The Preludes

These are three and remain the same for all the contemplations of the Second Week.

First Prelude - History in Ignatius' sense refers primarily to God being moved by man's sad plight, deciding to save him, and giving substance to this decision in the Incarnation of His Son and in all the events following after. It is not a question of recalling facts and events but to have for its object the "why" and "how."  If we were not contemplating, this first prelude could become a history study. Instead we see God's Hand working.

The HISTORY then, all throughout the life of Christ, is the Trinity's plan, which is acted out in the time and place through the events of Jesus' life.

Second Prelude - "Composition of place" in this sense means a composition of oneself. I compose myself, I make myself one with the mystery I am contemplating, with the actual shape or pattern that God's decision to send His Son into this world has assumed. This is the world of temporal and spatial reality.

Third Prelude - The same throughout the Second Week: To ask for the grace of an intimate knowledge of the Lord who was made man for me that I may love Him more and follow Him freely and unselfishly.