Examen - 21 2025
Transcript
1. Become aware of God’s presence with thanksgiving.
Take a deep breath and allow yourself to rest in the awareness that God is here – all around us – a God whose very nature is compassion.
Thank God for this moment of stillness, for the capacity to love, and for the gift of relationship –even when those relationships are messy, strained, or difficult.
Ask God to open your heart to see others as God sees them: with tenderness, with understanding, and with mercy.
Pray for the grace to be honest – but also gentle – with yourself in this reflection.
2. Review the day (or the time period since your last examen).
Look back over your recent experiences, especially moments of disagreement, misunderstanding, or tension – whether those disagreements were spoken aloud or just felt silently in your heart.
Who did you find difficult to understand?
Who challenged your patience, offended your values, or stirred frustration within you?
Notice the feelings these encounters brought about – was it anger, sorrow, defensiveness, weariness, apathy, something else…?
Now review these moments again, but this time, invite God to be present within them, perhaps even visualize God or Jesus sitting nearby, observing the interaction, or looking over your shoulder and taking in the encounter. What changes when you recall that God is with you through these difficult moments?
3. Recognize moments of grace and failure.
Where did compassion find a home in your heart recently?
Recall those moments when you paused before judging, you listened more than you spoke, or you offered a word of kindness even in disagreement.
Thank God for those moments of grace.
Now, acknowledge times when you resisted compassion – when you dismissed someone, avoided them, or spoke sharply to them.
Ask yourself: What was I protecting? What fear or hurt was underneath my reaction?
Recognize that even in failure, even when we fall short, God’s invitation to grow in love continues.
4. Seek healing and renewal.
Bring before God the people and situations that continue to weigh heavily on your heart.
Ask for forgiveness for the ways you fell short in loving, and pray for healing where harm was done – whether to yourself or to others.
If someone has wounded you, place that pain in God’s hands. Ask not only for justice, but also for freedom – freedom from the heavy burden of resentment. Pray for the grace to see that person as God sees them: imperfect, yes – but also beloved.
Remember that none of us are perfect; all of us stand equally in need of compassion.
5. Look ahead with hope and trust.
Turn your thoughts toward the hours or days to come.
Imagine the people you may encounter – especially those who are different from you, or with whom you have a tendency to disagree.
Ask God to prepare your heart to meet them with patience, curiosity, and respect.
Pray for the strength to listen before reacting, to seek understanding rather than judgment, and to love even if it feels undeserved.
End with gratitude and a simple prayer:
“God of compassion, teach me to see You in every person I meet.
Help me to love even in disagreement,
to forgive even when it hurts,
and to remember that all things and all people are of You.”
Amen.
November 21, 2025
Examen: Compassion
SUMMARY: Loving our Neighbors is a noble sentiment, but what about those neighbors with whom we disagree or who have caused us harm?
PRESENTER: Tim Love, Executive Director and Title IX Coordinator, Office for Equity & Compliance (OEC)
Transcript
1. Become aware of God’s presence with thanksgiving.
Take a deep breath and allow yourself to rest in the awareness that God is here – all around us – a God whose very nature is compassion.
Thank God for this moment of stillness, for the capacity to love, and for the gift of relationship –even when those relationships are messy, strained, or difficult.
Ask God to open your heart to see others as God sees them: with tenderness, with understanding, and with mercy.
Pray for the grace to be honest – but also gentle – with yourself in this reflection.
2. Review the day (or the time period since your last examen).
Look back over your recent experiences, especially moments of disagreement, misunderstanding, or tension – whether those disagreements were spoken aloud or just felt silently in your heart.
Who did you find difficult to understand?
Who challenged your patience, offended your values, or stirred frustration within you?
Notice the feelings these encounters brought about – was it anger, sorrow, defensiveness, weariness, apathy, something else…?
Now review these moments again, but this time, invite God to be present within them, perhaps even visualize God or Jesus sitting nearby, observing the interaction, or looking over your shoulder and taking in the encounter. What changes when you recall that God is with you through these difficult moments?
3. Recognize moments of grace and failure.
Where did compassion find a home in your heart recently?
Recall those moments when you paused before judging, you listened more than you spoke, or you offered a word of kindness even in disagreement.
Thank God for those moments of grace.
Now, acknowledge times when you resisted compassion – when you dismissed someone, avoided them, or spoke sharply to them.
Ask yourself: What was I protecting? What fear or hurt was underneath my reaction?
Recognize that even in failure, even when we fall short, God’s invitation to grow in love continues.
4. Seek healing and renewal.
Bring before God the people and situations that continue to weigh heavily on your heart.
Ask for forgiveness for the ways you fell short in loving, and pray for healing where harm was done – whether to yourself or to others.
If someone has wounded you, place that pain in God’s hands. Ask not only for justice, but also for freedom – freedom from the heavy burden of resentment. Pray for the grace to see that person as God sees them: imperfect, yes – but also beloved.
Remember that none of us are perfect; all of us stand equally in need of compassion.
5. Look ahead with hope and trust.
Turn your thoughts toward the hours or days to come.
Imagine the people you may encounter – especially those who are different from you, or with whom you have a tendency to disagree.
Ask God to prepare your heart to meet them with patience, curiosity, and respect.
Pray for the strength to listen before reacting, to seek understanding rather than judgment, and to love even if it feels undeserved.
End with gratitude and a simple prayer:
“God of compassion, teach me to see You in every person I meet.
Help me to love even in disagreement,
to forgive even when it hurts,
and to remember that all things and all people are of You.”
Amen.