The three ways to pray wey this chapter don explain show you one practical way wey Saint Ignatius teach, wey you fit use every day.
First Way
The first way to pray dey teach you how to use three main questions take reflect on the teachings about sin, the powers of your soul and your body senses. Na these three questions you go think about:
- Wetin be God will about…?
- How I dey do for this matter?
- How I fit do better?
Ignatius start by pointing to the Seven Capital Sins and the Ten Commandments. Even though you don already sabi these ways to examine your conscience well, try commit yourself to continue to use them according to this way wey Ignatius teach. One interesting thing be say Saint Ignatius just take am say you dey regularly fall into these Capital Sins or break these Commandments—hopefully no be for serious way, but at least because you never perfect. So, the aim no be to dey always feel guilty; instead, na to dey continue to “maintain” your spiritual life, as person fit talk am. So if you fit simply accept say you go regularly need to look again at each Capital Sin and each Commandment, you go get plenty things to contemplate every day. You fit commit yourself to one way wey go take you slowly through each Commandment within one month. If you consider one item every day as you dey examine your conscience, you go avoid falling too deep into one sin or another.
For example, think about the First Commandment: “Na Me be the Lord your God; make you no get strange gods before Me.” When the day end, ask yourself, “Wetin God want from me for this Commandment? How He want make each of us keep Him as the God above all Gods?” Then look at yourself and ask, “How I dey do for this matter? I dey keep God as the only God for my life? Which other Gods I get?” Finally, end by thinking about this: “How I fit do better for this matter tomorrow? Wetin I fit do for practical terms?” If you faithfully make this simple way part of your daily prayer life, e go help keep you for the straight path.
You suppose also dey ask these three questions regularly about the three powers of your soul:
- Power to reason and understand
- Power to remember
- Power to choose
Take one every day, or even just one every week, and ask yourself how God want make you use each of these powers for His glory, how well you dey do am, and how you fit do better.
Lastly, think about the same three questions concerning the five senses. How the way I dey see, make sound, smell, hear and touch dey give God the greatest glory, how I dey do, and how I fit do better tomorrow?
Before you think about any one of these things, pray make you understand that area better, do the meditation, then end with prayer for grace, like “Our Papa” or “Hail Mary.”
The Second Way
The second way to pray simple well-well, but for many people, e go first need plenty practice. First, Ignatius invite you to sit down or kneel down, whichever one help you pray better. Second, he talk say you fit use this way for one full hour (and, in fact, na wetin you “suppose” do). Third, he instruct say this prayer suppose start like every other prayer: pause and gather yourself together for spirit so that you go ready well to begin. In other words, no just start to pray; instead, prepare for prayer, pray for your prayer, and wait until your spirit don ready to pray.
The prayer wey you go focus on fit be “Our Papa,” “Hail Mary,” “Apostles’ Creed,” or any other prayer wey dem compose well and wey fit help meditation. For the prayer to “help meditation,” e suppose clear say na God inspire am and say e don stand the test of time.
As we don talk, once you don ready, the way simple. Start the prayer and go slowly well-well. You fit first pray am slowly once or twice. But after that, take one word at a time. For example, if you use the “Our Papa” prayer, you fit start with the word “Our.” Pray that word and stop. Think deep about am. Look am from every side. Enter deep into wetin e mean.
Through “Our,” you fit see how you join with other people as one. You go see say God na Papa for everybody. You go face the truth say God dey relate with us personally, because He no be just “the” Papa, but “our” Papa. He na “my” Papa, and so on.
Spend as much time as you fit on each word, as long as the meditation dey bear fruit and nourish your spirit. If one word enough for the whole hour, stay with that one word. At first, this fit hard for you. But as you enter into this way to pray, you go discover the plenty fruit wey e dey bear and the depth of mystery inside each prayer, and every time wey you pray that prayer again, e go change you even more.
The Third Way
Dis third and last way resemble di second way because di prayer wey you dey focus on na “Awa Fada,” “Wi Greet You, Mary,” “Credo” or another prayer wey resemble dem. But dis time, di aim na to join body and spirit together as you dey pray according to how you dey breathe. But di main thing for dis Christian way of praying for mind na to keep your attention on wetin di prayer dey talk. You no dey meditate di way people for other religions for di world dey do am. Instead, you dey meditate as you focus on di prayer. But for dis way, di prayer join with your body because you dey pray according to how you dey breathe. So as you breathe in and out, you go talk “Awa.” For di next breath, you go talk “Fada.” And for di next one, “Wey.” You go continue like dis with “Awa Fada” or any prayer wey you don choose.
Even though dis way of praying fit no suit everybody, na still one of di greatest saints for di history of our Church teach am. So try am and look forward to di good fruit wey dis way of praying fit bear.
Conclusion
Dis na di end of dis general look at di ways of praying and di prayers of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, as e teach dem for im great spiritual book Di Spiritual Exercises. Plenty things dey inside dis book, so no treat di meditations and lessons as something wey you go read only once. If you don find say dis lessons and meditations don bear good fruit for your spiritual life and your relationship with God, then continue to dey think deeply about dis teachings and prayers. You fit look for another book about Saint Ignatius or go back to di parts of dis book wey help you pass.
Some people dey find di ways of praying wey Saint Ignatius teach hard and complicated. Even if na so, e no mean say dem no dey bear good fruit. Di aim na to consider di good fruit wey di time wey you spend on dis book don bear, and use dis lessons according to wetin you find.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us!