How does it help?
Imaginative contemplation is a way of praying that engages your full person: your imagination, your senses, and your heart. St Ignatius believes that this is essential for bringing about interior transformation, by going beyond the intellect, moving from the head to the heart, and meeting Jesus there.

In imagining Jesus and contemplating how He acts in the Gospels, you will also be challenged. The first step is to come to know Jesus Christ, the second is to love Him more, the third is to follow Him and imitate His example of radical love, living it out in your own life.

How does it work?
Choose a text from the Bible (suggestions below)
Read the description a few times before trying the prayer.
Imagine the place
The first step in an Imaginative Contemplation exercise is setting the scene. So, what is the location? What does it look like? What details do you see? Getting into the details here will help. For example, here is how St Ignatius writes about beginning a contemplation on the Nativity:

‘Composition, seeing the place. Here it will be to see with the eyes of the imagination the road from Nazareth to Bethlehem, considering the length and breadth of it, whether it is a flat road or goes through valleys or over hills; and similarly to look at the place or grotto of the Nativity, to see how big or small it was, how low or high, and what was in it.’ St Ignatius, Spiritual Exercises

Engage all your senses
Imaginative contemplation goes beyond just what you can see, it requires you to engage all of your senses. In doing this, you can fully immerse yourself into the story; this means exploring what you smell, hear, taste and touch. Once you have filled out your sensory experience of the place, you can move into the ‘action’ of the scene, having finished ‘composing the place’ fully.

Let the scene play out

This is to let the story unfold and to allow yourself to be drawn into what has captured your imagination. Sometimes people are not drawn to the main action of the story but towards other things. When this happens, it is best not to judge that but to allow yourself to follow what you are naturally being drawn to.

It is important to understand that, at this stage, you are not just watching the scene play out as though it is a scene from a movie and you are a viewer. Instead, see yourself as a character inside the story.

Open your heart to Jesus

Conclude with a conversation in your imagination between Jesus and yourself, as one friend speaks with another. Express what is in your mind and heart and let Jesus express His responses too.
Reflect on your experience
After the contemplation has finished, it is very important to take some time to reflect on what you noticed. Look back at your prayer and honestly ask yourself:

- What did I find myself thinking and feeling? What moved me?
- What struck me (especially the unusual or unexpected) and why did I react the way I did?
- Did anything in the contemplation change the way I see God, myself, or others?
- How did Jesus’ words or actions in the contemplation make me feel?
Write your answers in your journal and reflect on them through the week

The result of this reflection should be an insight into ourselves, our relationship with God, and our relationships with others.
Taken from: Jesuits in Britain