What is the Examen?
By: Dr. Jonathan Lawrence, Contributing Writer
Have you done an Examen? Don’t worry, it’s not another exam – you’ll have enough of those in the next few weeks. The Examen is a regular process of spiritual reflection about how things are going and making plans for what comes next. Ignatius of Loyola taught the Jesuits to end each day by asking themselves when they felt close to God, when they felt distant from God and what they will do differently the next day.
Even if you’re not sure what you believe about God, the Examen is a way to think seriously about how your life is going. When in the last day (or week) did you feel most like the person you want to be? When did you fall short of who you want to be and what might you try differently next time? We may not like to admit to our mistakes, but I’ve often found that the longer I delay facing those mistakes, the harder it is to address them. Even so, the focus here is not on feeling bad about what we’ve done, but identifying what we’ve done and how it has affected us and others and then seeing to do better the next time. If you’re interested in trying out the Examen, you can find several examples at:
The Examen is one example of the ways that Ignatius and the Jesuits make prayer and spiritual reflection a regular part of their lives. The Examen can take only a few minutes, but if you do it regularly, it can become part of your routine, and you don’t have to think about doing it.
This week we had another one of those events – the Mass of the Holy Spirit. It happens only once a year, but it offers Jesuit institutions a chance to start the year in prayer and celebration and gives a focus on how God can guide us in the coming year. As we prayed together, readings in other languages and messages from our university chaplain Fr. Fred Betti and Canisius President Steve K. Stoute reminded us of what brings us together as one community, committed to becoming people for others.
If you are interested in spending some time in prayer, reflection and community-building, you might enjoy the upcoming Kairos Retreat on Oct. 16-18. You can contact Caroline King at King116@canisius.edu for more information.
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