Day 5: 'Lux in Domino' Examen 5/5: Recollection (Anamnesis)

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ECOLLECTION (Anamnesis): Happiness is everyone’s goal although pursued in various ways. Victor Frankl gives a word of caution though by saying that happiness cannot be the goal because if you aim for it you will miss it. “Many keep saying, ‘Who will put happiness before our eyes?’ Let the light of your face shine on us. Lord, to my heart you are a richer joy than all their corn and new wine” (Ps 4:6-7). The happy life is recollecting or remembering with the One who said, “Remember, I am with you always to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20). “Let me not, Lord, in this my heartfelt testimony to you, accept as happiness every joy that I encounter,” writes St Augustine. To receive this grace, for St Ignatius, “holy indifference” or purified desire, memory and spirit must dwell in the soul. The self-absorbed or self-aggrandizing is like a tormented spirit with amnesia. Jesus tells us, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you” (Lk 8:39). Remember how much God has done and continues to do for you. I beg for confidence to pray to God, “To take joy in Thee, for Thee, because of Thee—this, nothing else, is happiness.” I conclude with an “Our Father.”