Editor’s note: Throughout July, we’re hosting 31 Days with St. Ignatius, a month-long celebration of Ignatian spirituality. In addition to the calendar of Ignatian articles found here, posts on dotMagis this month will explore the theme of “Finding God in the Unexpected.”
I have discovered many gifts from the practice of the Examen, which I learned many years ago. Even now, decades later, when my practice of it is occasional rather than daily—as I learned when first making the Spiritual Exercises—I find myself backing into its fruits, as it were. Specifically, I find that the practice of memory can be an unexpected way to come to an awareness of God’s grace.
A case in point was last month, while enjoying some much-needed leisure time in the early summer following a busy semester. I was with a colleague, talking about the challenges of navigating professional demands while maintaining a priority of family life. The conversation made me reflect on my experience doing the Spiritual Exercises and the way that God had moved me to contemplate my vocation as father and husband, even though going in I had intended the long retreat to be more focused on my professional life. In recollecting
