Sleeping with Bread: Monday, May 18th

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Monday, May 18th

Okay. I lied. Well, it is more accurate to say that I unintentionally misinformed you. My final is this Wednesday, not today. And my other paper isn't due until Friday. So, I will finish by the END of this week, instead of being done today. 'S'okay. I'll manage.

BUT, it will prevent my making the rounds to your places this week. I look forward to stopping by in two weeks. In the meantime, please share a little bread, warm from the oven with us!

Although the examen is a Christian practice, I would hope that anyone who has something to share would feel welcome here. Also, if you don't have your own blog and would like to participate, share your bread in the comments. To holding on to what gives life,

Mary-LUE

2 comments:

Bridgett said...: What a beautiful idea for a blog.

i read the story of sleeping with bread in Fr. Dominic Garramone's book "Bake and Be Blessed." I've used it many a time on parish retreats and in my own examen practice (I'm a benedictine oblate). But how wonderful to share it with the world this way.; May 18, 2009 11:07 PM
Selena said...: I used the questions you have posted on your blog in my blog entry here: http://ohmyachesandpains.blogspot.com/2009/05/opposites-meme-based-on-examen.html. Thank you so much for the inspiration!

Selena; May 25, 2009 6:40 AM

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What is Sleeping with Bread?

During the bombing raids of WWII, thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. The fortunate ones were rescued and placed in refugee camps where they received food and good care. But many of these children who had lost so much could not sleep at night. They feared waking up to find themselves once again homeless and without food. Nothing seemed to reassure them. Finally, someone hit upon the idea of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime. Holding their bread, these children could finally sleep in peace. All through the night the bread reminded them, "Today I ate and I will eat again tomorrow." (Linn, Dennis et al, Sleeping With Bread, p.l)

These are the beginning words of a book that introduced me to a practice called the examen. The orphans held on to what nourished them and were thus able to sleep peacefully at night. The examen, based on the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, helps a person hold onto what spiritually nourishes him by looking at what is giving him consolation in his life or causing him desolation. It allows someone to express his gratitude to God for the good stuff and turn to him for solace for the bad stuff. It is quite simple. You simply ask yourself, in the last day/week/month what gave me consolation and what caused me desolation.

How do you do it?

Sleeping with Bread is a Monday meme. You can participate in one of two ways: 1) Pick one of the above examen question sets and answer it in the comments section of my SWB post; or, 2) Create your own Sleeping with Bread post. You are welcome to right click on the Sleeping with Bread button and save it to your own computer before uploading into your post. Then, make sure you come back and put the link to your post in the automated Mr. Linky form at the end of the current SWB post. I hope you will join me and my fellow bakers as we Sleep with Bread on Mondays!