The Examen with Fr. James Martin, SJ

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 5th Week of Easter. New reflections will be added every Monday.

Believe it or not, it’s still Easter. The liturgical season celebrating Jesus’s rising from the dead is still in swing. How have you celebrated it? And I don’t mean how did you celebrate Easter Sunday all those weeks ago, probably by going to Mass and maybe eating a few jellybeans, but something else. How have you let the joy and hope of the Risen One influence your life? The Resurrection, as you know, changes everything. It tells us that life is stronger than death. That love is stronger than hatred. That hope is stronger than despair. That suffering is never the last word. And that nothing is impossible with God. But do you believe that? Maybe this week, as you pray your examen, you can ask yourself: Do I really believe in those Easter messages? And what difference have they made in my life?

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

Believe it or not, it’s still Easter. The liturgical season celebrating Jesus’s rising from the dead is still in swing. How have you celebrated it? And I don’t mean how did you celebrate Easter Sunday all those weeks ago, probably by going to Mass and maybe eating a few jellybeans, but something else. How have you let the joy and hope of the Risen One influence your life? The Resurrection, as you know, changes everything. It tells us that life is stronger than death. That love is stronger than hatred. That hope is stronger than despair. That suffering is never the last word. And that nothing is impossible with God. But do you believe that? Maybe this week, as you pray your examen, you can ask yourself: Do I really believe in those Easter messages? And what difference have they made in my life?

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

Believe it or not, it’s still Easter. The liturgical season celebrating Jesus’s rising from the dead is still in swing. How have you celebrated it? And I don’t mean how did you celebrate Easter Sunday all those weeks ago, probably by going to Mass and maybe eating a few jellybeans, but something else. How have you let the joy and hope of the Risen One influence your life? The Resurrection, as you know, changes everything. It tells us that life is stronger than death. That love is stronger than hatred. That hope is stronger than despair. That suffering is never the last word. And that nothing is impossible with God. But do you believe that? Maybe this week, as you pray your examen, you can ask yourself: Do I really believe in those Easter messages? And what difference have they made in my life?

A new reflection for the 5th week of Easter will be added on Monday.

Easter, as I mentioned last week, is a whole season.  Because it takes us a while to celebrate the Resurrection.  You know, one reason was probably so hard for the disciples to even begin to understand the Resurrection is because no one had ever experienced it before!  They didn’t know what they were experiencing. You can see traces of that in the Gospels. In some appearances the Risen Christ seems physical. He eats solid food and says, “Touch me and see that I’m not a ghost.”  In others, he seems non-physical. He can, apparently, walk through walls. In some appearances, it’s quite clearly Jesus, in others the disciples can’t recognize him at first. To me, this is a reminder of how difficult it is to explain powerful religious experiences: the disciples probably had a hard time communicating what they had seen.  But just because you can’t explain something doesn’t mean it’s not real. This week you might ask yourself if you’ve had any experiences latterly that are inexplicable, but also meaningful.

A new reflection for the 5th week of Easter will be added on Monday.

Easter, as I mentioned last week, is a whole season.  Because it takes us a while to celebrate the Resurrection.  You know, one reason was probably so hard for the disciples to even begin to understand the Resurrection is because no one had ever experienced it before!  They didn’t know what they were experiencing. You can see traces of that in the Gospels. In some appearances the Risen Christ seems physical. He eats solid food and says, “Touch me and see that I’m not a ghost.”  In others, he seems non-physical. He can, apparently, walk through walls. In some appearances, it’s quite clearly Jesus, in others the disciples can’t recognize him at first. To me, this is a reminder of how difficult it is to explain powerful religious experiences: the disciples probably had a hard time communicating what they had seen.  But just because you can’t explain something doesn’t mean it’s not real. This week you might ask yourself if you’ve had any experiences latterly that are inexplicable, but also meaningful.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 4th Week of Easter. New reflections will be added every Monday.

