Examin to stay connected always

Thank You Jesus Christ for Creating The Way of Your Word!

Ok, I confess this is kinda weird. I opened my blog and have this page to edit. I couldn't find it, and don't know if I published this text before or not. You see, writing all the time, means I will always have fragments here and there. I start writing while waiting in some office and never look again at the book until I'm waiting again somewhere and I open my old book again and pick up where I left off.

Maybe this is all about teaching you to wait and be patient: What do you think of that?? 

I guess so, I trust you Jesus, and you always say what you would have me do. I know I’ve prayed “Please lend Your Strength, Love, & Wisdom,”  since 1982 and that you have guided me and directed me to this place and time for Your Glory. And I realize there is so much that has come through to me that maybe I've asked for too much . . . . 

Maybe this is all about you accepting this strength you now have, in both knowledge and wisdom as you have been praying for these over and over for decades. Now you can teach and share all you have learned and grown from here in St Pete and at Saint Raphael’s Catholic Church. 

I did have a strong Exodus 90 reading this morning: 

Justice and Truth, Isaiah 32:1-5; 16-18 Yet, the reflections centered on how people have been caught between noble desires for justice and truth and fallen human tendencies toward injustice and lying. The whole art of politics has grown out of a concern for justice. Our many philosophical and scientific traditions have developed as attempts to pursue and disseminate truth. These activities show the ordering God has placed in us; we cannot escape our God-given orientation to truth and justice. However, we all know how imperfectly these ideals are practiced. Not only in politics, but in business, in sport, in family life, in friendship, much of life is soured by the plagues of lies and injustice.

He will change our inner being and make us fully just, and he will heal our minds so that we can attain to all truth. He will order all things rightly. Think of what this will mean for ourselves, for those we love, and for the whole human race. Today, O Wisdom of our God Most High, guiding creation with power and love: come to teach us the path of knowledge!

It was followed by the Charles podcast and then this Marian Consecration, Love You Dearest Loving Lord Jesus Christ

And then the 33 Days of Glory readings on Mother Teresa — when we need Jesus’s Holy Spirit of Love, the Mary Immaculate brings him to us. Let us pray, “Mary, lend us your Heart. Bring us the Holy Spirit. Pray that our hardened hearts would burn with love for Jesus. Help set our hearts on fire with love for him.” The second prayer is “Keep me in your most pure heart.” 

Or, stated more fully, one prays, “Immaculate Heart of Mary, keep me in your most pure heart, so that I may please Jesus through you, in you, and with you.” This part of Mother Teresa’s consecration to Mary is the most profound. She’s not just asking for Mary’s heart to be in her, but for her to be in Mary’s heart! So, this is a prayer to love Jesus through Mary, in Mary, and with Mary. This is something more than simply having Mary lend us her heart. To understand and live it requires a loving dependence and profound union with Mary. The day after tomorrow, we’ll cover what this means and how we get there. Tomorrow, we’ll learn more about Mary’s attitude of heart. Today’s Prayer: Come, Holy Spirit, Living in Mary. Keep me in her most pure and Immaculate Heart..

I get this with how I've always been connected to “Mom,” and my love of women, and nature, animals, the river and woods; which all feels like the love of creation and life and God! Magnificat! Indeed, I have praised and thanked God in all things, because I have found God in all things and pondered deeply in my heart his many signs of love, blessings, and opportunities to share and be in the blessing of God. Doing the daily examination of conscience (“examen”), whereby one reviews the day, at the end of the day, in the presence of the Lord, reflecting on the blessings of the day, recognizing the good things God is doing in our lives and how we are responding to his love. It’s an imitation of Mary’s attitude of heart-pondering prayer.  Luke 2:19, 51

 . . . Where Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.

What surprises you now?? 

Let us pray, “Mary, lend us your Heart. Bring us the Holy Spirit. U Pray that our hearts burn with love for Jesus. Help set our hearts on fire with love for Jesus.”

What can you edit out of this next piece you cut?  

