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In Service Handout – Sunday, September 8, 2024
EXAMEN

1. Thanksgiving: Begin by looking concretely over the day in order to recognize the specific ways in which God has poured out gifts of love upon you. Over time, the faithful practice of this first step will help lead you to find the way that most helps you to experience God’s love through the gifts that have been imparted upon you during the day.

2. Petition: Ask the Holy Spirit for light and strength as you journey into deeper intimacy with God. The grace you are seeking is twofold: the gift of knowledge which then opens the way to new freedom.

3. Review: The review process is about looking over your day, ultimately seeking experiences of spiritual consolation (times of energizing joy in the Lord) and spiritual desolation (times of interior heaviness in our faith life). These questions may help guide you:

For what moment today am I most grateful?
When did I give and receive the most love today?
When today did I have the deepest sense of connection with God, others and myself?
Where was I aware of living out of the fruit of the Spirit?

For what moment today am I least grateful?
When did I give and receive the least love today?
When today did I have the least sense of connection with God, others and myself?
Where was there an absence of the fruit of the Spirit?

As you reflect on your interior experiences (i.e. love, hopes, anxieties, joys, fears, attractions, resistances) as well as your varied thoughts, you may become aware of met or unmet expectations of how God will act in your life. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit, the review process offers enormous potential for growth in your capacity to notice, understand and respond to God’s leading in your life.

4. Forgiveness: Asking for and receiving God’s forgiveness allows for deep places in your heart to be touched. God will respond to your request. God’s response may take the form of a loving embrace, joyful celebration and/or outpouring of new life. This step strengthens your communion with the Holy Spirit and experience of God’s love as well as empowering you to be a healing agent in your world.

5. Renewal: Having looked back in the other four steps, the last step is about looking forward and projecting the light received from the preceding steps to the future. Renewal is often focused on making small adjustments or planning small initiatives as the new day unfolds (i.e. offering more patience to an individual, initiating a conversation, pausing for a moment of prayer). Renewal provides an opportunity for you to creatively respond to God’s light and spiritually grow through a deepening awareness of His presence in your life.

(excerpts from “The Examen Prayer” by Timothy M. Gallagher, OMV)

Closing Prayer
Dear God, be all my love, all my hope and all my endeavor;
Let my thoughts and words emanate from you, let my daily life be lived in you, and let every breath I take be filled with joy for you. Amen
(After St. John Cassian (c.360-435), Scythia)