Easter, as I mentioned last week, is a whole season.  Because it takes us a while to celebrate the Resurrection.  You know, one reason was probably so hard for the disciples to even begin to understand the Resurrection is because no one had ever experienced it before!  They didn’t know what they were experiencing. You can see traces of that in the Gospels. In some appearances the Risen Christ seems physical. He eats solid food and says, “Touch me and see that I’m not a ghost.”  In others, he seems non-physical. He can, apparently, walk through walls. In some appearances, it’s quite clearly Jesus, in others the disciples can’t recognize him at first. To me, this is a reminder of how difficult it is to explain powerful religious experiences: the disciples probably had a hard time communicating what they had seen.  But just because you can’t explain something doesn’t mean it’s not real. This week you might ask yourself if you’ve had any experiences latterly that are inexplicable, but also meaningful.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 4th Week of Easter. New reflections will be added every Monday.

Easter, as I mentioned last week, is a whole season.  Because it takes us a while to celebrate the Resurrection.  You know, one reason was probably so hard for the disciples to even begin to understand the Resurrection is because no one had ever experienced it before!  They didn’t know what they were experiencing. You can see traces of that in the Gospels. In some appearances the Risen Christ seems physical. He eats solid food and says, “Touch me and see that I’m not a ghost.”  In others, he seems non-physical. He can, apparently, walk through walls. In some appearances, it’s quite clearly Jesus, in others the disciples can’t recognize him at first. To me, this is a reminder of how difficult it is to explain powerful religious experiences: the disciples probably had a hard time communicating what they had seen.  But just because you can’t explain something doesn’t mean it’s not real. This week you might ask yourself if you’ve had any experiences latterly that are inexplicable, but also meaningful.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 4th Week of Easter. New reflections will be added every Monday.

Easter, as I mentioned last week, is a whole season.  Because it takes us a while to celebrate the Resurrection.  You know, one reason was probably so hard for the disciples to even begin to understand the Resurrection is because no one had ever experienced it before!  They didn’t know what they were experiencing. You can see traces of that in the Gospels. In some appearances the Risen Christ seems physical. He eats solid food and says, “Touch me and see that I’m not a ghost.”  In others, he seems non-physical. He can, apparently, walk through walls. In some appearances, it’s quite clearly Jesus, in others the disciples can’t recognize him at first. To me, this is a reminder of how difficult it is to explain powerful religious experiences: the disciples probably had a hard time communicating what they had seen.  But just because you can’t explain something doesn’t mean it’s not real. This week you might ask yourself if you’ve had any experiences latterly that are inexplicable, but also meaningful.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 4th Week of Easter. New reflections will be added every Monday.

Easter, as I mentioned last week, is a whole season.  Because it takes us a while to celebrate the Resurrection.  You know, one reason was probably so hard for the disciples to even begin to understand the Resurrection is because no one had ever experienced it before!  They didn’t know what they were experiencing. You can see traces of that in the Gospels. In some appearances the Risen Christ seems physical. He eats solid food and says, “Touch me and see that I’m not a ghost.”  In others, he seems non-physical. He can, apparently, walk through walls. In some appearances, it’s quite clearly Jesus, in others the disciples can’t recognize him at first. To me, this is a reminder of how difficult it is to explain powerful religious experiences: the disciples probably had a hard time communicating what they had seen.  But just because you can’t explain something doesn’t mean it’s not real. This week you might ask yourself if you’ve had any experiences latterly that are inexplicable, but also meaningful.

We'll continue to use the same reflection and examen for the rest of the 4th Week of Easter. New reflections will be added every Monday.

Easter, as I mentioned last week, is a whole season.  Because it takes us a while to celebrate the Resurrection.  You know, one reason was probably so hard for the disciples to even begin to understand the Resurrection is because no one had ever experienced it before!  They didn’t know what they were experiencing. You can see traces of that in the Gospels. In some appearances the Risen Christ seems physical. He eats solid food and says, “Touch me and see that I’m not a ghost.”  In others, he seems non-physical. He can, apparently, walk through walls. In some appearances, it’s quite clearly Jesus, in others the disciples can’t recognize him at first. To me, this is a reminder of how difficult it is to explain powerful religious experiences: the disciples probably had a hard time communicating what they had seen.  But just because you can’t explain something doesn’t mean it’s not real. This week you might ask yourself if you’ve had any experiences latterly that are inexplicable, but also meaningful.