In the Shadow of Our Lady. The examination of conscience (also called “examen”) should be made sometime toward the end of the day. Most people make it shortly before going to bed. It’s basically a mental review of the previous 16 hours or so of consciousness — thus, some people prefer to call the examination of conscience, an examination of “consciousness.” To make the examen, first, we should put ourselves in the presence of God. In other words, we should begin with the attitude that the examen is a time of prayer, not just a mental exercise. 

Devoutly making the Sign of the Cross may be enough to do this. 

Next, we just have to remember one word: baker, B-A-K-E-R, baker. Actually, we also have to remember what each letter of this word stands for. Let’s start with “B.” B stands for “blessings.” According to St. Ignatius, this is the most important of the five points. Here we simply review our day, survey the many blessings God has given us throughout it, and then praise and thank him for these blessings. For instance, maybe we had a great conversation with someone at lunch. During the examen, we might want to reflect on that gift and praise and thank God for it. Of course, we don’t have to go through every single blessing of the day. That would take way too much time. The key is to let one’s heart roam about and settle on the particular peaks of joy and blessing of the day, what Ignatius calls “consolation.” 

One more thing: We shouldn’t forget to thank God for the crosses of the day, which are also blessings. If we get into the habit of praising and thanking God like this every day during our examen, then we’ll begin to better recognize the blessings of our day as they happen, and thus, we’ll develop a continual attitude of gratitude. In other words, our praise and thanks won’t begin to flow simply when we make our examen — it’ll flow all day long. Furthermore, as God sees our efforts to recognize and thank him for his many gifts, he’ll send us more and more. A stands for “Ask.” Although we already placed ourselves in the presence of God when we began the examen, here we need to ask for a special grace from the Holy Spirit, the grace to recognize our sins. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, we’ll remain blind to our sinfulness. 

Thus, when we get to this second point, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us recognize our sinfulness, which brings us to the next point. K stands for “Kill.” Why “kill”? Because it was our sins that killed and crucified Jesus. During this third point, we look at our sinfulness (weaknesses` and attachments, too). So, again, we gaze across the conscious hours of our day. This time, however, we look not for peaks but valleys, what Ignatius calls “desolation.” In other words, we pay attention to those times during our day when our hearts dropped. Why might they have dropped? Maybe because of someone else’s sin. Maybe someone said something unkind to us.

Fine. Did we forgive them? If so, good. If not, well, the examen is a good time to deal with it. Now, let’s keep looking. Here’s another time our hearts dropped. It was this afternoon at work, standing by the water cooler. Hmmm. Why did our hearts drop then? Ah, yes (thanks, Holy Spirit), that’s when we stuck Bob with a verbal barb. Let’s see, anything else? Yes, there’s another heart dropper: We didn’t accept the traffic jam on our way home as a small sharing in the Cross. We should have been more peaceful about it and offered it up as a prayer for others. Okay, so after remembering all those heart-dropping moments, we may feel pretty down. Such a feeling may make us want to run away from Jesus. Let’s not. When the weight of our sinfulness drags us down, that’s the best time to go to Jesus, sinfulness and all — which brings us to the next point. E stands for “embrace.” This is to allow Jesus to embrace us, sinners that we are, with the rays of his merciful love. 

While praying over this point, it may be helpful to think of the Image of Divine Mercy. I like to imagine the rays of this image embracing me with forgiveness. I also like to remember Jesus’ words that it rests his Heart to forgive and that when I go to him with my sinfulness, I give him the joy of being my Savior. I believe that at this point of the examen, we greatly console Jesus when we simply let him embrace us with his merciful love — and of course, we, too, are consoled. I recommend spending some time lingering on this point (in the embrace) before moving on to the next. R stands for “Resolution.” During this last point of the examen, we take what we’ve learned from the previous points and look ahead to the next day, ready to make resolutions. 

