Do You Relate?
St. Ignatius of Loyola encourages us to pray the Examen, a prayer that makes space for us to notice God’s movements in our daily lives. The Examen also helps us to explore how God is calling us to live and use our gifts in the world. Use the steps of the Examen below to prayerfully review the past week, particularly focusing on elements of nature, perhaps water, that you connect to.
Become aware of God’s presence.
Take a few minutes to center yourself and to remember that you are always in the loving presence of God.
Review the week with gratitude.
As you think back over the past week as you engaged with the challenge, where do moments of gratitude arise? What were the gifts that you received? Be as specific as possible.
Notice your emotions.
Let images or learnings from the week pass by like scenes from a movie. Notice them, but let them go as new images arise. What feelings or thoughts emerge, and what might God be saying to you through these emotions?
Pick one feature of the week.
Ask for the Holy Spirit to guide you to an important moment in your week. Was there a particular resource or theme that caused a strong emotion in you, positive or negative? Lovingly explore it with God.
St. Ignatius reminds us that God speaks to us and shows us what we value through our tears. Did anything you experienced bring you to tears? Examine one of these moments in the loving presence of God.
Look forward to tomorrow
Ask God for the strength and hope to continue to engage in learning, prayer, and action for environmental justice in the week ahead. How might God be calling you to respond to what you’ve learned or what came up for you in prayer? Do you feel inspired to take a particular action at this point? Has a seed been planted for the future?
