Apostleship of Prayer
 

THE REVIEW OF PRAYER

 After a prayer exercise has been completed, it is always beneficial to make a review. We do this by reflecting upon the experience of the prayer exercise just finished. The focus of the review is what the pray-er experienced during the time of pray itself: not so much the astute ideas that were had but rather what heart-felt understandings were emerging - the interior reactions of the heart. Therefore, the movements of consolation, desolation, fear, anxiety, boredom, distractions, especially if they were deep or disturbing, are the matter for the Review of prayer. Questions like the following may help:

• What happened inside me during the period of prayer?
• How did I feel about what went on?
• What was my mood, change in mood ...  what feelings flowed through me ...  what  thoughts came in and out of my mind ...  where was I drawn to dwell?
• How were God and I present or absent to each other?
• Did I receive the grace I was seeking?
• Is there some point I should return to in my next period of prayer?

There are many things I may need to do during this Review of Prayer. For instance, I may want to thank God for the favours received: I may desire to ask pardon for any carelessness on my part during the prayer.

This review is an instrument to help one reflect upon what was happening in one's heart during the times of prayer. It fosters the noticing of one's interior reactions. Thus it will enable one to be spontaneous during the actual prayer time and to go with the flow of experience. If you were to monitor yourself during the period of prayer, you might be interfering with the free flowing communication between you and God. Let what is happening during the prayer time happen. Afterwards take a look to see what the Spirit means through all this.

During the review make a brief record of these happenings. Note down those moments and experiences that strike you. With this you can more easily prepare for your next period of prayer. The Spirit may be inviting you to go back to a point  where you were moved. St. Ignatius says one should remain quietly meditating upon a point until one has been satisfied, ie., until the movement has been completed (the insight completed; the struggle resolved; the consolation ended; the meaning savoured and absorbed... for now.)  This written record is also a help for you to discuss your prayer experience with the spiritual guide. Finally, the regular practice of reviewing your prayer will in time empower you to discern for yourself.

The review is not a continuation of the prayer. It is not a moving forward with the process of experience. Rather it is a looking backward in order to judge how to move forward when I go to prayer. So the review is not a notebook of insights and partial essays or letters, but focuses on my experience of prayer itself, as a stage in my continuing growth in prayer. Because this process is different from the prayer exercise itself, it is helpful to symbolise the difference by separating the place where you do this activity from the place you make your prayer exercise.
 

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