For instance, having recognized during “K” that we stuck Bob with a verbal barb at the office today, we might resolve that tomorrow morning we’ll make it up to him by going to his cubicle, slapping him on the back, and congratulating him on how his football team did earlier this evening. Also, having remembered that we were impatient during the traffic jam today, we can resolve to bite our tongues if the sea of brake lights appears again tomorrow. Finally, because during “B” we realized that God was speaking to us during our lunchtime conversation with Sally, giving light on a certain problem, we can resolve to act on that light by looking up the online article she recommended. (I think we get the idea.) 75 Come Be My Light, p. 31. 76 Scott Hahn, A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God’s Covenant Love in Scripture (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications, 1998), p. 26.

7:32:25 12/22/2024 And again you are carefully listening and even stopped to ask when leaving your truck. You grabbed the red pen and book and then went and sat in the sunshine to pray, exactly as we lead you. Yes, this time you sat inside the church and you have this picture before you with all this technology that is for you. 

You already have the prayer that you read in an art sitting on your desk at home. This window, you see it’s in your iPhone already too with the CCW picture book of. 

Thank you for listening now to write this and again learn how and what to post like with Bishop Barron on Facebook this new insight and experience with us now has prepared you for Worldwide web….

7:32:25 12/22/2024.  And again you carefully listened and even stopped to ask us what you needed, when leaving your truck. Grabbed the Red Pen and Book then went and sat in the sunshine to PRAY. Yes, this time you sat inside the church and have this picture before you as this technology is for you. 

You  almost stopped to get your cell phone, and almost went back from the narthex when you saw the prayers. You already have the prayer you read, it is sitting on your desk at home. Just like this window before you now, you already have in your iPhone with a CCW picture book of Saint Raphael Catholic Church history.

Thank you for listening! 

Now to write this and learn how and what to post to Barron Bishop on Facebook. This new insight and experience with us now has prepared you for the World Wide Web.

7:46:54

And I know it’s all about doing for you Jesus. I realize now how I bundled up for my bike ride and then drove my truck instead. I had decided to go to the Amish store after church and found a hose rack for the garden there. Wednesday I helped with the garden class and brought a hose for them and a bunch of oregano, tools, and such.  I didn’t take control of the class and just went along, but maybe I should have.

It’s important for you to watch and learn. She has a lot of steak already, and your place and responsibility will become obvious in time. Like with St Pete College, watch and listen, stepping in stronger will become easier and more obvious. It’s important for us all that you write and share more, each day you learn and experience so much more.

8:52:12 12/22/3024

Wow, the church was packed and I sat in the corner with the sunshine to look out my window. Dozens of people to greet, but only quit quick high. Do you need help with the Sason. She’s the lady that set up the service and all before the church, I almost went up and lit the candles, but you said the young girl servers would do it. So I stayed in the sunshine writing. Like now, I stayed on my knees until everyone left Then got out my pen and book again. Joe from welcome came over just now and TODD waved as he walked by. What was weird and powerful was the sunshine through the window and then this hot young babe in my line of sight to the window.

9:02:01AM, 12/22/24 

Yes, long blonde hair with skin tight yoga shorts on, damn really hot and sexy. So I admitted last week with the gardens I checked Kim online and was expecting for crazy and anticipation. Then she showed up in yoga pants, but Cleary was a lot older and bigger than his little girl alone in church she got up to leave as I walked up for the bread wow, a really pretty young girl. But I talked with Kim and she has dark red hair, which is long too. I did ask him to coffee and even suggested I had work for her. I’m clear that was the wrong move. She borrowed my hat on Wednesday and then dropped it into my truck so she saw my big dirty truck.

9:09:00am 12/22/24

Of course she has a brand new Mercedes like Lesley another white SUV.  Oh, and I was in a box T-shirt, my leather, hiking boots and a sun hat. She commented on the hat concerned about the sun, so I gave it to her and then grabbed another for my truck.

9:44;47am

Well, so I watered the garden and rolled up the hose. The bells rang for the next service in church. The church was full again. When I was son in my face and Deacon, Jim is talking about Mary “escape to visit Elizabeth.”  lol, nope sorry, Jesus told her to visit Elizabeth, living in love and joy, no worries, no fears, moving forward and trusting in God.

