The Calling

Original Artwork from Psalm Prayers; one of my favorite modern icon artists.*

Since the beginning of the year, I have engaged in the spiritual practice of Examen. St. Ignatius is said to have had the Jesuit monks in his care engage in the practice midday and in the evening. Two basic steps comprise the totality of the practice: naming a "consolation" of the day and naming a "desolation." Practitioners expand the steps to include a moment of centering breath prior to engaging in the day's review and a prayer of thanksgiving at the end for whatever consoles or desolates on any given day.

The brevity of the exercise belies its impact on day-to-day life. Within a month, I recognized my own penchant toward pessimism completely out of proportion to the consolations of the day. Granted I listed more than just one consolation or desolation of the day, at least initially, and the collected data of the first month helped me realize the part I played in desolating myself with my attitude, presumptions, preoccupations or fears.

For Lent, I found a book at my place of worship, Sacred Breath: Forty Days of Centering Prayer, by J. David Muyskens, and I have spent all of two days refreshing my short-lived practice of Centering Prayer and lectio divina. Today, the scripture passage came from 1 Samuel when Samuel, "did not yet know the LORD," but the LORD "came and stood there, calling as before." 

The two, well three, practices above begin with the premise God is here in this moment - as well as all the moments before and all the moments after. And by nature of being God, God calls to us in the midst of our lives, the consolations and the desolations - maybe asking us if we "yet know the LORD." 

And if the answer is "No," the promise remains we can know the LORD - even more - God wants to be known and is calling to us in order to be known. 

And when God is known, Love is known - in the midst of every heartache and every triumph. May we hearing the calling.

*Additional website: kregyingst.com or @psalmprayers