And now an introduction and brief practice of the daily examine introduced by St.
Ignatius of Loyola.
St.
Ignatius created the examine to be a twice daily prayer,
Very short,
About 15 minutes,
To be prayed at any time that is most convenient for you.
This examine is to explore what is going on within you,
How to understand what God is up to in the moment,
And how you have reacted or hopefully responded to the stimulus around you.
It's a way of finding yourself in this present moment,
To discover the blessings of your daily life,
To recognize your faults,
Your missteps,
Miscommunications,
And then set an intention to be one with God in this moment.
An important aspect of this practice is the practice of forgiveness,
Especially self-forgiveness.
So often,
We lose sight that forgiveness begins from within.
So we develop resilience in this practice.
We develop patience and wisdom,
Self-knowledge,
A sense of optimism,
And hopefully at the end of this practice,
A sense of peace.
St.
Ignatius developed a five-step routine for the examine,
Giving thanks,
Asking for the Spirit,
Review and recognize failures,
Asking for healing and forgiveness,
And then saying a prayer for the remainder of the day or for the next day.
So let's begin this brief practice as I introduce the setting of this examine that you can join in twice a day.
Find a seated position with a dignified posture.
If it's accessible to you,
Having both feet on the floor,
If not,
Find a pillow to sit on.
Have your spine upright,
Shoulders back and alert,
And begin to breathe.
Find this companion of the breath.
Now,
Center yourself,
Bring your attention onto God's grace,
God's unconditional love,
God's self-emptying forgiveness for you in this moment as you prepare to review your day.
Take a deep breath and begin to review your day.
Inevitably,
As we review our day,
Labeling those things that have happened,
A misstep,
A miscommunication comes up.
There's no reason to recreate it or try to fix it or set a narrative to it in this moment.
You're praying,
You're contemplating,
You're meditating.
Essentially bring a different attention,
A different focus to this moment and ask for forgiveness for this moment,
This moment that has potentially brought suffering or pain.
And now forgive yourself.
With that self-forgiveness,
You now open yourself up to the potential of something greater,
An opportunity to grow in who you are and how you're building your life.
And now we turn our attention to pray about the next day,
To set an intention,
To ask God to be present with you the next day into tomorrow.
Imagine all the things that you'll be doing,
All the decisions you'll be mulling over,
All the people that you'll see.
Ask for help with any moments that you foresee might be difficult.
Set your intention being focused on the love of God for every moment.
Focus on the love of God for today and tomorrow.
And we set that intention now by praying together silently or aloud the Lord's Prayer.
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
