Tag: ExamenHow and why should I practice a daily examination of conscience? Part II of II
A: In our first post we covered the “why” and an introduction to the “how” of a daily examination of conscience. This post will help you with the practical steps you need to achieve the benefits of the blessings available in this practice. The Beginning To begin, make the sign of the cross and remind yourself that you are in the presence of God, your Father, who loves you with a personal, determined, and everlasting love. Then ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten you, so that you can know yourself better so as to be able to give yourself better to God. You can do this in your own words, or use a prayer like this one: O Holy Spirit come in Thy mercy; enlighten my mind and strengthen my will that I may know my sins, humbly confess them, and sincerely amend my life. The Middle The middle of the examination of conscience consists in serenely, prayerfully looking over your day. It’s like taking a helicopter flight back over the ground you covered on foot. You want to keep an eye out for two things especially: moments of victory and moments of failure. Victories are moments when God’s grace triumphed in your behavior (you didn’t lose your patience in a situation where you usually do, for example), or when his grace embraced and enfolded you in a special way (he gave you an intimate awareness of his goodness while you did your morning meditation, for example). When you find these victories, smile at them, enjoy them, and thank God for them. Failures are the contrary: moments when you cut yourself off from God’s grace, willfully or simply through weakness and distraction; moments when you did not image God’s goodness in your thoughts, words, and behavior; moments when you sinned by commission or omission. As you spot these failures, you should allow yourself to “mourn” them (“blessed are those who mourn, they shall be comforted” Mt 5:4), but never give quarter to discouragement. Instead, always turn discouragement into humility. Don’t think: “I am such a selfish wreck; I am not making any progress.” Instead, pray: “You see, Lord, how weak I am, and how much I need your grace!” As you look for victories and failures, it helps to keep a special eye out for the points that are included in your program of life. In this way, you will become more familiar with the manifestations of your root sin, and this will enable you (gradually) to respond more quickly and virtuously to difficult situations and temptations. At the same time, however, you have to allow yourself to dig beneath the surface. When you spot a victory or a failure, ask yourself, “Why?” Why did you lose your patience again, when you really didn’t want to? Why did your meditation this morning go so much better than usual?… As we reflect on the causes of our behavior, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, our self-knowledge increases significantly. The End You always want to conclude the examination of conscience with two things: 1. A renewal of your commitment to try and follow Christ faithfully tomorrow. This can be a general renewal, or you can formulate some kind of a specific resolution, e.g. “Lord, tomorrow, with your help, I don’t want to gossip during our lunch party, so please help me to change the subject when it starts, or at least give me the strength to walk away.” 2. An act of contrition telling God you are sorry for your sins. This doesn’t have to be a formal act of contrition (you can use your own words), but sometimes it helps to use a simple formula. For example, you can use the act of contrition utilized at the end of confession, or the “I confess to almighty God…” prayer we utilize at the beginning of Mass. This may seem like an incredibly complicated way to spend five minutes. But in reality it isn’t. You will find your own rhythm, and the Holy Spirit will help you. The important thing is to make this examination of conscience a staple of your daily diet. If you find it hard at first because your mind is racing, you may want to try doing it in writing: a) write down two specific things you are thanking for from the day; b) write down one thing about your behavior from the day that you would change if you could go back in time; c) write down a petition for the grace to follow Christ faithfully tomorrow. Yours in Christ, Father John Bartunek, LC, STL How and why should I practice a daily examination of conscience? Part I of II
A: This is a critical issue for deepening your friendship with Christ. Critical. Hands down, this spiritual discipline (the daily examination of conscience) is a central plank in the platform leading to progress in spiritual maturity, for both religious and laity. Thank you for asking the question! Why? Before getting into the how and why, though, rest assured that you are probably more familiar with the concept than you think. Every time we go to confession, we prepare for the sacrament by doing an examination of conscience. That’s how we identify our sins and failings, so that we can confess them. So don’t think you are starting from scratch when it comes to making this practice part of your daily spiritual program. First, the “why.” The daily examination of conscience helps remove something that all spiritual writers agree is one of the most common obstacles to substantial growth in holiness (which includes basic human maturity): the lack of self-knowledge. This is so obvious that it is often overlooked. If you want to get to San Francisco, you can’t plot an intelligent route unless you know where you are starting from, where you are right now. If you want to win an Olympic gold medal, you have to built on your strengths, which comes naturally, but you also have to correct, shore up, and improve on your weak points. And you can’t do that if you don’t know what those are, or if you refuse to look at them squarely and honestly. When it comes to deepening our relationship with God, those natural and obvious reasons for knowing ourselves thoroughly and sincerely are bolstered with a supernatural reason. The life of a Christian is built upon the foundation of grace, of God’s action in our lives. We will only build on that foundation if we truly understand how little we can do to overcome our selfish tendencies and grow in Christ-like love (the heart of holiness and happiness). And we can understand and accept the immensity of our need for God’s grace and mercy only insofar as we come to grips with the immensity of our weakness and misery, which requires authentic, systematic self-knowledge. How? Now we can move on to the “how.” The daily examination of conscience is like a mini-meditation. You need to set aside five minutes (start with five, anyway; later you may want to increase it to ten, but five is plenty) towards the end of the day. Religious will do it during compline, the last hour of the divine office (the liturgy of the hours), usually prayed right before going to bed. But St Francis de Sales recommends that busy lay people try to squeeze it in before the evening meal, simply because tiredness can be such an impediment later at night. If you happen to be the person who prepares the evening meal, you may want to make a deal with the rest of the family by which they clean up the evening meal, while you sneak off for five minutes and do your conscience examen. What happens during these five minutes can vary in particulars, but the essence is always the same: prayer reflection on how God has acted in your life throughout the day, and on how you have been responding. Three are three parts to this prayer reflection: a beginning, a middle, and an end. In our next post on this topic, we will cover the basic “how-to” steps. Yours in Christ, Father John Bartunek, LC, STL Daily Quick-Journal and The Fruits of Meditation
Using Father John’s Bartunek’s method of meditation from “The Better Part,” there are several steps that lead to a sentence or two that I record each day. As a reminder, the four step process is, 1) concentrate, 2) consider, 3) converse, and 4) commit. Usually, by the “converse” step, I get an impression of what God is asking of me. At the “commit” step I translate and record what I am sensing into something actionable that I can look back on at noon each day (mid-day examen). When I began the habit of meditation I used this list of questions to become more aware of His promptings:
At this point, the process is far less mechanical than when I started. However, occasionally I review this list and the method to ensure I stay on track. The power of this approach, and any healthy journal writing habit, is the ability to see the patterns – to see God’s leading. Though I had not thought of using my daily commitment notes this way – it proved to be a very encouraging, quick, and easy approach to see the clear pattern of God’s movement in my life and prayer. May your meditation be fruitful and may you hear His voice. Seek Him – Find Him – Follow Him Dan |
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There are many ways to understand God’s leading in our lives. One way, came as a helpful surprise during spiritual direction. My director asked me, “What is the Holy Spirit leading you to focus on at this time?” As a reflex, I reached over to my daily planner and quickly flipped back through the pages – the pattern was clear. Here’s what I discovered – it might work well for you too.
