Reflecting on 2011

This morning I stumbled on this reflection exercise in a prayer book I recently purchased, Hearts on Fire: Praying with the Jesuits edited by Michael Harter, SJ. The below reflection questions were proposed by Anthony de Mello, a Jesuit from India. While the questions are proposed to reflect on a lifetime (a pretty big undertaking!), I think they could also be valuable in reflecting on a year. Perhaps some of the questions could be useful in reflecting on 2011 this New Year’s weekend.

I also recommend this blog article from my friend Daphne, as you look forward to 2012...Choosing to Name Your Year.  More soon on this one!

A Testament
I imagine that today I am to die. I ask for time to be alone and write down for friends a sort of testament for which the points that follow could serve as chapter titles.

1. These things I have loved in life:
    Things I tasted,
    looked at,
    smelled,
    heard,
    touched.
2. These experiences I have cherished.
3. These ideas have brought me liberation.
4. These beliefs I have outgrown.
5. These convictions I have lived by.
6. These are things I have lived for.
7. These insights I have gained I the school of life:
    Insights into God,
    the world,
    human nature,
    Jesus Christ,
    love,
    religion,
    prayer.
8. These risks I have took,
    these dangers I have courted.
9. These sufferings have seasoned me.
10. These lessons life has taught me.
11. These influences have shaped my life
  (persons, occupations, books, events).
12. These Scripture texts have lit my path.
13. These things I regret about my life.
14. These are my life achievements.
15. These persons are enshrined within my heart.
16. These are my unfilled desired.

I choose an ending for this document:
    a poem – my own or someone else’s,
  or a prayer,
  a sketch or a picture from a magazine,
  a Scripture text,
  or anything that I judge would be
    an apt conclusion to my testament.

~ Anthony De Mello, SJ