Rereading the Day

Each evening, do you reflect on your day? Do you make a note of the blessings and delights you received? How about the difficult times? Perhaps you think about the moments when you felt fully alive. Did you notice God in your life? How was your day? How was your week?

Do you follow the 5 steps of the Examen prayer?

• Ask God for Light
• Give thanks
• Review the Day
• Face your shortcomings
• Look toward the day to come

This morning, I got up early as usual. While waiting to see the sun rise over the horizon, streaking the sky with pink, orange, and red, I thought about the week that’s just passed. I did a Saturday examen.

I listed the highlights, the lowlights, the moments I felt blessed, and those I wished I’d reacted to better. Then I made a few resolutions for the coming week.

Spring has arrived. My magnolia bush is flowering, and so are my hakea trees. Last week, I saw satin bowerbirds feasting on the magnolia petals shaken loose by the wind. I sat in the garden with a long black coffee, listening to the wind pushing its way through the trees like waves breaking on the shore, while my washing flapped and flew in circles on the rotary line, absorbing the exquisite scent of the springtime sun.

Even though I didn’t see any friends last week – I was unwell on the day I planned to go to our parish women’s meeting – I received kind messages, emails, and blog comments from people I’m blessed to have in my life.

As I experienced these delights, and I began each activity of my day, I tried to remember to say, “Bless us O Lord, and these Thy gifts” in imitation of G.K. Chesterton:

You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the play and the opera, and grace before the concert and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing; And grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

I wrote two blog posts. This one will make three, so I have fulfilled my blogging pact! Midweek, I almost gave up on the pact. It seemed too hard. I was tired and a bit unwell. I didn’t know what to write about. I decided blogging wasn’t important. But then I pushed through after finding these words in The Way by St Jose Escriva:

Why that fitful character? When are you going to apply your will to something definite? Drop that craze for foundation-stones, and put the finishing touch to just one of your projects.

I had a few struggles. I fought my way through some of them. I succumbed to others.

There were other things, more details I could share about what happened, but you get the idea: that was my week.

Why do I review my days and weeks?

Socrates once said:

The unexamined life is not worth living.

I don’t know if that’s true, but maybe we can live a better life if we pause now and then to ask, “Am I heading in the right direction? Am I listening to God? Can I see His presence in my days? Am I grateful and loving well? What should I do next?”

I’ve tried a few examen apps to follow the 5 steps of this prayer:

Pray as You Go

Reimagining the Examen

Examen

Reimagining the Examen is also available as a book.

I’ve also got a copy of the Examen Prayer Card.

Usually, I jot down my Saturday examen reflections in my paper journal. But in the week, I record my thoughts on the Examen app. It’s quick, easy and convenient.

I learnt a lot about the examen from Fr Timothy Gallagher. He has an excellent podcast series called The Examen Prayer.

Sometimes, I yearn to see God’s presence more clearly in my life.  I know He’s there. I just need to notice Him. I guess sitting in silence and reflecting with the help of the Examen helps me tune my eyes to see Him and hear His voice.

God speaks in the silence of the heart – St Mother Teresa

Pope Francis said:

“Indeed, for us it is important to reread our history together with Jesus: the story of our life, of a certain period, of our days, with its disappointments and hopes.

“There is a good way of doing this, and today I would like to propose it to you: It consists of dedicating time, every evening, to a brief examination of conscience.

“What happened inside of me today? That is the question. It means rereading the day with Jesus.”

Rereading the day with Jesus. Rereading the week. Do you try to do this, too?