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A New Way to Pray

By Barbara Prinzi

I discovered the Examen prayer during our “Discerning Your Purpose” workshop that Fr. Chris led at Christ Church Cranbrook last year. The focus of that class was discerning where God calls us, i.e. how we find the intersection between the world’s great needs and our deep passions. Anyway, one of the tools we used was the Examen prayer. Even better, Fr. Chris shared an app that you can download to your phone (“Reimagining the Examen”) that helps you through the prayer, and modernizes it somewhat to allow for some variety and different topics to focus on. I have found it to be a very thoughtful tool for reflection and evaluating my day. Little did I know we would be learning about the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in our Wednesday night series, “God finds us.” Now it is even more meaningful! But whether or not you attended either of these classes, Fr. Chris asked me to share my experience with it, as an invitation to anyone who would like to try out a new way to pray and that can be habit forming (in a good way)!

Here’s how I have been using it:

I have adopted the Examen App as part of my evening ritual before retiring for the night. The App allows you to select a certain topic that you feel drawn to, or just let the it select one for me. Here is one example of one of the topics you might choose from:

My Daily Habits

  1. Introduction
  2. Invite God’s presence.
  3. Spend a few moments in gratitude for blessings, large and small.
  4. Reflect on my day, ask God to show me a few of my habits.
  5. Speak to god and ask for help for my failings and for ideas about how to break the habit.
  6. Find a couple of good habits and give thanks.
  7. Look to tomorrow and ask for God’s grace to break the bad habits and cultivate the good.
  8. End with Our Father.

 

Each day is a bit different but all provide inviting God into the moment, expressing gratitude, reflection on the day, talking with God about the good and the bad experiences, look to tomorrow with a plan to live the day in accordance with God’s desire for my life. It only takes 15 or 20 minutes, but I have found it to be a wonderful tool for connecting with God in new ways, and to build a habit of listening to the Holy Spirit in my daily life.

I share this for anyone who would like to try out a new way to pray, that I have found, can open up amazing new doors in your relationship with God.

Peace,

Barbara Prinzi

Want to meet with someone to talk more about discerning God’s calling in your life, email Fr. Chris at charris@christchurchcranbrook.org


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