By Fr Eka Tanaya SJ
Imaginative contemplation is a way to pray that Saint Ignatius developed for an encounter with God at a personal level. One time, I was imaginatively praying and spending time with Jesus in a village where the land was really dry. The people living there were without water and they were suffering.Witnessing this reality, I asked the Lord, “What can we do?”.He looked at me with much commanding love and said, “Why don’t you build them a well?”

This particular prayer took place more than 15 years ago, during my silent retreat, and yet I can still vividly remember the experience and how I felt during and after the prayer. I was brought to tears, not of guilt or shame, but of joy and a sense of mission and purpose. It was one of the pivotal moments that moved me to follow and accompany Jesus along the way. Later on, after years of theology studies, I learnt a few more things about Jesus. However, what I learnt about him from books does not reach the same depth of intimate feeling of him that I experienced in prayer.
In Spanish, two verbs can describe the experience of knowing. Saber is to cognitively know things with the mind, like facts, skills, techniques or analysis; whereas sentir is to know something by affective means through a personal encounter – by our feeling, with our heart. In the Spiritual Exercises (Annotation #2), Ignatius believed that it is “not much knowing, but the inner feeling and relish of things that fills and satisfies the soul.” This does not mean that saber is discarded, but the deeper personal encounter with God is privileged.

This is what we hope for our students. For example, the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP) used for learning and formation at our school intends to engage both saber and sentir. Yes, the students experience many concrete activities and tasks to engage their minds and senses, from maths to outdoor education, or from playing chess to playing netball or rugby. More importantly, however, they are given the opportunities and the encouragement to reflect on their life experiences. School programmes like the daily Examen before lunch, Masses and other liturgies, and Friday journaling times allow students to sift through what happens in the “ordinaries” of life. They pause and reflect to pay attention to the movement of their souls and to realise that God is indeed in all things.

These realisations of their day-to-day encounter with God will hopefully propel them into action. Carlo Acutis, who was canonised by Pope Leo XIV this month, learnt a lot about Jesus, but he fell deeply in love with Jesus through the Eucharist and the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Then, he put his love for Jesus to action by evangelising the millennial way – through the internet. Carlo Acutis “built a well” for the younger generation; and its “water” became a gift to the world. Yet, he would humbly say, “Not me, but God.” The spark of divine love ignited in him the love that manifested in deeds.

As a school community, we too have begun to see potential: the morning drop-bys to the Chapel to say “hello” to Jesus, the eager participation in collecting soft toys for children in foster care, the meaningful reflections shared by students at various occasions, the large number of students who offer to serve at the school events and student bodies. Our students have gone more deeply than knowing things with only the mind. They have begun to recognise the love they receive; and respond to it by putting their learnt knowledge of love into action. As they grow more intimate in their relationship with the divine, we may hope they will hear and respond to a similar loving command from Jesus, “Why don’t you build them a well?”

For this, we continue to encourage them; and pray for them.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola … Pray for us.
Saint Carlo Acutis … Pray for us.

Fr Eka Tanaya SJ is Sacramental Chaplain, St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College, Auckland.

This article was published on the website of the Australian Jesuits.