The Examen with Fr. James Martin, SJ

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 8th Week of Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Monday.

Now that the Easter Season and Pentecost have concluded, we’re back to Ordinary Time. And that can feel so, well, ordinary, can’t it? If you’re a churchgoing Christian, you might start to think, “Well, there’s not much going on between now and Advent, is there?” But that’s a somewhat skewed way of looking at life, at least at Jesus’s life. Because there’s an awful lot between the time he was born and the time he died--to put it mildly. And even when you take out his public ministry—his preaching and healing in Galilee and Judea, which takes up most of the Gospels—you’re left with a big chunk of his life that we know little about. This part of his life, between ages 12, when he’s found in the Temple teaching, and age 30, is called the “Hidden Life.” The Hidden Life is the time that Jesus spent in Nazareth, growing up as a boy, learning to be a carpenter and then working as a carpenter. Remember he’s called “carpenter” more than he’s called “rabbi” in the Gospels. Now, one reason that there’s little about the Hidden Life in the Gospels is probably because it was so ordinary. And yet Jesus is no less the Son of God when he is sawing a piece of wood in his workshop in Nazareth. That ordinary life helped to form something extraordinary. This week, why not ask yourself: What ordinary parts of my life do I want to thank God for? Maybe they’re more extraordinary than you think.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 8th Week of Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Monday.

Now that the Easter Season and Pentecost have concluded, we’re back to Ordinary Time. And that can feel so, well, ordinary, can’t it? If you’re a churchgoing Christian, you might start to think, “Well, there’s not much going on between now and Advent, is there?” But that’s a somewhat skewed way of looking at life, at least at Jesus’s life. Because there’s an awful lot between the time he was born and the time he died--to put it mildly. And even when you take out his public ministry—his preaching and healing in Galilee and Judea, which takes up most of the Gospels—you’re left with a big chunk of his life that we know little about. This part of his life, between ages 12, when he’s found in the Temple teaching, and age 30, is called the “Hidden Life.” The Hidden Life is the time that Jesus spent in Nazareth, growing up as a boy, learning to be a carpenter and then working as a carpenter. Remember he’s called “carpenter” more than he’s called “rabbi” in the Gospels. Now, one reason that there’s little about the Hidden Life in the Gospels is probably because it was so ordinary. And yet Jesus is no less the Son of God when he is sawing a piece of wood in his workshop in Nazareth. That ordinary life helped to form something extraordinary. This week, why not ask yourself: What ordinary parts of my life do I want to thank God for? Maybe they’re more extraordinary than you think.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 8th Week of Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Monday.

Now that the Easter Season and Pentecost have concluded, we’re back to Ordinary Time. And that can feel so, well, ordinary, can’t it? If you’re a churchgoing Christian, you might start to think, “Well, there’s not much going on between now and Advent, is there?” But that’s a somewhat skewed way of looking at life, at least at Jesus’s life. Because there’s an awful lot between the time he was born and the time he died--to put it mildly. And even when you take out his public ministry—his preaching and healing in Galilee and Judea, which takes up most of the Gospels—you’re left with a big chunk of his life that we know little about. This part of his life, between ages 12, when he’s found in the Temple teaching, and age 30, is called the “Hidden Life.” The Hidden Life is the time that Jesus spent in Nazareth, growing up as a boy, learning to be a carpenter and then working as a carpenter. Remember he’s called “carpenter” more than he’s called “rabbi” in the Gospels. Now, one reason that there’s little about the Hidden Life in the Gospels is probably because it was so ordinary. And yet Jesus is no less the Son of God when he is sawing a piece of wood in his workshop in Nazareth. That ordinary life helped to form something extraordinary. This week, why not ask yourself: What ordinary parts of my life do I want to thank God for? Maybe they’re more extraordinary than you think.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 8th Week of Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Monday.

