DAY 18: LET'S FLY!—FIVE MOMENTS OF THE EXAMEN PRAYER (4/5)

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aint Paul writes to the Philippians in his love letter: "I thank my God every time I think of you" (Philippians 1:3). One Dominican theologian picks this up and says that to say "thank you" to someone actually means "I think of you." This is very evident in the German words "danke" which means "thanks" and "denke" which means "think." When we receive a gift we also see the giver in it or we see the agent of the favor or care that has been granted. The three are inseparable: gift, giver of gift and receiver of gift.

In the fourth moment of the Examen prayer, we are invited to give thanks or to be grateful while being mindful that all of what we have now have been received. There is nothing that we have which we have not received. Each time we are mindful of the blessings, we cannot but be grateful to the Creator. Thinking begets thanking. Let this gratitude moment of the Examen prayer guide us on day eighteen of the Season of Creation.

IV. GRATITUDE (4/5): A bird doesn’t have to flap its wings to stay aloft. When the Spirit is blowing freely and we are aware interiorly then it is time to just glide with the Spirit. When a bird glides, the wings go motionless. Gravity pulls the bird toward the earth, but air rushing over its body surface gives enough lift, so the bird drops gently. If the bird starts high enough in the air, it can glide at some distance, but eventually, it will need to flap its wings to climb again. But one does not need to fly away too high. With the help of sunlight heating open surfaces of the earth, currents of warm air called thermals rise. Birds use air currents to be lifted without flapping a wing. This is, indeed, a great consolation for a bird in the form of a free lift. Gratitude is like soaring and gliding across the sky to see the world from God’s-eye view, not from our own, and realize that everything is a gift. A series of grateful examen of even just the little things that come, which, when accumulated, will bring one closely united with God’s greatest gift—Godself. Gratitude is like a sonar that detects the proper coordinates along our path towards the source of consolations—the beginning. Meister Eckhart said, “If the only prayer you ever said was, ‘Thank You’ it would be enough.” 8thWorker.us