Have you ever thought about how amazing it is that you exist?
Each day around noon and again before bed, we Sisters gather to pray the examen prayer. In this prayer, we look back to see where God was at work in the concrete circumstances of our lives in the most recent hours. The first part of the examen is focused on gratitude for the specific ways He has blessed us. A prayer that can be used to enter into this section of the examen says: “Father, I rejoice in your love for me. You thought of me and so loved the idea of me that you created me. Each moment you are at work, loving me into existence…”
Have you ever thought about how amazing it is that you exist? Your parents met, before that your grandparents, before that your great-grandparents, and on and on back into history. From one perspective, it can seem like random happenstance. But if just one of those relationships hadn’t happened, you, unique as you are, would not exist. God arranged all these things with you in mind, because He thought of you and loved you even before He created you.
When God is removed from culture and belief, so many things are attributed to chance. But from a Catholic perspective, it becomes amazing. God thought of you. Not only that, He desires a relationship with you. This is emphasized by St. Paul in Ephesians: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him.” If God ever stopped thinking of you, you would cease to exist.
All of this put in proper context does not lead to being self-centered or puffed up with pride, but to gratitude, a love that receives and finds rest in Him, the one who loves us. We, like our Blessed Mother, are called to “exist for the praise of His glory,” to give our own fiat to all that He asks of us as part of His loving plan.
Sister Joseph Francesca, O.C.D.
Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles
Image credit: Photo by Xavier Mouton Photographie on Unsplash
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