An Examen for the Turning of the Seasons

A reflective moment of pause between summer and fall

Welcome, and thank you so much for being here! I have been meaning to start a Substack for a while now, focused on the link between attention and prayer, something I am thinking about approximately all of the time. A few weeks ago, I had an idea that jolted me into action.

During the last week of the summer, I was making a long daily drive down to my son’s favorite summer camp at the Museum of Flight (if you’re an aviation buff…come to Seattle!) It’s about 45 minutes from our home, but this seemed like a small price to pay for my son’s joy in getting to play with drones and design robots. Driving isn’t really something I enjoy, but it does sometimes provide this fertile spiritual space for me: my mind and hands are focused, but my heart is free to roam. I realized that this camp, and these drives, formed the bookends of my summer—I’d traveled these roads in the first week of summer, and here I was repeating the journey once more as the days started to shorten on the way to fall.

Suddenly, I could see clearly everything that had passed between them. It was an examen waiting to happen.

The examen, a five-hundred-year-old prayer developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola, is essentially a look back and a look forward, in the loving presence of God. I love it for its intimacy, for its attention to detail. I knew that I wanted to write one specifically for the summer as we move into fall. And I knew that I wanted to share it with you.

You’ll find a link to download this free examen below. I hope it will be nourishing for you.

What I’ve Been Up To

-It was a dream come true to visit Homeboy Industries in LA and interview Fr. Greg Boyle and Fabian Debora about their new book, Forgive Everyone Everything, for NCR. In all honesty, along the with the days my children were born, those days at Homeboy were some of the happiest and holiest of my life. I sent my check for this review right over to them, to support their beautiful mission.

-The dire situation of refugees and migrants is never far from my mind, and I recently revisited this prayer I wrote last year for World Day of Migrants and Refugees, calling us all to open our hearts and give our very best. Kino Border Initiative is one place I like to support (and hope to visit someday!)

-In August I had the joy of spending a few days in the company of a lot of wonderfully creative Ignatian-minded folks with the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. You can read all about it here (and let Mike know if you’d like to join us in the future!)

A Look Ahead

-I have two (free!) Advent projects coming for you, and I’m working on a book project. Stay tuned! In November I’ll be speaking to the high school students in my diocese at their annual conference. My topic is the communion of saints, so you can bet they’ll be hearing some St. Óscar Romero stories!

A Few Things I Love

-Way back in the wild days of 2020, my son wanted to watch a YouTube video of how a venus fly trap attracts prey, and somehow we ended up awash in insect videos. We were lucky enough to stumble upon Miniscule, which I can only describe as the most beautiful and hilarious insect videos in the world. The music and cinematography are gorgeous, but the foley art is really something else. These are meditative, satisfying soundscapes as much as they are videos. Are you dying to watch a gang of clever snails escape from a French kitchen? Of course you are!

-In high school, my husband’s favorite band was The Presidents of the United States of America, so imagine my delight in telling him that the lead singer now produces thoughtful and lovely children’s music under the name Caspar Babypants. He is the king of the preschool crowd here in Seattle! If you have a child in your life and are looking for clever music that does not make you want to rip your hair out, let me ever so enthusiastically recommend him. We love him so much that we all have our own Spotify playlist of personal faves, but in my opinion, the very best one is Everything Has a Song. It has such a clear Franciscan ethos, and it is an exciting rarity for a children’s song to remind me of the univocity of being. Three cheers!

-Perhaps you are already aware of the great work that Laura Kelly Fanucci is doing at Mothering Spirit. I have followed her gorgeous work for close to a decade, but this new venture makes room for lots of voices on parenting, with thoughtful essays, prayers, and opportunities for you to join in. I just can’t recommend it highly enough.

-My friends at Live Today Well are offering a free virtual retreat called Rekindle in October. They always pour so much into these offerings. You can sign up here!

-Finally, this is one of my all-time favorite spiritual reflections on autumn. When I commissioned this piece from the great Vinita Hampton Wright last year, it absolutely stunned me, and I thought about it for weeks. I love returning to it every autumn.

Here’s the link to the examen for the turning of the seasons.

Wishing you all a beautiful fall! May you find yourselves in that thin place where heaven draws near to earth.

Cameron