The Examen with Fr. James Martin, SJ

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Sunday. 

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is a beautiful, mysterious and even confusing story, told in all three of the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. In the story, Jesus calls three of his disciples together—Peter, James and John—and leads them up on a mountain, the traditional place of revelation in the Bible, where he is “transfigured” before them. His face shines like the sun, his clothes become dazzling white, and he appears to be speaking with Moses and Elijah. Peter is so thunderstruck that he says, “Let’s build three booths here,” so that they can worship Jesus. But Jesus tells them that they need to come down off the mountain.

Believe it or not, that’s very much like our own experiences in the spiritual life.  Sometimes we have a powerful spiritual experience—a moment in prayer, a special insight, an emotional time in church—and we want to do just what the disciples did. They say, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” They want to stay. So do we. But God invites us to see that while we can enjoy the experience, at some point it’s time to get back to our daily lives. To bring the fruits of what we’ve experienced to others: by loving, forgiving and showing mercy. In short, after these experiences, beautiful as they are, it’s time to come down off the mountain.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Sunday. 

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is a beautiful, mysterious and even confusing story, told in all three of the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. In the story, Jesus calls three of his disciples together—Peter, James and John—and leads them up on a mountain, the traditional place of revelation in the Bible, where he is “transfigured” before them. His face shines like the sun, his clothes become dazzling white, and he appears to be speaking with Moses and Elijah. Peter is so thunderstruck that he says, “Let’s build three booths here,” so that they can worship Jesus. But Jesus tells them that they need to come down off the mountain.

Believe it or not, that’s very much like our own experiences in the spiritual life.  Sometimes we have a powerful spiritual experience—a moment in prayer, a special insight, an emotional time in church—and we want to do just what the disciples did. They say, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” They want to stay. So do we. But God invites us to see that while we can enjoy the experience, at some point it’s time to get back to our daily lives. To bring the fruits of what we’ve experienced to others: by loving, forgiving and showing mercy. In short, after these experiences, beautiful as they are, it’s time to come down off the mountain.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Sunday. 

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is a beautiful, mysterious and even confusing story, told in all three of the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. In the story, Jesus calls three of his disciples together—Peter, James and John—and leads them up on a mountain, the traditional place of revelation in the Bible, where he is “transfigured” before them. His face shines like the sun, his clothes become dazzling white, and he appears to be speaking with Moses and Elijah. Peter is so thunderstruck that he says, “Let’s build three booths here,” so that they can worship Jesus. But Jesus tells them that they need to come down off the mountain.

Believe it or not, that’s very much like our own experiences in the spiritual life.  Sometimes we have a powerful spiritual experience—a moment in prayer, a special insight, an emotional time in church—and we want to do just what the disciples did. They say, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” They want to stay. So do we. But God invites us to see that while we can enjoy the experience, at some point it’s time to get back to our daily lives. To bring the fruits of what we’ve experienced to others: by loving, forgiving and showing mercy. In short, after these experiences, beautiful as they are, it’s time to come down off the mountain.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Sunday. 

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is a beautiful, mysterious and even confusing story, told in all three of the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. In the story, Jesus calls three of his disciples together—Peter, James and John—and leads them up on a mountain, the traditional place of revelation in the Bible, where he is “transfigured” before them. His face shines like the sun, his clothes become dazzling white, and he appears to be speaking with Moses and Elijah. Peter is so thunderstruck that he says, “Let’s build three booths here,” so that they can worship Jesus. But Jesus tells them that they need to come down off the mountain.

Believe it or not, that’s very much like our own experiences in the spiritual life.  Sometimes we have a powerful spiritual experience—a moment in prayer, a special insight, an emotional time in church—and we want to do just what the disciples did. They say, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” They want to stay. So do we. But God invites us to see that while we can enjoy the experience, at some point it’s time to get back to our daily lives. To bring the fruits of what we’ve experienced to others: by loving, forgiving and showing mercy. In short, after these experiences, beautiful as they are, it’s time to come down off the mountain.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Sunday. 

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is a beautiful, mysterious and even confusing story, told in all three of the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. In the story, Jesus calls three of his disciples together—Peter, James and John—and leads them up on a mountain, the traditional place of revelation in the Bible, where he is “transfigured” before them. His face shines like the sun, his clothes become dazzling white, and he appears to be speaking with Moses and Elijah. Peter is so thunderstruck that he says, “Let’s build three booths here,” so that they can worship Jesus. But Jesus tells them that they need to come down off the mountain.

Believe it or not, that’s very much like our own experiences in the spiritual life.  Sometimes we have a powerful spiritual experience—a moment in prayer, a special insight, an emotional time in church—and we want to do just what the disciples did. They say, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” They want to stay. So do we. But God invites us to see that while we can enjoy the experience, at some point it’s time to get back to our daily lives. To bring the fruits of what we’ve experienced to others: by loving, forgiving and showing mercy. In short, after these experiences, beautiful as they are, it’s time to come down off the mountain.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Sunday. 

