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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Finding Holes in Lent

It is folly to believe that Lent is simply a time to give things up.  One practice that I'm keen to perfect is that of taking something on during these forty days.  Recently, I was reminded of the old Ignatian, "Daily Awareness Examen."  It is quite simply a process of self-reflection and prayer aiming to fill the holes carved out in our daily lives.  The simplicity of the five steps (or rather questions) is not lost on the complication of the human predicament.  I especially like the idea of "co-opting" with the Divine through this technique given to us by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Through this examen, I for one, see the holes in my life that I so desperately need God in Christ to come fill through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Take it on, try it out, and live with this during Lent.  I invite your thoughts or suggestions for other models of self-reflective prayer.

From the Imago Dei Community's website:


AWARENESS EXAMEN
This short prayer exercise is to help increase your sensitivity to the Spirit working in your life and to provide you with the awareness needed to co-operate and respond to God’s presence. If you use this daily you should find it helpful in noticing spiritual movements and choosing to respond wisely to them. The Awareness Examen is meant as a time of reflection, usually at the end of the day, and can be done in 30 seconds or 30 minutes. It involves five stages:
1. Thanksgiving ….Begin by looking over the day and asking to see where you need to be thankful. Do not choose what you think you should be thankful for, but rather look over the day to see what emerges, what you notice, even slightly. Allow gratitude to take hold of you and express this to the Holy Spirit who at this moment beholds you.
2. Ask For Light….This is a prayer for enlightenment from God. We dispose ourselves for the awareness that we hope will come more directly from God. We have a hard time believing that our own thoughts can actually be from the Spirit but Jesus tells us in Matt 10:20, “it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Likewise Paul tells us in Rom. 8 that “we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Therefore ask the Spirit to show you what God wants you to pray.
3. Finding God In All Things ….Again look over the events of the day. This time ask the Spirit to show you where God’s presence has been in your life, either in you or in others, and in the events of your day:
  • What events in your day have had an impact upon you?
  • Where are the signs of the Spirit, i.e. of light?
  • Where are the signs of discouragement of spirit, i.e. of darkness?
  • What interior events were significant for you?
  • Notice what stands out even slightly, such as joy, pain, turmoil, increase of love, anger, harmony, anxiety, freedom, isolation, a sense of the presence or absence of God
  • Where do you sense you were being drawn by God’s Spirit?
  • How did you respond to these events or experiences?
4. Respond To God In Dialogue ….Is there any one area you are being nudged to focus your attention on, to pray more seriously over, to take action on? This is where your energy needs focus instead of on the many other things you think are important. Discuss this with Jesus.
Express what needs to be expressed:
… praise … sorrow … gratitude … desire for change … … intercession …
5. Help And Guidance For Tomorrow ….Ask God for your needs for tomorrow. For example, you may need to pray to overcome something … to be more sensitive to God’s activity in your environment … to celebrate in some way … to let go … … to be open to conversion in some area … to make some decisions to act against some destructive forces in your life; to desire a particular grace from God; to desire to desire.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

An excellent thing to share, Brother. On the topic of spiritual awareness, you may appreciate the approach of Dominican spirituality wherein God is not the object of our contemplation, but the subject. The ecstacy of communion with God is reversed by understanding contemplative prayer as engaging in God's contemplation of the world through us, not the other way around.

Anonymous said...

This is similar to a method I use pretty regularly. It comes from the book titled "Prayer" written by George A. Buttrick, a Presbyterian minister who served at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in NYC. I actually read it from a compilation of authors titled "Devotional Classics." So it is very possible that he took his cue from Ignatius. Anyway, he discusses the need for simplicity in private prayer and that "prayer begins, not in asking, but in a silent self-preparation...the next step is an act of faith...we take counsel with our certitudes, not with our doubts and fears."

The general stages are:
1) Thanksgiving: calling to mind the joys of our journey or writing down the blessings of one day. The point however is to be very specific and should probe the question of 'what are life's abiding mercies?'

2) Confession: like thanksgiving it should be specific. True confession is neither self-excoriation 'to be merciless with anyone, even ourselves, is no virtue.' He notes that prayer of confession always leads to an acceptance of God's pardon...and a cleansing of the soul.

3) Intercession: again, it should be specific, "genuine love sees faces, not a mass...intercession is more than specific: it is pondered...bear on our heart the burden of those for whom we pray." Pray for those who use you and ask God to banish the bitterness and enter into the needs of the world.

4) Petition: it comes not last because it is most important but because it needs the safeguard of the earlier prayer. "We should fear encroachment of a selfish mind. Petition is defended against that threat if first we give thanks, confess our sins, and pray for our neighbors. Sometimes, in sorrow, dread, or helplessness, it will be a crisis cry of creature-hood--a beating on heaven's door with bruised knuckles in the dark. Sometimes it will be friendship talk-talk with God about the affairs of everyday. To try to thwart the prayer of petition is to deny human nature."

He notes that the intervals of these four prayers should be filled by meditation so that we can listen for guidance. I've found that when I am feeling scattered or busy, having a format to follow is very helpful.