A new group has been formed in the diocese with a goal of making prayer and a rule of life more accessible to others. To that end, let me share with you my rule of life.
It happened by coincidence, as these things do sometimes. I was walking by the rather large pile of books by my bed, when I spotted a book by Deborah Smith Douglas entitled The Praying Life; Seeking God In All Things. And as these things sometimes happen, I opened the book to a page in the chapter entitled ‘The Examen Reexamined.’ The page that I happened upon was a detail of how to ‘pray the Examen.’ The Examen, I read, is an ancient way of looking back over the day just past to find where God was; it is a way of inviting God into our lives, and by regular examination, beginning to recognize God in all things.
The Examen is prayed just before bed and takes about 15 minutes. It consists of five parts:
First is thanksgiving for all that God has given us, especially particular events during the day just past.
Second is a prayer for illumination, that God will enlighten our hearts with the ‘grace to know’ where we have failed and where we haven’t.
Thirdly follows the real examination of the day, which is imagining sitting on the sofa with God, watching a video of the day and looking to see where we had encountered God during the day.
Fourthly is prayer for appropriate sorrow or delight for what has happened.
Finally is the hope for the morrow. Ms. Douglas usually ends her Examen with the prayer of St. Richard of Chichester ‘May I know thee more clearly, see thee more nearly and follow thee more dearly.’
After reading this, I decided to pray the Examen. After falling asleep in the middle of it the first night, I decided that the instruction ‘to pray in quiet just before sleep’ probably did not mean praying in bed. So now I pray sitting up. It has become an enriching rule of life for me.
The Praying Life; Seeking God In All Things, by Deborah Smith Douglas, Morehouse Publishing, 2003; chapter 6 ‘The Examen Reexamined’, pages 29-35.
