Weekly Examen from Campus Ministry

Campus Ministry and the Murphy Center for Ignatian Spirituality have teamed up to offer an examen for our community each week. This invitation is an opportunity to go deeper into  a shared text and consider how our mission and Jesuit values guide our work together here at Fairfield and beyond. Each week, a different member of the Campus Ministry or Murphy Center staff will provide a text for us. Video of the reflection can be found on our Instagram and Facebook pages.

From Katie Byrnes, Campus Minister for Social Justice & Community Engagement

This year marks the fifth anniversary of Laudato Si’ and Pope Francis’ call to care for creation and to reconcile our relationship with God, creation and one another.  This year, amid crises that have shaken our world, we’re awakened to the urgent need for a time of restoration and hope, a jubilee for our Earth. We invite you to reflect on your personal relationship with creation, to acknowledge and amend mistakes and to promote ecological justice by standing in solidarity with those most impacted by environmental harm. With this in mind, let us focus this week with this examen: 

1.  I give thanks to God for creation and for being wonderfully made.

Where did I feel God’s presence in creation today? Where was I able to recognize beauty in the changing season around our campus?

2. I ask for the grace to see creation as God does – in all its splendor and suffering.
   Do I see the beauty of creation and hear the cries of the earth and the poor? What is my own environmental footprint and is it larger than it needs to be?
   
   
3. I ask for the grace to look closely to see how my life choices impact creation and the poor and vulnerable.
   What challenges or joys do I experience as I recall my care for creation? How can I turn away from a throwaway culture and instead stand in solidarity with creation and the poor? Where can I simplify my way of living and lessen my own negative impact on the environment?
   
   
4. I ask for the grace of conversion towards ecological justice and reconciliation. 
   Where have I fallen short in caring for creation and my brothers and sisters? How do I ask for a conversion of heart? In what ways do I allow time and convenience to control my decisions instead of ecological justice?

5. I ask for the grace to reconcile my relationship with God, creation and humanity, and to stand in solidarity through my actions. How can I repair my relationship with creation and make choices consistent with my desire for reconciliation with creation? Where am I called to make changes and invite others to join me in that commitment?

6. I offer a closing prayer for the earth and the vulnerable in our society.