More on Ignatian Meditation:
More on Ignatian Meditation: Saint Ignatius of Loyola was a Roman Catholic who founded the order of the Jesuits. Donne had been partly educated by the Jesuits, and so would have had some instruction in the method of meditation that Ignatius asked of all his followers.
Even when Donne became an Anglican, he saw nothing wrong with keeping to this form of mediation. A number of other Anglicans used it, too, in the absence of any specific form of Anglican meditation.
The basic feature of this method is to use the imagination to link the mind and the will with the emotions. This is done through imagining an event in the Bible, such as some part of Christ's life, in an intensely focused way. The participant imagines themselves to be present at a scene, such as the crucifixion of Christ as described in the Gospel accounts in the New Testament. Then they pray that God will enable them to enter into the event, creating the emotions and thoughts which they would have experienced if present at the time. This intense visualisation is intended to lead to a sense of God's presence and to worship and repentance. Beginners were recommended to start with ‘The Last Things', as they were known, which means the Second Coming of Christ, the Last Judgement, hell and heaven. Alternatively, they could begin the Life and Passion (Sufferings) of Christ.
Nearly all of Donne's religious poetry has to some extent or another a structure and focus of this kind.
In the New Testament the term is used of all Christians but gradually came to describe an especially holy person.
1. St Ignatius (c. 35-C.107). Bishop of Antioch, author of several letters to the early Christian Church and martyr. 2. St Ignatius Loyola (1491/5-1556), founder of the Jesuits.
Member of a worldwide Christian church which traces its origins from St. Peter, one of Jesus' original disciples. It has a continuous history from earliest Christianity.
An order within the Roman Catholic church, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola, and known as the Society of Jesus. They are an active order, serving as priests, missionaries, and teachers.
Christian devotional practice in which a verse of the Bible or some aspect of the Christian life is held in prayerful and focused thought, until some deeper aspect of its reality manifests itself.
The Anglican church is the 'Established' or state church of England, the result of a break with the Catholic church under Henry VIII and further developments in the reign of Elizabeth I.
The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament scriptures inherited from Judaism, together with the New Testament, drawn from writings produced from c.40-125CE, which describe the life of Jesus and the establishment of the Christian church.
Title (eventually used as name) given to Jesus, refering to an anointed person set apart for a special task such as a king.
Execution by nailing or binding a person to a cross.
Gospel - Literally 'good news' - used of the message preached by Jesus recorded in the New Testament.
1. The central message of the Christian faith
2. Title given to the four New Testament books which describe the life of Jesus Christ
A 'testament' is a covenant (binding agreement), a term used in the Bible of God's relationship with his people. The New Testament is the second part of the Christian Bible. Its name comes from the new covenant or relationship with God.
The Bible describes God as the unique supreme being, creator and ruler of the universe.
1. Doing homage and giving honour and respect, especially to God. Acts of devotion. Human response to the perceived presence of the divine.
2. The part of the Christian liturgy usually consisting of sung material and prayers of thanksgiving.
The act of turning away, or turning around from, one's sins, which includes feeling genuinely sorry for them, asking for the forgiveness of God and being willing to live in a different way in the future.
In Christian theology the doctrine that Jesus Christ will return to the earth for a second time, but this time for the purposes of judgement and the bringing in of a new world.
The final judgement on humankind when all will have to give account of their lives to Christ as Judge.
Jesus describes hell as the place where Satan and his demons reside and the realm where unrepentant souls will go after the Last Judgement.
In many religions, the place where God dwells, and to which believers aspire after their death. Sometimes known as Paradise.
The physical and psychological suffering endured by Jesus during the vigil in the Garden of Gethsemane, arrest, trial, scourging and crucifixion.
1. Devout, involved in religious practice
2. Member of a religious order, a monk or nun.
