Consciousness Examen

• Only by exercising ourselves in the examination process day by day do we develop the faculty of discernment
• Purpose is to check in with how we are moving toward God or away from God

Thanksgiving:

• Thank God specifically for the gifts received today
• Expressing gratitude will help me to discover gifts from God as they are given to me in the future so that I can be more spontaneously grateful as they are given

• What has happened today that I should be thankful for?
• What do I find most difficult to be grateful for?

Prayer for the Light of the Spirit:

• Did I allow God to direct me in the events of my day?
• Was I open to all the channels through which God might have spoken to me today?
• Did I experience God’s gifts for me:  a new peace, patience, love, joy, kindness, fidelity, gentleness, self-control?

Examination:

• Did I feel drawn to the Lord any time today through a friend, an event, a good book, an experience of nature?
• How did I meet God today in my fears, my joys, my work, my misunderstandings, my suffering?
• How did God’s word come alive for me today?
• In what ways have I been the sign of God’s presence and love:  to my friends, to my family, to the people I work with, to the people I met today?
• Have I experienced a growing awareness of:  my being loved, my sinfulness
• Of what area of my being is Jesus not yet Lord?

Contrition and Sorrow:

• A growing awareness of my lack of response to God’s love should arouse in me:
• sorrow and wonder at being constantly brought to newness
• a sense of deep joy and gratitude because I have been guaranteed the victory through Jesus
• a growing mistrust of self and firm trust in God
• a humble awareness of my weakness
• a strong faith that I am gradually being converted from sinner to child of God

Hopeful Resolution for the Future:

• How do I look toward the future?  Am I despondent, fearful, discouraged?  If so, why?
• Do I have a great desire to face the future with renewed vision and sensitivity as I pray?
• Am I willing to respond to God’s call with more faith, humility, courage
• Am I filled with hope, not founded on my own powers, but in the Trinity whose glorious victory in Jesus Christ I share through the life of God’s Spirit in my heart
• The more I trust God and allow the Lord to lead my life, the more I will experience true supernatural hope in and through Christ, beyond my weakness, pain and poverty.  This experience brings JOY!

I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal.