At Santa Clara University, students explore theological education, ministerial formation, religious studies, and spiritual life through offerings in the Jesuit School of Theology, the graduate program in pastoral ministries, the religious studies department, and the Division of Mission and Ministry.

At Santa Clara University, you are invited to become all God imagines.

Learn more by visiting www.s.u.edu.edu.

F.S.T.4.B. Becoming.

Welcome to the Examine, your daily prayer hosted by Father James Martin and brought to you by America Media, a Jesuit ministry.

Please consider supporting this podcast by getting a digital subscription to America.

A subscription gives you access to all of our content and supports the production of the

Examine podcast. Please visit americamagine.org slash subscribe. The link is in the show notes.

I'm Father Jim Martin.

I'm about to lead you through a traditional Jesuit prayer

that will help you notice where God has been in your day.

But first, let's begin with our weekly reflection, which is released every Sunday.

What's your experience of praying while you're tempted?

And don't tell me that you've never had that problem before.

Everyone gets tempted from time to time,

even the most spiritually experienced. A few years ago, a sister who was on retreat with me

told me that she had a hard time praying with Ignatian contemplation, that is, imagining yourself

in a scripture passage. She said that she had no imagination. I wasn't sure what to say

about that until an idea dawned on me. I said, sister, have you never once had a sexual fantasy?

And she laughed out loud and I said, I guess you do have an imagination. But temptation and prayer isn't limited to those

kinds of distractions. It's something broader. You can be tempted to all sorts of things while

you're praying. You can be tempted to anger over something minor or to a desire for revenge

...