Everyday Ignatian: Practicing Prudence in the Examen

Everyday Ignatian is a series written by guest contributors, chronicling their daily lives and experiences through the lens of Ignatian spirituality. This year, we’re excited to introduce a special theme for 2025: Virtues, or Gifts of the Spirit. Featuring writers Alli Bobzien, Catherine Sullivan and Jennifer Sawyer, along with select guest authors, Everyday Ignatian will highlight stories that explore the quarterly themes of prudence, patience, solidarity, and gratitude — and the impact they have on our lives today.

A couple years into parenting, my husband and I realized that creating time outside of daily life to prioritize moments of reflection was necessary for our young family. We began a yearly practice of taking a step away from the pressures of our day-to-day routine to pray and map out a yearly Examen. Utilizing the Examen as a tool to reflect on an entire year allows us to notice the areas where God is active in our family life and where we need to make changes to increase our awareness of and connection to him.  

As we sit on a balcony overlooking a dense forest, preparing our hearts to delve into all this past year has wrought, I am struck by the deep connections between the Examen and prudence. Saint Isidore wrote that “A prudent man is one who sees as it were from afar”; the wisdom of this statement, the beauty in a broader perspective, is brought to life by both my vantage point above the trees and Thomas Aquinas’ explanation of prudence.   

Aquinas named her as the “mother of all virtues,” defining prudence as “love choosing wisely between the things that help and those that hinder.” When I have the space and time to discern the patterns in my year that helped to bring me closer to God and those that drew me away, I am better able to set my aims for the coming year with care and wisdom. 

Without the practice of the Examen, my life can feel as if it is hurtling forward in bustling activity with no clear direction. Prudence, through the Examen, helps me to direct my life with reason, to look ahead and determine where I am going — hopefully, closer to God. 

For instance, when my husband and I took the time to consider prudently what prayers to teach our young daughters in the coming year, we realized that memorization, while good and important, can prove frustrating for our three-year-old. This created a hinderance to her wanting to pray; however, she needed no encouragement to talk to God freely and tell him what was on her heart in a more open form. We decided a more freestyle approach met her developmental needs better than rote memorization and considered how we could encourage each form in our family prayers. Prudence helped us to consider what was best developing our daughters’ relationship with their Creator.  

Proverbs 14:15 explains practicing prudence through the example “the prudent man looks where he is going.” At times it can feel as though the familiar paths, like memorization, will lead us to our destination with ease, but when we take a step back to consider the broader perspective, we may see a route that guides us to a closer relationship with God — the ultimate goal.   

Praying over the past year with prudence also helps direct me in where our family could improve in our journey of faith by considering practical considerations. When I look back at what is helping us grow closer to God, such as strong community, and what is hindering it, attempting to take two hangry children to a 5 p.m. Mass for example, I can set an informed course in determining what to prioritize and what could use some tweaking in the coming year. Building a supportive community that models God’s love to our children is of great importance to us. Stressing out every member of the family in order to make a Saturday evening Mass, rather than simply attend Mass on Sunday, may be causing more harm than good in this season. 

When we are in the midst of daily life, it’s easy to miss the signposts pointing us to that which helps and away from that which hinders. Our family has realized that we desperately need the time and space to practice prudence by taking a step back from the hustle and bustle to consider our year “from afar.”  

I am quick to forget the power of a wider perspective in determining my path and direction, but I try to gently remind myself of the practice of prudence in my daily, as well as my yearly, Examen. Thinking ahead and considering what hinders or helps in my walk with God and how I can develop practices that support my entire family unites my daily and yearly Examen in their goal of mapping a path that draws my family and me closer to our Savior, day by day, year by year.  

 

 

Alli is a freelance writer, a mother of two spunky girls, and a recent graduate of Fuller Seminary, where she achieved her master’s in theology. Cherishing a love of everyday spirituality, women in scripture, and the healing power of connection through words, she seeks to craft essays and prayers that engage and uplift.

You can follow her work through subscribing to her Substack The Pondering Heart.

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