Fr. Eric's Lenten Examen Prayer

• As you begin your prayer, remember that you are in God's holy presence.
  • In the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius asks us to meditate on the image of God laboring in our world. Remember that at this moment and throughout your past day, God has been laboring with you.
  • Pray for the trust to follow the gentle guidance of the spirit as you pray through this examen.
• Acknowledging that God is laboring in our world, renewing and healing, take a moment and find one or two things for which you can be grateful. Small or large, fleeting or continuing, it does not matter what they are, but the simple practice of giving thanks helps us to enter into the examen with the mindset of God, who can work with all things to bring about new life. As you find something to be grateful for, say thank you to God in your mind's eye. Rest for a moment in that action of gratitude.

• Trusting the guidance of the Holy Spirit, begin to review your day/week/month. You can imagine yourself in a one-to-one conversation with God or Jesus. You might imagine a highlight reel or a photo collage. Use whatever images and sounds you need to gently and prayerfully pass back through your day/week/month. Allow holy curiosity to fill you and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what God wills for you to notice in this prayer
  • These past days/weeks/months, when did you feel encouraged, uplifted, or hopeful?
  • What people, places, and moments left you feeling hopeful and energized?
  • Pay special attention to times of change and shift. Moments of new experiences Did any of these leave you feeling more connected to God, to faith, to hope or to love?
  • Pause to acknowledge and give thanks to God for these moments.
• Now move, with the Holy Spirit's help, to review your experience during the pandemic in these past days/weeks or months for the moments of desolation, places where you are still in need of healing and renewal.
  
  • What needs healing? Take a few moments to look back.
    
  • These past days/weeks/months, when did you feel discouraged or lost? Are there moments or times when you felt isolated or alone?
    
  • Did any of these moments lead to a decrease in your faith, hope, or love?
    
  • Pay special attention to times of change and shift. Moments of new experiences
    
  • Did any of these lead you to leave your feeling separated from God, from faith, hope, or love?
    
  • Pause for a moment and ask for forgiveness if you bear responsibility for these moments. Mourn together with God, and grieve the loss of these times.
• Now pause and consider this passage from the book of Revelation.
  • "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away…I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, God's dwelling is with the human race. God will dwell with them, and they will be God's people* and God will always be with them. God will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, [for] the old order has passed away." The one who sat on the throne* said, "Behold, I make all things new." And the one on the throne said, "Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true." Rev 21: 1,3-5
  • "Behold, I make all things new." Are you waiting for things to shift, are you waiting to be able to make plans? Where do you want to go, who do you want to be with? Are you experiencing new opportunities to be with loved ones?
  • Ask God to continue to labor with you as you prepare to step into this new world, this new opportunity, this new experience.

Go back to Examen Prayer page