The conscience and the Examen
One of the questions given this week at my Bible study was, “How do you withdraw and pray?” A member of our Bible study gave a short presentation on the Daily examen of St. Ignatius of Loyola which forms part of his Spiritual Exercises. As a soldier recovering from a serious battle wound, Ignatius began reading the Bible and the lives of the Saints, and he had a profound conversion. He was moved to found the Society of Jesus – the Jesuits – who he envisioned as “contemplatives in action.”
All Christians can use the examen; his exercise of “prayerful mindfulness” at the end of the day focuses us on the awareness of God’s constant presence and His direction in our daily lives. If we are paying attention, God can subtly move us through ordinary experiences, seeing Him in those “aha” moments. I had never studied this, and was intrigued.
Blowback
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Raise your hand if you thought this was going to be about the morality of cheating on tests.
/raise
HitNRun on February 3, 2012 at 11:10 PM
lol
I had no idea what “the Examen” was.
Random on February 4, 2012 at 12:06 AM
While I’m definitely an atheist and don’t think there is any real metaphysical value to prayer, a daily discipline structured similar to the above (I read a helpful tip and a definition of it in any of 5 life areas, that rotate — each area on its own schedule — and pop up at the top of my daily task management web-app and mobile task management software, Toodledo; it isn’t prayer and I don’t claim it is, but it definitely help one focus more on things that they’ve chosen to, plus drive home core learning).
Random on February 4, 2012 at 12:09 AM
This reminds me of a meditation technique that I recently learned that involves consciously clearing one’s mind, while in a contemplative position and environment, and concentrating only on one, small point, as if a candle flame is visible in one’s mind. The meditation then requires that you discard all extraneous thought as it arises, concentrating on the internally visible flame and relaxing so that energy gathers in your body.
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As one concentrates on the flame, still discarding memories, emotions, dreams, and fantasies, discard also the emotions that come with memories and fantasies, such as envy, hate, anger and jealousy. As one’s connection to God grows, the energy in the body increases so that at the latter part of the meditation, one’s arm may rise, as if by magic, uncalled and uncontrolled, away from the body to a position level with the shoulder.
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It’s a wild feeling to experience the energy of the emotional flotsam and jetsam in your physical and mental being dissipate, leaving you feeling rested and refreshed in about a 20 minute meditation.
ExpressoBold on February 4, 2012 at 8:23 AM
Very good article..Thank you Marcia..
Dire Straits on February 4, 2012 at 9:02 AM