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is a beautiful, mysterious and even confusing story, told in all three of the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. In the story, Jesus calls three of his disciples together—Peter, James and John—and leads them up on a mountain, the traditional place of revelation in the Bible, where he is “transfigured” before them. His face shines like the sun, his clothes become dazzling white, and he appears to be speaking with Moses and Elijah. Peter is so thunderstruck that he says, “Let’s build three booths here,” so that they can worship Jesus. But Jesus tells them that they need to come down off the mountain.

Believe it or not, that’s very much like our own experiences in the spiritual life.  Sometimes we have a powerful spiritual experience—a moment in prayer, a special insight, an emotional time in church—and we want to do just what the disciples did. They say, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” They want to stay. So do we. But God invites us to see that while we can enjoy the experience, at some point it’s time to get back to our daily lives. To bring the fruits of what we’ve experienced to others: by loving, forgiving and showing mercy. In short, after these experiences, beautiful as they are, it’s time to come down off the mountain.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Sunday. 

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is a beautiful, mysterious and even confusing story, told in all three of the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. In the story, Jesus calls three of his disciples together—Peter, James and John—and leads them up on a mountain, the traditional place of revelation in the Bible, where he is “transfigured” before them. His face shines like the sun, his clothes become dazzling white, and he appears to be speaking with Moses and Elijah. Peter is so thunderstruck that he says, “Let’s build three booths here,” so that they can worship Jesus. But Jesus tells them that they need to come down off the mountain.

Believe it or not, that’s very much like our own experiences in the spiritual life.  Sometimes we have a powerful spiritual experience—a moment in prayer, a special insight, an emotional time in church—and we want to do just what the disciples did. They say, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” They want to stay. So do we. But God invites us to see that while we can enjoy the experience, at some point it’s time to get back to our daily lives. To bring the fruits of what we’ve experienced to others: by loving, forgiving and showing mercy. In short, after these experiences, beautiful as they are, it’s time to come down off the mountain.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Sunday. 

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is a beautiful, mysterious and even confusing story, told in all three of the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. In the story, Jesus calls three of his disciples together—Peter, James and John—and leads them up on a mountain, the traditional place of revelation in the Bible, where he is “transfigured” before them. His face shines like the sun, his clothes become dazzling white, and he appears to be speaking with Moses and Elijah. Peter is so thunderstruck that he says, “Let’s build three booths here,” so that they can worship Jesus. But Jesus tells them that they need to come down off the mountain.

Believe it or not, that’s very much like our own experiences in the spiritual life.  Sometimes we have a powerful spiritual experience—a moment in prayer, a special insight, an emotional time in church—and we want to do just what the disciples did. They say, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” They want to stay. So do we. But God invites us to see that while we can enjoy the experience, at some point it’s time to get back to our daily lives. To bring the fruits of what we’ve experienced to others: by loving, forgiving and showing mercy. In short, after these experiences, beautiful as they are, it’s time to come down off the mountain.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Sunday. 

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is a beautiful, mysterious and even confusing story, told in all three of the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. In the story, Jesus calls three of his disciples together—Peter, James and John—and leads them up on a mountain, the traditional place of revelation in the Bible, where he is “transfigured” before them. His face shines like the sun, his clothes become dazzling white, and he appears to be speaking with Moses and Elijah. Peter is so thunderstruck that he says, “Let’s build three booths here,” so that they can worship Jesus. But Jesus tells them that they need to come down off the mountain.

Believe it or not, that’s very much like our own experiences in the spiritual life.  Sometimes we have a powerful spiritual experience—a moment in prayer, a special insight, an emotional time in church—and we want to do just what the disciples did. They say, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” They want to stay. So do we. But God invites us to see that while we can enjoy the experience, at some point it’s time to get back to our daily lives. To bring the fruits of what we’ve experienced to others: by loving, forgiving and showing mercy. In short, after these experiences, beautiful as they are, it’s time to come down off the mountain.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Sunday. 

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is a beautiful, mysterious and even confusing story, told in all three of the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. In the story, Jesus calls three of his disciples together—Peter, James and John—and leads them up on a mountain, the traditional place of revelation in the Bible, where he is “transfigured” before them. His face shines like the sun, his clothes become dazzling white, and he appears to be speaking with Moses and Elijah. Peter is so thunderstruck that he says, “Let’s build three booths here,” so that they can worship Jesus. But Jesus tells them that they need to come down off the mountain.

Believe it or not, that’s very much like our own experiences in the spiritual life.  Sometimes we have a powerful spiritual experience—a moment in prayer, a special insight, an emotional time in church—and we want to do just what the disciples did. They say, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” They want to stay. So do we. But God invites us to see that while we can enjoy the experience, at some point it’s time to get back to our daily lives. To bring the fruits of what we’ve experienced to others: by loving, forgiving and showing mercy. In short, after these experiences, beautiful as they are, it’s time to come down off the mountain.