5th Step - Jesuit Community Center, Front Lawn | Hope
Lord, let me look with longing toward the future.
Today, how will I let you lead me to a
brighter tomorrow?
While it’s easy to think about this meditation as being oriented to the past, it actually helps us to pay attention to where Love is in the past, present, and future. This mediation always ends with hope. Hope means choosing to act in ways that lead me closer to what is good and loving, even though the future is often unknown and beyond my control. Why should we hope, even in the midst of personal struggles and difficulties? Why not succumb to despair when we cannot see our own way out of pain and suffering? One great reason for hope for the future is recalling how resilient we have been in the past. We hope because we trust that God is with us and encouraging us on to love wherever we are. Hope is an action for today, stretching into tomorrow. What are your reasons for hope?
The Walking Examen, a one-mile prayer journey around Fairfield University’s scenic campus, is based on a prayer method popularized by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, in the 16th century. The intention of the meditation is to invite participants to trust, allow and delight in God’s love through a five-step process of contemplation and presence.
The Examen walk, open to community members and visitors of all faiths, begins near the Egan Chapel plaza and continues toward Campus Ministry’s entrance on the lower level, and then winds its way through the fields and past the library toward the steps at the Mary Garden, Bellarmine Pond, and lastly the lawn of the Jesuit Community Center. Each step of the Examen is marked with a boulder and a plaque identifying the prayer prompt: Thanksgiving, Illumination, Examination, Contrition and Hope.
For more information visit The Murphy Center for Ignatian Spirituality