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It is very common to be distracted during prayer, especially if we lead a very busy life and are worried about many things.
Sometimes we may walk away from prayer not sure if we even prayed, since we spent most of the time thinking about other things or people in our lives.
Many of the saints struggled in the same way and can relate to being distracted during prayer. There are many different strategies to combat distractions, but one that St. Francis de Sales offers is a more positive one.
He believed that one way to combat distractions was to engage the imagination during prayer.
Imaginative prayer
St. Francis de Sales explains his thoughts in his Introduction to the Devout Life by giving a few examples:
It is simply kindling a vivid picture of the mystery to be meditated within your imagination, even as though you were actually beholding it. For instance, if you wish to meditate upon our Lord on His Cross, you will place yourself in imagination on Mount Calvary, as though you saw and heard all that occurred there during the Passion; or you can imagine to yourself all that the Evangelists describe as taking place where you are.
This type of prayer can be a great way to enter into the Bible and is frequently used with Lectio Divina.
St. Francis de sales goes one step further to broaden the definition of imaginative prayer, even suggesting that we can imagine other spiritual topics:
In the same way, when you meditate upon death, bring the circumstances that will attend your own vividly to mind, and so of hell, or any subjects which involve visible, tangible circumstances.
He then affirms that using imaginative prayer can be a way to combat distractions:
[O]ften this use of the imagination tends to concentrate the mind on the mystery we wish to meditate, and to prevent our thoughts from wandering hither and thither, just as when you shut a bird within a cage, or fasten a hawk by its lures.
If you find yourself frequently distracted during prayer, try imagining a scene from the Bible and invite the Holy Spirit to guide you in your meditation.
And today we celebrate...