Cardinal ‘Ambo’ David on hearing God’s voice in the Bible

In our conversation on “The Spiritual Life” podcast this week, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio “Ambo” David of the Philippines reflects on how he uses Scripture in his life of prayer. His reflections are even more interesting because he is a biblical scholar who uses Ignatian contemplation, a practice that encourages us to use not just our intellect but also our imagination in prayer.

The two approaches—biblical scholarship, which asks what we can know about the Bible, and Ignatian contemplation, which asks us what God might reveal to us about the Bible (and ourselves) through our imagination—may seem at odds. But as Cardinal Ambo reminds us, the two can work hand in hand. The more scholarly, factual and historical information we know about a passage, the better we can understand it and the better we can, as spiritual directors say, “enter into” it.

For me, this means not only studying the Bible in classroom settings (which not everyone can do, and here is where Bible commentaries are essential and helpful), but also allowing what you learn to aid in your imaginative prayer. To take a simple example, knowing something about what a first-century Galilean fishing vessel looks like (go online and check out the “Jesus Boat” at the Yigal Allon Museum along the Sea of Galilee) can help you to picture these events in your mind. 

In Ignatian contemplation, we try to allow God to work through all our senses by imagining ourselves within a particular scene. Let’s say we are praying with the appearance of the risen Christ to Mary Magdalene, as recorded in John’s Gospel. We might enter prayer and ask ourselves: What do we see? (What does the garden look like? Does the risen Christ really look like a “gardener”?) What do we smell? (If we’re in a garden, do we smell flowers?) What do we hear? (Since it’s early morning, are birds starting to wake?) What do we feel? (Is it cold? Hot?) And even, what do we taste? (In this passage, that question is less important but at the Wedding Feast of Cana or the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, it is very important.)

Then we see what kinds of insights, desires, memories, emotions, feelings or even words and phrases that God seems to be raising up in us. The key is trusting that this is one way—through our imaginations—that God can communicate with us.

But this doesn’t mean that we simply ignore good biblical scholarship. As Cardinal Ambo reminds us, you can pray as a knowledgeable and thoughtful person. In fact, some knowledge of biblical criticism can help ground our prayer and not let it “spin off” in too many fanciful recreations of a biblical scene. So use your heart, by all means—and your head, too.

You don’t need to be a biblical scholar to pray using Ignatian contemplation. But neither should you be ignorant of that scholarship if you want to enrich your spiritual life.