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Where and how do we seek communion in prayer with God? Catholics enter into communion with God through the Blessed Trinity. I purposely ask the question this way because so often I meet Catholics who have fallen into a quasi-Protestant manner of thinking and praying. They say, "My prayer is a relationship with Jesus." They go no further. They also rarely give an indication that there are two other persons of the Blessed Trinity. Certainly, we all are to seek an intimacy with the Lord Jesus, but as Catholics our theology and its manifestation in the spiritual life through the sacred Liturgy and personal prayer is always in conversation with the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is an essential point in the spiritual life. You miss this point, you miss the point of Catholic prayer. In fact, all of our liturgical prayer, save for a few, is directed to the Father, through the Son under the power of the Holy Spirit. Catholics ought not be functionally unitarian: prayer exclusively directed to one member of the Trinity but it ought to be trinitarian:  Father, Son AND Holy Spirit. In 1989, Cardinal Ratzinger, with his typical clarity, addressed this issue in a "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on some Aspects of Christian Meditation." He said, in part:

Thinking about the life-saving cross of Jesus, I am recalling what Saint Ignatius of Loyola taught in his Spiritual Exercises about God's unconditional love for humanity: no talk of the mercy and love is reasonable without kneeling before the cross. This was evident to me as I walked into the chapel this morning for Lauds and forced to navigate in the middle of the aisle a cross with relic of the True Cross before it. I knelt for a moment of prayer and kissed the relic. It is striking to do this pious gesture because it brings home to the heart, the Christian reality that the cross is so central to our life of faith; it is the altar on which we are saved; the cross is key which unlocks the door to the Father's house; it is the love that kills and transcends all sin.

Our methods of entering the divine mysteries are varied: some use the spoken or written word (poet, some use photography, some will engage nature, some may use music & dance and still others will use the time-honored tradition of icons. Jesuit Father Stephen Bonian takes us through a variety of fitting understandings of iconography and their use for prayer in his article, "Gateways to Prayer."

For we see ...

"In God's beauty, all the earth is sanctified.
Tree and stone, wood and paint have glory
In His beauty.
Creation is transformed;
The fallen is made holy.
And man, beholding Beauty's vision,
Shares His life."

("On the Beauty of God" by an anonymous Orthodox author)

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 

You won't see me giving space to the "good work" of the Nat'l Catholic Reporter on this blog very often (almost never except for John Allen's work) because of the NCRs frequent loyal opposition to the Church, but a recent article on the intersection of business and Ignatian Spirituality is worth noting. Read it here.

The Daily Examen is a spiritual exercise on the events of the day looking to be aware of God's presence and discern His will for us. Various recommendations exist on utilizing this gift of prayer but I think it's necessary to do the Examen twice a day: at midday and then at the end of the day. The whole point of the Examen is to ask the three questions Saint Ignatius Loyola asked: What have I done, what am I doing and what will I do for Christ. This venerable spiritual practice of the Church helps us to see God's hand at work in our whole experience.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola gave us a five-step Daily Examen:

1. Be aware of God's presence;

2. Spend a moment looking over your day with gratitude for this day's gifts;

3. Ask God to send you His Holy Spirit to help you look at your actions, attitudes, motives with honesty and patience;

4. Review your day in a particular way;

5. Have heart-to-heart talk with Jesus.

Looking at these prayer points:

More than 400 years ago Saint Ignatius Loyola encouraged his disciples to cultivate a conscious awareness of the Divine Majesty's work in our lives. He wanted us to live vigorously in the power of the Blessed Trinity. Loyola called this awareness is what the Daily Examen.

1. Become aware of God's presence. So often we forget that God is really present in the daily work we engage in. Here you are asked to look back on the events of the day in the company of the Holy Spirit. The day may seem confusing to you --a blur, a muddle. Ask God to for the grace of clarity and understanding. Wherever you are, you are a creature in the midst of the beauty of creation. As you quiet yourself, become aware that God is present within you, in the creation that surrounds you, in your body, in those around you. Ask the Holy Spirit to let you look on all you see with love.

