War, Partygate, the cost of living, the latest virus: the news is so depressing that it’s easy to forget about things for which we can be thankful. I know Sir Tony Blair is a controversial figure nowadays, but something he said in a recent interview caught my eye: ‘The best thing in life is to wake up with a sense of purpose and go to bed counting your blessings’.
My first thoughts were: I like that, it’s positive but also reflective; it encourages us to make the most of what we’ve got and to be thankful for it. But then: hang on, Tony, that’s fine for you and me, but we’re not burdened by debt, we’re relatively healthy, we don’t have any major worries in our lives. And anyway, Tony, who are you to preach to anyone else?
If we don’t want Tony Blair to tell us what to do, perhaps we should listen to St. Ignatius Loyola instead. His ‘Daily Examen’ is practiced twice daily by Jesuits. There are many versions, but it goes something like this:
(1) Become aware of God’s presence.
(2) Review the day with gratitude.
(3) Pay attention to your emotions.
(4) Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
(5) Look toward tomorrow.
What do we think – St. Ignatius or St. Tony? I notice the Blair version doesn’t mention the G word (perhaps in deference to Alastair Campbell’s first commandment of New Labour: ‘We don’t do God’). Apart from that, perhaps there’s not much between them. And, let’s be honest, most of us don’t have time to do the Jesuit stuff. Okay, Tony, you win, I’ll give it a go. From tomorrow, I’ll try my best to wake up with a sense of purpose and go to bed counting my blessings.
Duncan McCall
