Approaches to Prayer - Meditating With Pictures

USE OF THE VISUAL

Ideas to Try:

With pencil and paper

Contrasting images

Meditating
with pictures

Meditation
on the word ‘spring'

Meditating
with an icon

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Meditating With Pictures

river scene This is an exercise which leads from the meditative approach to prayer towards the contemplative (see a description of the difference under ‘Meditation and Contemplation’ in the Contents list).

EXERCISE

Gather together a collection of postcards, photographs or pictures from newspapers and magazines, preferably in colour and depicting a wide variety of subjects, not necessarily religious. Images may be selected to follow themes (e.g. the Passion) or be a random collection of evocative pictures.

Look carefully at one image and imagine or guessing what it represents. Note your feelings towards of the image of like, dislike, curiosity, etc. Then try to make some link with the card in a personal way. Perhaps it can be related to our prayer life. Think, ponder, muse, and meditate.

After a time stop the thinking process and simply look at the picture. Close your eyes if that is helpful and just be ‘present to your picture’ with all that it has come to mean to you.

CONTENTS

Meditating With Pictures

EXERCISE