Now that the Easter Season and Pentecost have concluded, we’re back to Ordinary Time. And that can feel so, well, ordinary, can’t it? If you’re a churchgoing Christian, you might start to think, “Well, there’s not much going on between now and Advent, is there?” But that’s a somewhat skewed way of looking at life, at least at Jesus’s life. Because there’s an awful lot between the time he was born and the time he died--to put it mildly. And even when you take out his public ministry—his preaching and healing in Galilee and Judea, which takes up most of the Gospels—you’re left with a big chunk of his life that we know little about. This part of his life, between ages 12, when he’s found in the Temple teaching, and age 30, is called the “Hidden Life.” The Hidden Life is the time that Jesus spent in Nazareth, growing up as a boy, learning to be a carpenter and then working as a carpenter. Remember he’s called “carpenter” more than he’s called “rabbi” in the Gospels. Now, one reason that there’s little about the Hidden Life in the Gospels is probably because it was so ordinary. And yet Jesus is no less the Son of God when he is sawing a piece of wood in his workshop in Nazareth. That ordinary life helped to form something extraordinary. This week, why not ask yourself: What ordinary parts of my life do I want to thank God for? Maybe they’re more extraordinary than you think.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 8th Week of Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Monday.

Now that the Easter Season and Pentecost have concluded, we’re back to Ordinary Time. And that can feel so, well, ordinary, can’t it? If you’re a churchgoing Christian, you might start to think, “Well, there’s not much going on between now and Advent, is there?” But that’s a somewhat skewed way of looking at life, at least at Jesus’s life. Because there’s an awful lot between the time he was born and the time he died--to put it mildly. And even when you take out his public ministry—his preaching and healing in Galilee and Judea, which takes up most of the Gospels—you’re left with a big chunk of his life that we know little about. This part of his life, between ages 12, when he’s found in the Temple teaching, and age 30, is called the “Hidden Life.” The Hidden Life is the time that Jesus spent in Nazareth, growing up as a boy, learning to be a carpenter and then working as a carpenter. Remember he’s called “carpenter” more than he’s called “rabbi” in the Gospels. Now, one reason that there’s little about the Hidden Life in the Gospels is probably because it was so ordinary. And yet Jesus is no less the Son of God when he is sawing a piece of wood in his workshop in Nazareth. That ordinary life helped to form something extraordinary. This week, why not ask yourself: What ordinary parts of my life do I want to thank God for? Maybe they’re more extraordinary than you think.

Because today is Monday, we have a new reflection for the week.

Now that the Easter Season and Pentecost have concluded, we’re back to Ordinary Time. And that can feel so, well, ordinary, can’t it? If you’re a churchgoing Christian, you might start to think, “Well, there’s not much going on between now and Advent, is there?” But that’s a somewhat skewed way of looking at life, at least at Jesus’s life. Because there’s an awful lot between the time he was born and the time he died--to put it mildly. And even when you take out his public ministry—his preaching and healing in Galilee and Judea, which takes up most of the Gospels—you’re left with a big chunk of his life that we know little about. This part of his life, between ages 12, when he’s found in the Temple teaching, and age 30, is called the “Hidden Life.” The Hidden Life is the time that Jesus spent in Nazareth, growing up as a boy, learning to be a carpenter and then working as a carpenter. Remember he’s called “carpenter” more than he’s called “rabbi” in the Gospels. Now, one reason that there’s little about the Hidden Life in the Gospels is probably because it was so ordinary. And yet Jesus is no less the Son of God when he is sawing a piece of wood in his workshop in Nazareth. That ordinary life helped to form something extraordinary. This week, why not ask yourself: What ordinary parts of my life do I want to thank God for? Maybe they’re more extraordinary than you think.

Because today is Monday, we have a new reflection for the week.

