An Ignatian Examen on Working During The Pandemic
Lord,
I am thankful for good colleagues and the opportunity to collaborate with so many around me.
I am thankful for the opportunity learn and practice new things.
I am grateful for extra time with family, and for all the new ways I have found to connect with friends.
I am grateful for my health and for the health of my family.
Over the course of the last months,
I have felt your presence in the care and compassion of those working around and with me to find the best path forward for our community.
I have felt your presence in our continuous striving for better, striving to find solutions that serve the greatest number of people in the best way possible with the least risk of harm.
I have felt your presence on days when my work – at my workplace or at home – was not great, and I was humble or needed to make apologies.
I have been challenged and needed your guidance in thinking with a community-focus rather than an individual one, and I’ve been challenged in finding the right response on other occasions when I judge that others are falling into that same pit.
I have felt challenged by all the meals I’ve cooked and dishes I’ve washed. I have felt true joy in the quiet moments of fellowship and connection that only could have happened because of this common event.
I continue to welcome and be open to your presence in my life and in this work.
As I look ahead to the coming academic year,
I pray that we make sound decisions for our students, our faculty, our staff, that protect them and serve them well, and also serve the institution well.
I pray that we continue to be inclusive and broad in our thinking, that we continue to be imaginative and innovative, that we have the energy required to sustain us.
I pray that we continue to be intentional collaborators, guided by your spirit.
– By Rebecca L. Cull
