Retreat Notes for Day 3
Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Thoughts

Discernment Examen (by Fr. Armand Nigro, S.J.):

This is a simple prayer exercise which can help us become more prayerful. I call it a discernment examen. It takes only five to ten minutes, preferably in the evening, and goes like this:

1. Relax in the presence of God; be aware of His loving presence in and all around you.
2. Thank Him for everything He has loved into your life since yesterday's examen.
3. Beg to be given "the mind and heart of Christ," to see reality as Jesus sees it.
4. Reflect prayerfully over your day; go through the day with our Lord, checking the "we" (what you and Jesus experienced together) against the "I" (you alone). Jesus lives in us so we can say (as St. Paul writes), "I live not myself alone but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:19). This means that in reality your life is a "we" (you and He) not just an "I".
         As you reflect over the day then, see everything about which you can say "we" (even if you were not conscious of His presence at the time). For example, "We ate breakfast, we drove to work, we cleaned the house, we spent time with people, we rested, etc."
         See what you cannot say "we" of, but have to say "I". For example, "I blew up at the kids, I cussed at the slow traffic, I rashly judged a man, I reacted selfishly, etc."
         As we prayerfully reflect over our day in this way, God sensitizes us to the ways in which He touches us and is present to us all during the day. In other words, He enables us to "discern" or diagnose His touch from all the other movements and urges in our lives.
         The focus of our attention is on God and His presence — not just on us. That's why I call it a "discernment examen." This helps us become more aware of His presence and more peacefully be and work and rest with Him in the days to come.
5. Renew in love your sorrow for ever disappointing or offending our Father and say to Him: "God, my Father, I offer Jesus, Your Son, to You who lives in me, and with Him I offer You myself and all creation, to please and praise You, to love and thank You, to expiate for my and everyone's sins, to purify the good we do badly, and to make up for the good we should have done but failed."
         If we let Jesus redeem our day and our whole lives in this way, He will.
6. Accept an invitation from our Lord to spend some time alone with Him in prayer tomorrow. Make it a date with a definite place and length of time. And accept any invitation He gives to repair any damage or behave better the next time we face the kind of situation which occasioned our fall.
7. End by praying the Our Father slowly.

If you stick to this prayer period or discernment examen for five minutes each day, you will experience growth in sensitivity to God's presence and be more responsive to what He daily calls us.

Reading 1: Isaiah 54:1-8 (NAB)

Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear, break forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor, For more numerous are the children of the deserted wife than the children of her who has a husband, says the LORD. Enlarge the space for your tent, spread out your tent cloths unsparingly; lengthen your ropes and make firm your stakes. For you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left; Your descendants shall dispossess the nations and shall people the desolate cities. Fear not, you shall not be put to shame; you need not blush, for you shall not be disgraced. The shame of your youth you shall forget, the reproach of your widowhood no longer remember. For he who has become your husband is your Maker; his name is the LORD of hosts; Your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, called God of all the earth. The LORD calls you back, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, A wife married in youth and then cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great tenderness I will take you back. In an outburst of wrath, for a moment I hid my face from you; But with enduring love I take pity on you, says the LORD, your redeemer.

Reading 2: Luke 7:36-50 (NAB)

A Pharisee invited him to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. ‘Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty. Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?” Simon said in reply, “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.” He said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment. So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The others at table said to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” But he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Reading 3: Luke 15:11-32 (NAB)

[Jesus] said, “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any.

Coming to his senses he thought, “How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’ So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But his father ordered his servants, “Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began.

Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, “Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ He said to him, “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’”