, and together we are picking up the pieces of the past twenty-four hours of my life and examining them.

- Becky Eldredge, Busy Lives and Restless Souls

The Examen

The Ignatian Examen is a prayer of reflection. There are no specific words, only guidelines for you as you review your day — your actions, thoughts, emotions, desires — with God.

The Examen appears right at the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises, because it is so fundamental to the Ignatian way of proceeding.

Here is the Examen as it appears in The Spiritual Exercises:

Become aware of God’s presence.
Review the day with gratitude.
Pay attention to your emotions.
Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
Look toward tomorrow.

Learn to pray the Examen.

Never have I heard contemplation more excitingly described: a long loving look at the real."

- Walter J. Burghardt, SJ, “Contemplation: A Long Loving Look at the Real” (from “An Ignatian Spirituality Reader”)

Ignatian Contemplation
(Imaginative Prayer)

“Ignatian contemplation is a method of prayer that involves using our imagination to bring scripture to life.”

- Tucker Redding, SJ, “Jesuit 101: Ignatian Contemplation, Encountering God Through Our Imagination”

Imagine yourself in a Gospel story. Pick a character to be, or one to follow. Use your senses to form a full and intimate picture of the scene in your mind. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your prayer. Imaginative prayer is not an attempt to discover “what really happened.” It is an effort to enter more deeply into Scripture and to get to know Jesus more intimately.