9:47:57am

Deacon Jim is speaking of hope, hoping Hope is knowing God is walking with us Mary Holy Spirit. Jesus God is with us Emmanuel blessed are you touched by God‘s favor!

Well, all have that, all are touched by God‘s favor. The Jubilee year of Hope, focus on forgiveness and reconciliation, all touched by God‘s favor. All prophets focused on Hope, all apostles focused on Hope, like Mary and Elizabeth sharing with others how we are all touched by God.

4:25:05am 12/27/24

I sent a note to Matt once again seeing how SPS is fraudulent. I’m reviewing stuff for seal. I’m listening to the last meeting with Dick Alexander. The synchronicity of keeping in Christ to live intentionally in Christ.

5:37am 12/30/24

Purpose of life for all persons to be saved with a true knowledge of Christ. Where Jesus died to resolve all the sins of the world, John 3:16, to bring eternal life. All saved with the knowledge of the truth of God. Saved by grace not works. Provided by God as we all sin Jesus was ransom for many to be saved.

5:38:46pm 12/30/24

I’m always seeking works for my fulfillment. Fixing cleaning cooking and planning so much I need to do, and still I waste time with digital apps. I’m ready to sleep as the sun has already started going down..

7:52:32am 1/3/2025

This is the first time to write in my paper book for the new year (now transcribed here). I Blogged a bit challenge with my son and “loss.” It’s not been my own loss or not so much, but I fear for my son because he refuses to listen or understand.

Yes, I am anxious about my son and my house still. I did get another notice about my house. It was another computer, print out, not really accurate for me at all, as usual. So it’s more obvious than ever that they are fraudulent, the servicer can’t hold a mortgage, nor can they refinance it. So it feels like the same scam again. 

7:53:04am 1/4/2025

I’m in church already. Five hours of sleep maybe. Last time I saw was after 10 PM after Chosen season 4:4,5 then 3:40am in the morning. It was wonderful because I called the Prayerline to get a prayer for Christopher and the usf job. The prayer volunteer was in South Carolina but admitted to a semester at usf. We really had a wonderful chat. When he got to read the Bible verse for my prayers, I asked if I could record the conversation and he was cool about it. I’ve already listened to the conversation once, and then shared it across the godly men list that I started.

I need to make happy Easter cards, to praise the resurrection.

8:33:20am I’m at the morning mass to honor Saint Elizabeth from New York the first USA. We have just all been invited to breakfast and Caverly Hall. Yes it’s the CCW women’s group invited everyone.

10:43:47am Now I’m sitting at the Saturday Morning Market in the sunshine, listening to a band. At breakfast I had a cup of coffee and some grapes. This speaker was the new principal yeah the school principal who got my résumé and application. He has he was a terrible speaker and kinda hard to hear and understand, but his story was great. It was all about Jesus. I stayed for an hour and then Biked to this market.

12:34:20pm of course I got up to help someone move a chair and someone took my chair. It was weird. I tried to find another without any luck so I walked around a bit more bought some plants and left. Lesley invited me to dinner with her so I decided not to have any food at the market. . .

6:16 AM Monday, January 6, 2025.

It’s yours it’s yours… father let your kingdom come. Here, let your will be done, right here in my heart, my father in heaven, I would be by your name, my king come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us with the kingdom of power and the glory forever. 

What.. It’s yours it’s yours, The kingdoms are yours, Forever and ever, Yours, There, The kingdom is yours. The glory yours. All yours. Father … you said it we believe it, as your a man of your word. You keep your promises, you said it, we believe it… 

Everything unfolds for me like magic. I know, and I have this confidence, God you have never failed, and the whole universe unfolds as the Earth is moving with The heart filled with hope, that I am finding my place in this world. More and more coming into appeal. And suddenly I see

What do you see?

It all I guess. And everyone is given a different grace. This means we may all be doing something different. Find a spiritual friend, a spiritual director is great. The fulfillment of all Desire by Ralph Martin. Starting prayer formation class every Thursday
I Love You Dearest Loving Lord Jesus Christ.