Jane's Lenten Examen Prayer
Last year as Lent began I composed a reflection on what I find to be the essential invitation of the six-week season: to “return to me with all your heart.” (Joel 2: 12) This year I offer an Examen on this brief but intimate text to prayerfully guide us as we hear God personally invite each of us into a renewed sense of open-heartedness.
Be aware of God’s presence and invite the Holy Spirit to guide your prayer
Center yourself, take several deep breaths, mindfully claim God’s presence.
Review the past day with Gratitude
“Return to me” is our Beloved’s way of saying that we were known and loved by God even before Creation, even before we were formed in the womb. Returning means coming back to a familiar place of home. Give thanks for the ways, recently, that you knew and felt God’s familiar abundant loving presence as you returned with all your heart in quiet prayer, perhaps in acts of love, maybe in acts of justice.
Pay attention to what the Holy Spirit wants you to notice or to feel
As you review the moments and events of the past day when you found yourself returning to God with your whole heart, pay attention to what the Holy Spirit wants you to remember, to notice, or to feel. Notice the quality of your returning - did you turn away from something or someone, toward something or someone? Did you let yourself feel at home in God, or were you aware of some attachment that kept you from fully and freely returning? Notice the quality of your heartedness - was it open? Was it fearful, cautious, and partially closed? Did you sense an attachment to something that kept you from freely opening your heart?
Choose one memory or feeling from your review and pray into it
Choose a particular memory or feeling that has just risen up in you. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what it is that you need to turn from or turn toward so you can more completely return to God. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what it is you are attached to that you need to detach from so that when you return to God you can do it with the fullness and trust of all your heart.
Look toward tomorrow - ask the Spirit to help you anticipate the next day
Ask the Holy Spirit to accompany you tomorrow in a particular part of your day or in a relationship or a scheduled event you are anticipating. Ask the Holy Spirit for the grace of wisdom and courage to trust the intimate and personal invitation to return to God with all your heart.
Be aware of God’s presence and invite the Holy Spirit to guide your prayer
Center yourself, take several deep breaths, mindfully claim God’s presence.
Review the past day with Gratitude
“Return to me” is our Beloved’s way of saying that we were known and loved by God even before Creation, even before we were formed in the womb. Returning means coming back to a familiar place of home. Give thanks for the ways, recently, that you knew and felt God’s familiar abundant loving presence as you returned with all your heart in quiet prayer, perhaps in acts of love, maybe in acts of justice.
Pay attention to what the Holy Spirit wants you to notice or to feel
As you review the moments and events of the past day when you found yourself returning to God with your whole heart, pay attention to what the Holy Spirit wants you to remember, to notice, or to feel. Notice the quality of your returning - did you turn away from something or someone, toward something or someone? Did you let yourself feel at home in God, or were you aware of some attachment that kept you from fully and freely returning? Notice the quality of your heartedness - was it open? Was it fearful, cautious, and partially closed? Did you sense an attachment to something that kept you from freely opening your heart?
Choose one memory or feeling from your review and pray into it
Choose a particular memory or feeling that has just risen up in you. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what it is that you need to turn from or turn toward so you can more completely return to God. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what it is you are attached to that you need to detach from so that when you return to God you can do it with the fullness and trust of all your heart.
Look toward tomorrow - ask the Spirit to help you anticipate the next day
Ask the Holy Spirit to accompany you tomorrow in a particular part of your day or in a relationship or a scheduled event you are anticipating. Ask the Holy Spirit for the grace of wisdom and courage to trust the intimate and personal invitation to return to God with all your heart.
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Bellarmine Chapel
(513) 745 - 3398 |
Mailing Address:
3800 Victory Parkway Cincinnati, OH 45207-2211 |
Physical Address:
3801 St. Francis Xavier Way Cincinnati, OH 45207 |
Parish Center Address:
3832 Ledgewood Dr. Cincinnati, OH 45207 |