Prayer In Daily Life Phase One, Week Three, Exercise Two: Final Repitition On First Principle With A Buddhist Monk

This Exercise should be experienced between November 23 and November 26 (Thanksgiving Weekend).

The First Principle is universal. Each wisdom tradition phrases this principle using its own language. For this reason we have spent extra time considering it. We have meditated on Ignatius' version and Abraham Joshua Heschel's version. Now we will pray with a Buddhist version. After that we will learn an Ignatian prayer called the Consciousness Examen.

The Buddhist monk Maha Ghosananda has written:

The thought manifests as the word,
The word manifests as the deed,
The deed develops into the habit,
The habit hardens into the character;
The character gives birth to the destiny.
So watch your thoughts with care,
And let them flow from love,
Born out of respect for all beings.


Now, let's utilize the Consciousness Examen.

With a pen or pencil in your hand, review the previous 24 hours by answering the following:

1. What gifts has God given me during the past 24 hours? On this Thanksgiving weekend, relish those gifts in your memory. Apply your senses. What did you hear, taste, see, feel, smell? Who were you with? Now, in your own words, thank God for each gift.

2. When did I fail to foster gratitude in the past 24 hours? When did I fall into a habit of resentment? How else have I failed to watch my thoughts with care? What thoughts have not flowed "from love, born out of respect for all beings"?
Have I hurt anyone? Ask for God's forgiveness and resolve to do better.

3. Use the previous definitions of consolation and desolation to answer:

A. When did my thoughts and feelings flow from consolation?

B. When did my thoughts and feelings flow from desolation?

4. Looking at my answers to the previous questions, how do I think God is calling me? Am I being called to make a particular decision? Where is God in my prayer?

5. Finally, consider the next 24 hours. What plans do I have? What thoughts and feelings emerge as I ponder the future? Pray with them.

Close with a prayer or a method of reverence that you have learned from your tradition.