12 June 2020
Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus tells us today that “everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt. 5:28). Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes, where He exhorted us “blessed are the pure of heart,” and here we see part of the practical application. While we may seem without the infection of sin at first blush, to put a man’s heart under the microscope shows the disease still has more of a presence within us than we realize. As long as the illness lies dormant within us, it can always resurface later. We must be pure of heart, totally free of sin, to enter Heaven. But how can this even be possible?
St. Ignatius proposed not only a general examination of conscience (or “general examen”,) where we look over the day at large, but a particular examination of conscience (or “particular examen,”) where we look for instances of a particular sin. In the particular examen, we keep track of the sin’s frequency, occurrences, as well as near occasions of the sin. Eventually, we develop strategies and note our progress in overcoming this sin. Ignatius was known to make great use of the particular examen, even writing down his observations and comparing days, just as a physician keeps detailed notes when treating an illness. This examen remains a great tool of the Jesuits in ridding oneself of every instance of a sin, and (by the grace of God) slowly developing that purity of heart which Jesus demands of all.