In this episode of the Spirituality for Ordinary Podcast your host, Matt Brough, goes over the five steps in practice of the Examen and shares about his own ups and downs in trying to stay focused for a 10 to 20 minute time of prayer.
For an overview of the Examen, you may want to go back to Episode 1 of Season 2 – The Examen in a Nutshell
Episode 2 covers…
The temptation to just not do it or not try it. We can sometimes believe that any prayer practice (in this case The Examen) won’t actually make any difference and so we rationalize not doing it. We are also “busy,” and so cannot “find the time.” How can we resist these tendencies and actually stop for 10 to 20 minutes for prayer that may actually have life-giving or life-transforming possibilities?
Musch of this episode is about the difficulty with focus. Matt shares about how he is always racing ahead to the future in his prayer time and how the Examen is reminding him to stay in the day. Matt is someone who likes to make plans and set goals, and so there is a particular challenge in reviewing the day to not get sidetracked with looking too far into the future.
Part of the Examen is about looking at the day ahead as well as the day just lived. “I’m finding it interesting that the Day ahead for me tends to be about getting things done, or my own interaction in a meeting or in leading something within the church, while the review of my day tends to be almost entirely about the blessing of interacting with people. Looking ahead is very focussed on me and what I’m going to do. Looking back is very focussed on others and how I was blessed by God through them.”
Some other quotes or thoughts from the Episode:
“Something sacred is going on in this 10-20 minutes. This has a spill-over into the way we see our day. The time of prayer colours how we look at our day. The day is sacred as well as the prayer time. Both are a gift.”
“My particular challenge, and where I’m finding the Examen particularly helpful, is this reminder to come back to the day.”
” Something that hasn’t shown up on my highlight reel after doing the Examen 4 times this week: Watching TV, except for the times when I have been with family watching something that we are all enjoying. And anything that came from social media. In fact, my computer and my phone, the two things that I spend the most time with throughout my day, don’t feature at all in my daily reviews. I think this is because of the initial prayer – asking to see as God sees.”
“Because my work varies from day to day, the praying for the day ahead part of the Examen helps me identify the priorities for that day. What is most important? I’m finding that I am better doing the Examen in the morning, and after I am done I can immediately write down 3 or 4 things that are the top things that must get done that day.”
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