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James Martin, S.J.July 02, 2018
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash.

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Where did God speak to you today? As you know, that’s the main question that you ponder when you do the Examen prayer every day. You look back over the day and try to see where God was present. But oftentimes we forget that when we pray to see where God was active or present, we are also seeing where God spoke to us. In other words, these moments of deep emotion, or surprising insight or even a moment of clarity, are more than moments to recall God. Rather, it’s God speaking to you in that moment during the Examen, now. So when you notice something in the Examen, it’s not simply noticing something interesting or seeing something that helps you see where God is at work, it’s something much more. It’s God inviting you to look at this particular part of your day, or have this particular insight, or notice this particular facet of your day. Experiences like that in the Examen, in other words, are God speaking directly to you. So, as my first spiritual director often said to me, “Pay attention!”

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James Haraldson
6 years 11 months ago

Isn't it the more important question to ask: When did you have such a sinful, self-worshiping, self-indulgent moment of profound evilness today that you decided to convince yourself that the evilness you decided to indulge was God speaking to you?

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