“…the fruit of the Spirit is love…”
“…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. (Galatians 5:22-23)
St. Ignatius of Loyola was a proponent of spiritual reflection and review. In his Spiritual Exercises (published in 1548), Ignatius teaches the Prayer of the Examen. He encourages the supplicant to reflect back on a day, a week, or a season, and prayerfully consider areas of consolation and desolation.
Consolation includes times when you were drawn toward God’s active presence in the world. Times when the Fruit of the Spirit was evident (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness…). Times when you were growing in love, mercy, and hope.
Ignatius also encourages us, not to avoid, but to also consider areas of desolation. Times when you were drawn away from God’s active presence in the world. Times of resentment, ingratitude, jealousy, enmity, and strife. Times of turning in on self. Times of leaning away from community.
In my Evening Prayer, there is a short form of Ignatius’ Prayer of the Examen that is called an Examination of Conscience. It is very simple exercise, but I commend it to you for your evening devotion. Give it a try for the next 2 weeks and let me know how it goes.
- Briefly consider your day.
- What did I do well?
- What could I have done better?
- Whom did I offend?
- Whom did I help or encourage?
- Offer a simple Prayer of Confession
- Pray the Lord’s Prayer
- Rest Well
Summer Reading
“Hear, my child, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble. Keep hold of...
Unveil My Eyes
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to...
Thank You
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you” (Philippians 1:2-3). St. Paul often begins his letters by offering a word of thanks. Paul knows that it is good to be grateful. In my morning prayers, I...
Holy Week
“As Jesus was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!...