These are the five steps of the Examen:
- Pray for God’s help.
- Give thanks for the gifts of this day.
- Pray over significant feelings.
- Rejoice and seek forgiveness.
- Look to tomorrow.
Pray over Significant Feelings
In the third step of the Examen we look at our feelings. Ignatius believed that God communicates with us not only through mental insight but also through our “interior movements,” as he called them: our feelings, emotions, desires, attractions, repulsions, and moods. Feelings are neither positive nor negative: it is what you do with them that raises moral questions.
The Grace I Seek
I pray for the following graces: wonder at God’s ongoing creation; gratitude for the gift of God creating me and creating the world.
Aggravated as crap. That's how I felt, partly, today. There were several little things that came across like digs or slaps, and for some reason I was very ready to take them as such. Paranoid much? I found myself wishing there were something to eat in my office (yeah, that'd fix it!).
Grateful for having started this exercise in the morning, and thus the reminder that I can step back and look at these feelings later in the day.
Grateful for the resulting awareness, and the plan I've made to take the dogs for a walk once I get home.
Grateful for the sunshine today, after a grey few days. I put a prism in my window several days ago, and the rainbows are showing up around the room as the sun moves. It's a delight.
