Good time to Reflect on the Past Year

by Dr Raymond Perrier · December 27, 2015

The Examen invites us to look back across the day slowly and meditatively and ask not when was God present? but how was God present?

(Adapted from Examen of Consciousness: Finding God in all things by
Phyllis Zagano)

EXAMEN

A column entitled Faith & Society is an attempt to counter the ideas that seeks to separate the sacred from the secular.

As I reflect on life, I try hard not to think in terms of two separate realms with the Church confined to the religious world and having little to learn from or say to the real world.

Christmas is the annual reminder that this should not be the Christian view of the world: Emmanuel! God with us! Nkosinathi! The cry of the angels is the reminder that the religious is not separate from our world but completely intertwined with it because the Son of God chose to be one like us.

Even if we can hold on to such an idea at this time of year, it is very hard to remember this all year round. In the middle of the busy-ness of our lives, with every day running into the next, and each year whizzing by, how can we possibly remember to seek out the presence of God in each part of our world?

But there is a practice that can help us to do just this. It was popularised by St Ignatius, the founder of the Society of Jesus, and has been used by all Jesuits, and many other people, over the past 450 years.

It is also a practice that Pope Francis will have used every day of his 60 years as a Jesuit; and he clearly is a man who steps boldly across any distinction between sacred and secular.

The practice is called the Examen of Consciousness (not to be confused with the examination of conscience). The underlying principle is that God is present throughout every aspect of our days, but that we are not always conscious of his presence at the time. (Learn more about the Examen)

Certainly, there are moments when Gods presence is very visible to us at church, when we say our night prayers, perhaps when sitting with someone who is sick or lonely but what about all those other moments when God is there but we are too busy or too blinkered to notice?

The Examen invites us to look back across the day slowly and meditatively and ask not when was God present? but how was God present?.

How was God present when I was eating with my family? How was God present when I stopped at the robots? How was God present when I was in the supermarket? How was God present in that dull meeting?

Sometimes the Examen helps us to see things we did not notice at the time; sometimes it helps to see ordinary events in a whole new light. Just as this practice can help us to look back over each day, it can also be used to review a whole year.

The review of the day can help us in retrospect to see God in the small encounters and not just the big events; in the same way, the review of the year might help us to look beyond the thunder and the storms and, like Isaiah, find God also in the still small voices of the year.

For me, 2015 certainly had a lot of headlines. I moved city, started a new job, organised a centenary, and lost a dear friend. But I know I need to take time to find not just the God of the headlines but also the God of small things. This is where we can sense the underlying movements of the Spirit in our lives.

So let me invite you to find time between mince pies and New Year bubbly to spend 20 minutes or so looking back over 2015. You cannot, of course, re-examine every day or even every major event. Instead, at the beginning of the prayer ask the Lord to keep your mind open to see what he wants you to see: and then sit back and watch.

It helps enormously to place yourself somewhere where you will not be disturbed, where you can shut yourself off from distracting noises or images, and so provide the blank canvas for the Lord to draw upon. Perhaps the ideal time is when the children are absorbed in their new Christmas toys, or when your loved one is snoozing after a satisfying lunch, or you are able to put your feet up for the first time that day.

A good way to begin is with a deep and sincere thank you to the Lord for all that the year contained: good, bad and confusing. Then imagine yourself like an eagle flying over the year a God s eye viewfrom which you can swoop down on particular events or locations or people or decisions to look at them again.

Some will be the expected standout moments; some will be chances for God to surprise you as he invites you to look again. But throughout the reflection, stick with the thought that God was present even when you least expected him to be and let him gift you the present of seeing his Presence.

There will also be moments of regret as you look back over the year: Why did I do that? Why didn’t I make use of that opportunity? Why did I use those words?

We cannot change 2015, but we can use it to learn lessons before the start of 2016. What can I do differently this coming year and what graces do I need from God to help me grow?

Many companies are preparing their balance sheets at the end of the year and are required to carry forwards their debts and their credits. The Examen is a kind of psycho-spiritual reckoning, but with a difference. God, in his mercy, the mercy that is the Church’s theme for 2016, allows us to carry forward our credits but permits us to cancel our debts so we start the year in the black. Now there is something to celebrate for New Year!

Thank you to you for accompanying me through the highs and lows of 2015 and may I wish you all Gods blessings and surprises for the year to come.