May 11, 2020
Consuming news can be like eating your least favorite vegetable. It might be something you need, but it’s probably something you’d rather push aside. Since COVID-19 took over the headlines, some have recommended limiting your news intake for the sake of self-care. But Sister Elizabeth Liebert has another idea – letting the news into your prayer life.
Sister Elizabeth adapted the following prayer practice from “Noisy Contemplation” by William Callahan in The Wind is Rising: Prayer Ways for Active People (Quixote Center, 1973) and Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola (#121).
Praying on Society
In this prayer, based on Ignatius of Loyola’s “Application of the Senses,” you will use your senses to be present to another land or culture or situation.
- Choose another land, culture or situation, perhaps one in the news at the present time. Read contemplatively about this land, culture or situation, seeking to “know” the situation more deeply in your heart. Imagine the persons behind the story…
- See in your imagination and ponder in detail the circumstances in which they are…
- Hear what they are saying, or what they might say…
- Feel what they are experiencing…
- Smell the smells of the place…
- Taste the experience faced by some of your sisters and brothers in that land, culture or situation…
- Be present to them and see if your own empathy can give you a feel for their lives…
- Speak to God about what stirs within you…