Catholic Spiritual Living Journal

The Catholic Catechism states that "meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ." Sec. 2708 (emphasis added). "Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking... We are usually helped by books [especially scripture]." Sec. 2705. "To meditate on what we read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with ourselves." Sec. 2706. Catechism of the Catholic Church.

In these meditations, Cardinal Newman suggests how to enrich your soul with scripture and prayer. "Don't forget that it was St. Ignatius of Loyola who strongly promoted the use of imagination in meditation. His work, the Spiritual Exercises, is a monumental classic of the Catholic Tradition. In it he shows how fantasy will enhance our understanding and appreciation of Scripture, and how we can talk to Christ using the imagination.

When we read something, a story or a novel, we create a picture of it in our minds. St. Ignatius simply builds on this natural tendency. Thus, in the material for the second week of the Spiritual Exercises he says, " The first Prelude is a composition, seeing the place: ...here [we] see with the sight of the imagination, the synagogues,[5] villages and towns through which Christ our Lord preached."