Now that the Easter Season and Pentecost have concluded, we’re back to Ordinary Time. And that can feel so, well, ordinary, can’t it? If you’re a churchgoing Christian, you might start to think, “Well, there’s not much going on between now and Advent, is there?” But that’s a somewhat skewed way of looking at life, at least at Jesus’s life. Because there’s an awful lot between the time he was born and the time he died--to put it mildly. And even when you take out his public ministry—his preaching and healing in Galilee and Judea, which takes up most of the Gospels—you’re left with a big chunk of his life that we know little about. This part of his life, between ages 12, when he’s found in the Temple teaching, and age 30, is called the “Hidden Life.” The Hidden Life is the time that Jesus spent in Nazareth, growing up as a boy, learning to be a carpenter and then working as a carpenter. Remember he’s called “carpenter” more than he’s called “rabbi” in the Gospels. Now, one reason that there’s little about the Hidden Life in the Gospels is probably because it was so ordinary. And yet Jesus is no less the Son of God when he is sawing a piece of wood in his workshop in Nazareth. That ordinary life helped to form something extraordinary. This week, why not ask yourself: What ordinary parts of my life do I want to thank God for? Maybe they’re more extraordinary than you think.

A new reflection for the 8th week of Ordinary Time will be added on Monday.

On the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out, in a powerful way, onto the disciples, who were gathered together in the same room where the Last Supper occurred. The New Testament describes an incredible scene, with tongues of fire appearing over people’s heads and everyone speaking in foreign languages. Did it happen exactly that way? Who knows? It also may be true that this was the only way that writer of the Acts of the Apostles could describe such a profound experience of the Holy Spirit. As was the case with Easter, Pentecost was something that had never happened before and so was probably impossible to describe. One of the lessons of Pentecost, though, is that the Holy Spirit gives us the graces we need to spread the Good News that God loves us and that God is with us. Now, the Holy Spirit, I think, might be the forgotten person of the Holy Trinity. We tend to think a lot about God the Father and a lot about Jesus. But, in fact, it’s through the Spirit that we encounter both the Father and Son today. The Spirit also encourages us, consoles us, urges us on, and literally “in-spires” us. So this week, as you look back over your daily life, you might pay special attention to those times when you really felt the presence of the Holy Spirit.

A new reflection for the 8th week of Ordinary Time will be added on Monday.

On the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out, in a powerful way, onto the disciples, who were gathered together in the same room where the Last Supper occurred. The New Testament describes an incredible scene, with tongues of fire appearing over people’s heads and everyone speaking in foreign languages. Did it happen exactly that way? Who knows? It also may be true that this was the only way that writer of the Acts of the Apostles could describe such a profound experience of the Holy Spirit. As was the case with Easter, Pentecost was something that had never happened before and so was probably impossible to describe. One of the lessons of Pentecost, though, is that the Holy Spirit gives us the graces we need to spread the Good News that God loves us and that God is with us. Now, the Holy Spirit, I think, might be the forgotten person of the Holy Trinity. We tend to think a lot about God the Father and a lot about Jesus. But, in fact, it’s through the Spirit that we encounter both the Father and Son today. The Spirit also encourages us, consoles us, urges us on, and literally “in-spires” us. So this week, as you look back over your daily life, you might pay special attention to those times when you really felt the presence of the Holy Spirit.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 7th Week of Ordinary Time. New reflections will be added every Monday.

On the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out, in a powerful way, onto the disciples, who were gathered together in the same room where the Last Supper occurred. The New Testament describes an incredible scene, with tongues of fire appearing over people’s heads and everyone speaking in foreign languages. Did it happen exactly that way? Who knows? It also may be true that this was the only way that writer of the Acts of the Apostles could describe such a profound experience of the Holy Spirit. As was the case with Easter, Pentecost was something that had never happened before and so was probably impossible to describe. One of the lessons of Pentecost, though, is that the Holy Spirit gives us the graces we need to spread the Good News that God loves us and that God is with us. Now, the Holy Spirit, I think, might be the forgotten person of the Holy Trinity. We tend to think a lot about God the Father and a lot about Jesus. But, in fact, it’s through the Spirit that we encounter both the Father and Son today. The Spirit also encourages us, consoles us, urges us on, and literally “in-spires” us. So this week, as you look back over your daily life, you might pay special attention to those times when you really felt the presence of the Holy Spirit.