Celebrating the New Year!

Using the Examen to Look Back Over Your Year

For me, celebrating the New Year has always held a special place in my heart. As a child my mom always bought us special treats and party favorites so we could ring in the new year alongside Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve As parents, we provided a similar environment for our kids. We gathered together with other families for a pajama party to usher in the Year, playing games, eating our favorite foods, making root beer floats, and dancing the night away. I still make it a point to do something special on New’s Eve. Entering a new year can be filled with emotions. I remember always wondering what the new year would bring, feeling scared for the future and desperately wanting to hold on to the present. Contemplating the mysterious future often filled me with anxiety. Then there’s the obsession with making New Year’s resolutions. Of course, I always made mine, only to be disappointed in myself a few weeks later, reminding me once again that I just didn’t have it in me. A few years ago, I had a very different experience. I was invited to use the Examen as a way of previewing my year through the eyes of God and seeing my year the way saw it. It was a totally experience for me. I didn’t bring fear or anxiety but a tranquility of knowing. So much of my life had been spent hurrying from one thing to another without much consideration or reflection. This meditation offered me an opportunity sit with God and reminisce over the events of my year. Where did I see God in my year’s journey? What stirrings from the Holy Spirit to consolation, feelings of joy and contentment? What occurrences brought about struggles and pain? This experience invited me into a perspective I had not contemplated before, and although it was new, it didn’t feel overwhelming or scary because I could feel God accompanying me on this journey. So often, we don’t have a sense of where we been unless we make a conscious effort to review and reflect. I know that this reflection helped me not only to see my year unfold but also to recognize God holding my hand through it all. Even during the difficulties, God was there with me. the last part of the Examen, you look towards the future. On this occasion, I looked towards the new year and asked for guidance from the Holy Spirit. This time, there was no regret or disgust; I wasn’t worried what I hadn’t accomplished but instead felt grateful that I had invited God to the new year and accompany me. If this sounds like the way you would like to begin the New Year, I have included a link for the Yearly Examen meditation by Becky Eldredge You can use it all at once or do a small part each week in January. Yearly Examen Meditation:  https://beckyeldredge.com/guided-audio/

PRAYING THE EXAMEN:

Review your year through God's eyes can be an enriching experience. You can reflect on it all at once or take a few days or weeks in January and early February. Feel free to go through your photos and any journal entries you made during the year.

Find a sacred or quiet space, bring a journal, candle, soft music, and give yourself plenty of time to reflect on the questions below. You may want to have a special journal for End of the Year or Monthly Reflections.

Steps to the Yearly Examen- Written by Becky Eldredge

1. Ask God to show you your year as God saw it.

• Ask God to open your eyes, your ears, and your heart to see what God saw.

2. Thanksgiving.

• Reflect back over the past year in thanksgiving. What are you thankful for? Ask God to show you the gifts of the year. Think about the people you shared life with, the people you encountered, your old friends, new friends, your family, your work colleagues.

• What memories of the past year are you thankful for? The simple moments? The extra special ones? Memories at home, at work, with friends and loved ones? In nature?

• As God brings the memories to mind, offer your prayers of thanks for the gifts of your

life.

3. Presence.

• Again, look back over your year with God’s help. Ask God to show you where you felt

God’s presence. Where did you experience an increase of faith, of hope, and of love this year? Where did you experience the fruits of the Holy Spirit named in Galatians 5:22-23 at work in your life (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control)?

• What were you doing, what was happening, and who were you with when you

experienced them?

• Where did you have moments of insight and revelation from God about

yourself? About God? About your relationships? About your call? About others?

About the world?

• Were there moments you were invited to feel as God might have felt? Moments of

difficult consolation such as feeling sorrow or even holy anger at suffering or injustices you saw?

• What key moments do you feel God inviting you to remember about the year?

4. Lack of God’s Presence.

• Look back over your year again with God’s help. Ask God to show you where you

struggled to name God’s presence. Where did you feel a decrease of faith, of hope, of

love? Where did you experience the opposite of the fruits of the Spirit as named in

Galatians 5: 19-21 (immorality, impurity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy,

outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy)?

• What were you doing, what was happening, and who were you with when experienced this?

• Where were moments you inhibited your own growth in God due to a sinful act? Were there moments where relationships were hurt? Or actions done that hurt you? Or that hurt someone else?

• Were there any moments where suffering, loss or sorrow became overwhelming? Or

you felt a sense of hopelessness, discouragement or helplessness?

• Where might you have experienced confusion or lack of clarity? Anxiety? Fear?

5. Whatever God stirs to your mind, talk to God about it. Ask for forgiveness, for healing, for understanding, and for light. What are you being offered in the memories the Holy Spirit stirs to mind?

Looking ahead to the coming year.

• Gather all that God revealed to you about what you are thankful for, where you felt

God’s presence, and where you struggled to name God’s presence.

• Share your hopes and desires for the year ahead. Invite God to reveal to you God’s

hopes and dreams for you.

• Are there any actions you are being invited to take?

• Ask for the graces you seek this year.

Close with an Our Father or write a special prayer or poem around this experience.

May this reflection meet you where you are today.