St. Ignatius Analysis

St. Ignatius believes that we can find God in all things, at every moment, even in the most ordinary times. In the First Week of the Exercise there is a section on General Examen (SE p.25-31). The examen leads us into a relationship with a God who desires to be personally caught up in the lives of those whom he created. It is a prayer that focused on God’s presence with us in the real wold. It allows us to reflect what God is saying to us through our daily activities in participating in meeting, working on project, having a relationship or conflict. It tells us to approach prayer with gratitude, not guilt. We must take time to reflect on our experience, to look at the happenings in a day and discern their meanings. O’Brien says that “Ignatius encourages us to look back over a period of time and pay attention to what is happening in and around us. Then he invites us to look ahead, to what comes next, so that we can act in a way worthy of our vocations as Christians”.
The examen is a method of reviewing our day in the presence of God. It is an attitude more than a method. We need to set a fixed time aside for personal …show more content…
We live in a world of quick pace and the rational education we receive stop us from going deeper into ourselves to understand the experiences of consolation and desolation. Dirks says that “even though the discernment of spirits seems to be an obvious pathway for any believer to attend to, most people fail to process these inner leanings. In Protestant evangelicalism, most spiritual formation stays focused in the realm of thought, information and then behaviour. Little or no consideration is given to the subjective realm.” I know there are lots of books on discernment of spirits and the importance of consolation and desolation but I seldom hear about it most churches. I believe we have to get Ignatius experience to help Christians to go deeper into their