Weekly Community Examen

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 Marcy Haley, Murphy Center for Ignatian Spirituality Assistant Director

God is With Me Examen

No matter what I am worrying about…Stop! God is with you, quiet perhaps, but always there. Everything you have is a gift from God. Is there something that you would especially like to give thanks for today?

Ask God to shine His light into your heart so that when you look back over the day you may be able to see God working in all things that happened.

Now remember the day starting when you woke up. Remember the people you met and the things that have happened. On the whole was it a “good” day or a “bad” day? Was it a normal day, or unusual in some way? Whom did you meet during the day? Did you come across something surprising? Does something special come to mind?

In all the things that have happened, how did you feel? Were you joyful or sad, angry or frightened? Maybe you felt great and were really happy? What caused your feelings and did they change in any way during the day?

God guides us through our moods and feelings. Normally, the way of God is, in a deep sense, peaceful and consoling. If your day was disturbed or if you were uneasy, can you sense where that uneasiness was coming from? We are affected by many different feelings. The better we come to know these influences, the easier it is to see the subtle movements of God in our lives.

An important question to ask is: what can I be proud of today? I will give thanks for this. But also, did I turn away from God during the day? Maybe I turned a blind eye when it suited me?

I will say a prayer asking forgiveness for anything I may have done to ignore or hinder God’s love during the day that has passed.

I will ask especially for the graces of healing and strength and patience.

The final part of the prayer is to look forward to tomorrow. We are a people of hope. Let us remember that God is with us and will be with us always.