2. Be concrete and let the important moments of the day come to mind! In a general way give a moment of reflection on what happened to you. Some people will recall the smell of morning coffee, the laugh of a friend, the fragrance of a flower, or the feelings brought forth by a kind word, or what you've learned. Consider what you received and what you gave.

3. Give thanks to God for favors received. This is an opportunity to appreciate the permanent gifts you have that allow your participation in this day; conversely recall your particular strengths in times of difficulty. God the Father gives you these to draw you into the fullness of His life. As you move through the details of your day, give thanks to God for His presence in matters large and small. "When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth." (John 16:13) The Holy Spirit inspires you with the gift of growing freedom in your life. Here the freedom the Holy Spirit offers to us allows us to look upon yourself without condemnation and without complacency and thus offering us the opportunity to change, to grow. Ask that you will learn and grow as you reflect, thus deepening your knowledge of self and your relationship with God.

4. Recall the events of your day; explore the specific context of your actions. Search for the internal movements of your heart and your interaction with what was before you. Ask the Lord to show you the moments of grace and sin based on what you experienced since the last time you did the Examen. In what ways did you accept the Spirit's gifts and in what ways did you resist the Holy Spirit? As the Psalmist says, we have a divided heart. The Examen shows us the areas of this division --the wavering of the heart between helping and disregarding, scoffing and encouraging, listening and ignoring, rebuking and forgiving, speaking and silence, neglecting and thanking. Remember, the Examen is not a time to dwell on your sin and other shortcomings; rather, it is a loving look with the Lord at how you have responded to God's gifts. The idea is to notice where you acted freely, that is, cooperated with grace--the picking a particular course of action from the possibilities you saw. See where you were swept along without freedom. What reactions helped or hindered you? See where Christ entered your decisions and where you might have paused to receive His influence. "Test yourselves," Sain Paul urges, "to see whether you are living in faith; examine yourselves. Perhaps you yourselves do not realize that Christ Jesus is in you." (2 Cor.) Thus, you will come to know that Jesus Christ is with you. Christ continually invites you to love Him and your neighbor as yourself; He will strengthen you to do this.

5. Seek God's guidance. Ask Him for help and understanding. Pray for hope. Speak with Jesus about your day, about your concerns. Share your thoughts on your actions, attitudes, feelings and interactions. You may feel the need to seek forgiveness, to ask for direction, to share a concern, to express gratitude, etc. Express sorrow for sin; give thanks for grace, the enlightening presence of God, and especially praise God for the times you responded in ways that allowed you to better see God's life. Resolve with Jesus to move forward in grace-filled action.

You might like to finish your time with the Lord's Prayer and the Glory be.

The goal of our life is to live with God forever. God who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of love allows God's life to flow into     us without limit.   All the things in this world are gifts of God,     presented to us so that we can know God more easily     and make a return of love more readily.   As a result, we appreciate and use all of these gifts of God     insofar as they help us develop as loving persons. But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives,     they displace God     and so hinder our growth toward our goal. In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance     before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice     and are not bound by some obligation. We should not fix our desires on health or sickness,     wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or short one. For everything has the potential of calling forth in us     a deeper response to our life in God.   Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better     leads to the deepening of God's life in me.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises

The Suscipe prayer of Saint Ignatius of Loyola is a regular part of my spiritual regimen --and it has been so for many years-- because it reminds me of the total abandonment to God's will that I want to live. I offer the prayer here in English and Latin for your convenience. It is a perfect part of morning prayer.

Receive, O Lord, all my liberty. Take my memory, my understanding, and my entire will. Whatsoever I have or possess Thou hast bestowed upon me; I give it all back to Thee and surrender it wholly to be governed by Thy Will. Give me love for Thee alone along with Thy grace, and I am rich enough and ask for nothing more.

Suscipe, Domine, universam meam libertatem. Accipe memoriam, intellectum, atque voluntatem omnem. Quidquid habeo vel possideo mihi largitus es; id tibi totum restituo, ac tuae prorsus voluntati trado gubernandum. Amorem tui solum cum gratia tua mihi dones, et dives sum satis, hec aliud quidquam ultra posco.

(Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises)