The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - An Examen Prayer for 2022

Episode Date: December 9, 2022

As we draw near to the end of this year, Jeff guides us through a practical examen prayer to help us reflect on the blessings we've received this past year and identify the areas of growth for the new year. Snippet from the Show "Jesus, show me what you want me to see" Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 300. Examined Prayer for 2022. Well, here we are. We're almost at the end of 2022. and it has been one heck of a year, hasn't it? As you look back and you take a look at January, February, March, all the way through just last week, so much has happened, not only politically, but spiritually and socially and government-wise. So many changes taking place in the world.

And there you are, and there I am right in the middle of it all. And we have a walk with God. We're modern day disciples, or what I call activated disciples. And I would like to take you today on a little bit of a review of 2022 and your life. In fact, what I'd like to do today is take the examine prayer, which is an Ignatian prayer. And it's a way of looking back on the day and to see how do we do and what changes need to be made going into tomorrow, except here's what I want to do. I would like to do an examine prayer in a way for the whole year of 2022 and take a look at our lives and see what types of changes need to take place as we get ready for 2023.

So I hope you'll join me today as we take a look at this. I want to kind of walk you through how you would go about looking at 2022 and making some tweaks there. in the same way that we do this on a daily basis, we want to do this now for the whole year. Now, it's not going to be as hard as it sounds. I'm not going to ask you to go get your calendar and start looking at every single week and, you know, looking at the areas where you did great and where you need to make some changes. But what we're going to do is we're going to treat this as really kind of a prayer. So I'm going to take you through the various parts.

There's five major parts of the examine prayer, and we're going to go through those, those steps, and just take a look at this last year. By the way, we only have, I think, a couple, one more show this year. We're going to take just, I think, a week or two break at the end of the year while you're in the midst of your holidays, and so I'm kind of treating this show and next week as kind of the end of the year for 2022. And coming up, catechism in a year, you don't want to miss. that. That's going to be starting January 1st. We'll put that information in the show notes

for you. But as I was saying, if you do want any of the show notes for any of the shows, all you got to do is text my name, Jeff Kavens, one word, Jeff Kavans, and text it to the number 3377. That's 3377. And it'll get to us, and we'll get you all signed up for the show notes, which typically I have quite a few scriptures and are quite helpful. So I hope you will do that. Okay, so when we do the examine prayer, and we're going to take a look at the last year, 2022 in our life, we want to start off the very same way we would do the examine prayer on a daily basis. Now, we're going to do this. I'm going to walk you through it, but you really need to take this, this basic outline, which will be in the show notes, and then find a little

bit of time. Maybe take a holy hour, go up to the church or early in the morning with your cup of coffee or tea and just take some time to reflect about this year and see, you know, start looking at your spiritual growth, what happened this last year and what failed to happen. Where do you need to go from here? Now, when it comes to an examined prayer, the very first thing that we always do is we open up with a little bit of a preparation for the examine. And that's what I'm talking about. You know, quiet your mind for just an hour or so, 45 minutes, how much ever time you can get, and just prepare your heart for it.

And you can sit quietly and you can pray in our Father. You can acknowledge Jesus as present with you. And Lord, I thank you for your presence. And I want to spend this time with you. I really want, Lord, to check my heart and see how I've been doing and identify the areas of my life, whether it be in my marriage, as a father, mother, as an employer, an employee as a priest or deacon, religious. I just want to examine how I have been doing. So you want to start off by quieting your mind and the very first step of the examined prayer, which has become

very popular since Pope Francis has become the Pope because it is an Ignatian prayer. And he has an Ignation background. So it has been made very popular in the last few years. Step number one of the examined prayer for this last year is Thanksgiving and gratitude. And we start off by, you know, beginning to thank God. And we exhibit a heart of gratitude as we are getting ready to look back at this last year. And you have to ask yourself, you know, why do you start with thanks, Why do we start with gratitude? Because, you know, maybe this last year was not the best year for you. And you just want to jump into, Lord, this is what went wrong and this is how I need to improve.

But starting off with Thanksgiving, at the beginning of looking back at 2022, it's just simply a simple review of the gifts that God gave you. And God has given you so much. You might not be able to see it right away. But if you will set your heart in prayer on thanksgiving and gratitude, you will be surprised at how many wonderful things God brought into your life this last year. You don't need to curse this last year. You don't need to just write it off. You can start off with, Lord, I'm going to thank you for, and you do the hard work here of praying and saying, Lord, I thank you for whatever it might be at home,

in your family, at work, and I can think of a lot of things that I'd be thankful for with the Lord. I'm thankful for my marriage. I'm thankful for my children. I'm thankful for my grandchildren. I am so grateful that I have a place to live and that if I want to go somewhere in the city, I've got a car. And Lord, you have been so faithful. And I just thank you so much for the ability to move around the city and a place to sleep at night and a warm place and food. I didn't go hungry this last year. And Lord, I'm very, very grateful, very thankful for that. For Ignatius, there was no sure way to grow in the love of God than to consider the many blessings that he gave every single day.

You see, the giver is present in the gifts. The giver is present in the gifts. And if you can identify the gifts this last year, you're going to have a grateful heart, a thankful heart. and that's the way that you really want to start off. Just take five minutes and just thank God. If you need to write things down, write them down. But thank God for all the gifts that you had this last year. You know, Scripture is the recording of God's saving work,

and it shows us what God has done. And we want to be aware of what God has done in my life. And it's amazing how often we forget. We forget, you know, about all the great things God has given us this last year. We just go forward without thinking about it. And this beginning, this first step of the examined prayer of Thanksgiving and gratitude, forces you to stop and think and reflect. So when you find this place where you're going to do the examine prayer for 2022, you need to find that place of people. peace, whether it's at church, in your basement, in the kitchen, when everyone's gone,

whatever, wherever, start with Thanksgiving. Now, number two, step number two is a simple petition, and that very simple petition can go something like this. Jesus, show me what you want me to see. It's really an act of faith, hope, and love all at once. It's very simple. Jesus, show me what you want me to see. As I think back, Lord, about 2022, I'm asking you to help me and show me what you want me to see as I review this last year. So that's step number two. It's just a simple prayer. It doesn't have to be fancy. It doesn't have to be with an English accent. You can just say, Lord, show me what you want me to see. Now, step number three is an actual reviewing of the past. You're going to go through your year.

And you don't have to make this real difficult. You can just go back to January and just think and meditate on this last year. You're going to be going through some of your challenges, some of the hurdles that you faced. You're going to be looking at some of the triumphs and the victories of this last year that the Lord has brought you through. And as much as you can, you want to review things like the tasks you had this last year, the major events this last year, some of the pivotal conversations or meetings you had among your family members or at work.

And remember all the while saying, Lord, show me what you want me to see. Now here's the beautiful thing about the examined prayer is that you don't have to be so smart that you have to be worried about picking up every single nuance. You ask the Lord, didn't you, show me what you want me to see? I believe the Lord can show that to you as you begin this prayer. He can show you about this last year what he wants you to remember, what he wants you to see.

I trust in the Lord. I trust in the Lord with all of my heart there. You know what this is kind of like, and I've taught on the Ignatian Examined Prayer before, it's kind of like you're familiar with YouTube videos, of course, and you're familiar with a GoPro camera, even put it on your forefront. head and you can go throughout your day. It's kind of like this last year, you walked around with a GoPro camera on your forehead. And now when you are examining this last year, you're kind of going through the video. And you're looking at some of the highlights, the highlights in your

relationship and your family with those in your family at work and every area of life. And there's going to be victories, for sure. And there's going to be failures. for sure. But here's what you need to do as you look back over this year. This is not the time to beat yourself up. Remember that we're on a journey with Christ. He's alongside of us. He is with us on this journey. And over this last year, he has been with you. You might not have realized it the whole year, but he has been with you. And what he wants to point out is how well you did and the areas that really need to change as you're looking to going into 2023. And that's really what you want to know.

You know, I mean, if you have a heart for God and you want to grow in the Lord, you got to have some way of gauging how you did this last year and what needs to change this coming year. Now, I'm going to take a break when I come back. I'm going to go through steps four and five, which are going to be the key steps in making the change in the year, 2023. And I'm going to give you several points to think about going into 2023 that might help you. So so far, what we've looked at is starting with Thanksgiving and gratitude for 2022, then a simple petition, Lord, show me what you want me to see, then spending a good amount of time, whether it's a half an hour or whatever, with a notebook, and you are going to review this year.

knowing that God can bring up what he wants you to see about this year. I think that's actually what makes this prayer so exciting is that it's not dependent totally upon you to conjure up something. You're asking the Lord to show you. I think he can. We'll be back with Steps 4 and 5. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Every one of us is made in the image of God.

We are unique, worthy of love. and called to greatness. In this world, though, we can be distracted from that truth and begin to doubt God's love is real. You see, we live in a world that tells us we are not smart, attractive, thin, or rich enough. It is easy to focus on the ways we fall short of worldly perfection and forget that we are already made perfect.

We are already enough. I'm Danielle Bean, author of You Are Enough, what women of the Bible teach you about your mission and worth. You Are Enough dives into the stories of women in the Bible so that you can fully see God's plan for your life. To order, visit ascensionpress.com or Amazon. And we're back. We're looking at the examined prayer, but not just for today, but for this year.

this whole year. And we're looking at taking the Ignatian examine prayer, which is typically said at the end of the day. Should have brought that up to you. It's typically said at the end of the day. It's the prayer I end the day with and looking back over my day. But in this case, what we're doing is looking back over the entire year. And we are asking the Lord to show us how well we did or the areas that need some change. And we've asked the Lord to show us. And so we know that He will. And so step three was reviewing this last year. Just quiet yourself and allow him to show you. I know he will. I've done this before and looking back over the year. And sure enough, there are areas where the Lord is showing me. I want this area to change in your life. It might be your relationship with your wife, your children, your husband. It might be an attitude adjustment at work. It may be how you're spending your money. over this last year. And your time, your social media time. Maybe the Lord is pointing out, as you look over this last year, wow, I wasted some time this last year. Hmm, I could make some

changes there. So step number four in the examined prayer, as you look back, whether it's the 24-hour period or the whole year, is repenting in the present and asking for forgiveness. That is, repenting in the present, asking for forgiveness. And I think that as you look back over this last year, the Lord may show you some areas of your life, whether it be at home or work, your social life or internet life, whatever area it may be, he may be showing you something, that the proper response for God revealing to you, the condition of your heart, the appropriate response is one of repenting. And you know what repenting is?

Repenting is radically reorienting your entire life to Jesus. So what we're doing on this show now, show 300, is we are giving the Lord an opportunity to tell us how we need to reorient our lives going into 2023. Because I can tell you one thing for sure. If you don't do this to some degree, even if you don't take an hour, even if you don't take 15 minutes or so. I can tell you one thing for sure, you're probably not going to make a lot of changes. Now, this examined prayer for 2022 just might take the place of a New Year's resolution. Most people want to come up with a New Year's resolution. It usually has, you know,

something to do with losing weight or, you know, eating differently or something like that. But a New Year's resolution is kind of like saying, Lord, I looked back at last year, I need to make a resolution. I'm going to do something different. So repent in the present, asking for forgiveness of anything that the Lord is going to bring up to you. And then number five is a renewal. It's a looking to the future, in this case, looking to the year 2023. Now, as you look to the year 2023, there's a number of categories that you should really think about. If you really want to wrap up this year and move on into 2023 and give it another go and walk with the Lord and even more intimacy.

Like, for example, your time with the Lord this last year, is that something that needs to change? Do you need to get serious about being with the Lord this year in prayer and contemplation, prayer, Bible study, Bible reading? Then what you need to do is make a resolution, I guess you could say, or a renewal statement of Lord. I want to spend more time with you in prayer this coming year. As I look back over this year, and I let that year slide by. I thought at the beginning of the year I was going to do it, but I didn't end up doing it. like I wanted to. Lord, help me to make a decision going forward that I'm going to do that. I'm going to

spend time every day in your word with Lexio de Vina. Can you do that? This coming year, say, Lord, I'm going to spend time in your word in Lexio de Vina because I need a word from you every single day. I think I've told you several times before that my wife and I do this every single morning, every morning, we meet at the beginning of the day for a good amount of time, and we read the daily gospel reading according to the liturgical calendar, and we pray about it, we meditate on it, we ask the Lord what he's saying to us every single day. Now, when you think about it, that is not that big of a deal, really. I mean, here's the Lord, the king of the universe, who wants to be with you, more than you want to be with him. And he's asking,

you to spend time with him. Now, that seems like something that we would want to do. But the cares of the world, the desire for riches, whatever it may be, it chokes the word. It chokes that seed. And there isn't fruit as a result of it. And so as you are looking to this next year, what about your time in God's word? Okay. What about your experiences with the sacraments this year. Did you go to confession frequently this last year of 2022? Does that need to change? Then make the change. Right now, make up your mind how often you're going to go to confession for this next year. Stick it on the calendar if you want, but recast a vision for this coming year that is doable and will help you grow. Your time in the word of God, your time in prayer, your time

going to confession, going to Mass, these things are very important. You know, I don't know how long ago it was, but I gave you this idea of what I called isolate and perfect, which is really important when it comes to change in your life. If you're going to see the change that will result in you truly acting and living like a disciple of Jesus, you're going to have to start with the individual disciplines, like Bible reading, prayer, go into confession. You're going to have to start with the individual disciplines, isolate those disciplines, and perfect them. In other words, if you had, for example, the idea of I'm going to spend time with the Lord every day in his word, and I'm going to read the gospel

reading of the day and meditate on it. Well, then what you want to do is you want to isolate just that and say, okay, for every morning at this time and this place, I am going to read the gospel. of the day and spend a few minutes with the Lord. And you say, well, boy, I don't know if I can fit that. Fit it in. Fit it in. Be disciplined. Show tenacity. You want this. Don't give up easy. Isolate and perfect. Isolate and perfect. And before you know it, you'll have it. And it'll be a part of your life. Another area that I would challenge you to think about this last year going into now 2023 is your posse. You know I'm a big, I'm big on walking with my posse, my crew. My crew, my posse is, I'm referring there to the saints that I walk with. Yes, of course I walk with Jesus

and I have a great devotion to the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph, but there are saints that I have chosen to make up my crew that I need. I needed them in 2022. I need them even more in 2003. And so I've got St. Francis, because I need to be reminded of simplicity. I need, I have Mother Teresa in my crew, my posse, because I need to be reminded of those who are disenfranchised. I have St. Joseph, because I'm a father and a husband. I got St. Augustine because I'm a Bible teacher. And I got John Paul II because I'm a communicator in an age that is not real well.

welcoming of this gospel message. I need his example. I need his prayers. That's my posse. That's my crew, the five that I walk with every day, and I ask them to pray for me every day, and I read their writings. You need a posse. So as you go into 2023, you may isolate and perfect your relationship with the saints. Now, that is a good idea. Isolate and perfect Your relationship with the communion of saints. Pick your posse. Now, my five, who are in my posse, I've got a medal for each one of them on a necklace, and I keep it next to my bed.

I don't particularly like things around my neck, but I do keep it next to my bed, and I have on my bookcase a shelf for each one of the saints in my posse, my crew, and I go deep with them. I'm not going wide and shallow. Oh, I'm going narrow and deep with these five. Oh, and I got Athanasius, too. I bring him out once in a while to walk with him because, you know, he is just an amazing, amazing man.

I've got all kinds of saints that I love, but I have a few that are in my crew. So that's isolated and perfect Bible study, reading the sacraments. Isolate and perfect your posse. And there's one more area that I want to challenge you with going into 2023, and that is this. I'd like you to think about your vocation. Are you married? Do you have children? Like you to isolate and perfect that.

How did you do in 2022? If I ask you, how did you do with your children in 2022? Most people are going to say, yeah, you know, I could have done better, I guess. Then guess what? That's what 2023 is all about. Do better. Do better. Make up your mind.

that you're going to isolate and perfect the disciplines of being a father. You're going to isolate and perfect the disciplines of being a husband or a wife or a grandfather. And then make that a priority. So there's these big ticket items here that I don't, you know, when I tell people like at a conference, you need to live like Jesus, think like Jesus, live as a disciple. They're like, yeah, yeah. But then they're like, what do I do? It seems like too much.

and it is too much. That's why we really, really believe that if you isolate and perfect, you're going to make more progress. Here's one more. Okay, we've got so far, isolate and perfect when it comes to the basic disciplines of Bible study, prayer, the sacraments, and then isolate and perfect your posse. Number two, number three, isolate and perfect your vocation. what is God saying to you to do differently this coming year according to your vocation that is really really important and then I would encourage you to think seriously about this last year and how did you do as a disciple when it comes to evangelization

did you share with anybody this last year anybody did you bring anybody into the church Did you bring anybody to Jesus Christ? Did you have an opportunity to sponsor someone to come into the church? If not, then make up your mind that 2023 you are going to bring one person. You're going to duplicate yourself. One person is going to come into the church to meet Jesus Christ because of your activity. Do you think you could do that?

I'm going to do it. I'll report a year from now. I'll tell you about it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to bring people into the church this year. That's something that we can do. This is what I'm talking about with the examined prayer for the year, looking back, seeing how we did,

asking the Lord to show us the areas that need to be dealt with, and then make a statement of renewal. Lord, this is what I want to do this year. I believe you have shown me these areas that need to change in my life. And I'm going to go into 2023 with this in mind. you know what you don't you don't have a lot to say on new year's eve you don't have a lot of new year's resolutions as long as you've done this because this will be your new year's resolution the examine prayer and so when you are done with all of that just take a few minutes and thank the

lord again and and thank him for his power and for his direction and for his company and and eagerly look forward with joy to 2023 because you know that It is a journey with the Lord, and things are going to happen in your life that are going to be fantastic. And the Lord is going to show you new things in his word. He's going to demonstrate himself strong in your life. You're going to walk in power like you've never walked before. This is going to be an incredible year for you. But we want to start it off right.

We want to start it off right. And I don't want to wait until January 1st to do it. That's why I'm telling you now, because you've got a couple weeks before the beginning of the year, and you got some time to kind of move into this with purpose, with foresight. You really want to see that change in your life. Well, my friend, I love you so much, and I want to close in prayer, and I do look forward to seeing you already next week, and I so, so look forward to being with you. You know, this is show 300.

Now, I suppose a lot of people on their 300 show, they have a big bite friends in and everything else. And I got to thinking about that. And I thought, huh, you're my friend. You're the one I wanted to be with. You are the reason that I'm here is because of our relationship. And I appreciate you so much. And I do appreciate you going and saying, you know, telling me how you're doing and emailing me at the Jeffcaven show at ascensionpress.com. I appreciate you going on to Apple and giving a thumbs up for the show or giving some comments. It helps out so much. And I consider us partners in the new evangelization, but I just wanted to tell you, I love you, and I appreciate you. And you are the reason I'm here. If it wasn't for you, trust me, I wouldn't be doing this every week.

It's because of you. And I so enjoy it because of you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, I thank you today for giving us all life. I thank you for this last year of 2022 and Lord as we as we begin a special examine of this year we start with great praise and thanksgiving for everything that you have given us we are so thankful and we take note of it Lord we really do and we ask you Lord as we begin this examine this year that you would you would show us exactly what you want us to see as we go back and we think about the year I pray that you'll bring up the things that need to change and also the great things that happened that we're so thankful for. And Lord, I thank you as well as we pray that that we would truly ask for forgiveness

in the areas where we have failed and that there would be a real contrition there. And then, Lord, we do look to the future optimistically with hope and joy of all the things that you're going to do in our life and all the things that we can do for you in the kingdom of God. I thank you, Lord. I thank you for the opportunity to change. I thank you for the opportunity to repent and to reorder everything in our life to you. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I love you. God bless you. Look forward to talking to you next week. Thank you.