I remember being loved

Spiritual Exercise 1

 

Preparation
I take a relaxed position with a straight back, my body poised for prayer.
I make a gesture of reverence and humility.
I read the prayer text about passionate love.

Opening Prayer
I ask for the grace to direct my whole self toward God.

Desire
I desire to feel the love in my life.

Prayer
Using my imagination, I remember an experience of being really loved.

I go back in time to recreate this experience as best I can with the details of place, weather, conversation, actions, and people. I relive the experience with all my senses—I touch, smell, hear, and feel being so loved.

I remain in this place for a few minutes.

Now, eyes still closed, I come back into the room where I am now. I remember the details of place here. How do I feel? I remain here for a few minutes.

I return again to the place where I was loved, I relive being loved. Do I feel any different than the first time I came here? I remain for a few minutes,

I come back into the room where I am now. How do I feel? Different? Now I move back and forth between both places, spending a minute or so in each.

I note any change of feelings. I do this for five minutes.

Conversation
I end my prayer in a short conversation with God, talking as to a friend, about what I have just experienced. Our Father.

Prayer Text

 

Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm;

for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave.

Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.

Many waters cannot quench love,

neither can floods drown it.

If one offered for love

all the wealth of his house,

it would be utterly scorned.

(Sg 8:6–7)

 


Time: 25 Minutes
Preparation: 5 minutes. Opening Prayer: 1 minute. Desire: 1 minute. Prayer: 15 minutes. Conversation: 3 minutes. Listening Book: 10 minutes.


 

 

Interested in tasting Inner Peace in Divine Love, the retreat of this exercise? Source the First Spiritual Exercises here.
Alternatively, check to see if the whole retreat is offered this month under the Spiritual Exercises menu.

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