LETTER FROM KATIE • March 18, 2026

Jack Baumgartner (American, 1976–), The Great Wound, 2024. Drawing from the series The Diary of a Tree Standing on Its Head. via Art & Theology Blog

Dear Holy Comforter,

When I was reflecting on the fourth step of the Examen—Sorrow for Sin—I was struck by this insight from Joseph Tetlow, a Jesuit priest who has been teaching and praying the Examen for decades:

“Never, never start examining yourself until you have thanked God for the gifts that God is giving to you—not in general, not in the past, but right now, today.”

Beginning with gratitude changes everything. It keeps us rooted in God’s presence and helps us see that grace is already at work in our lives. Without it, we risk focusing only on what is wrong in us and the world and miss the God who is gently re-creating us in love.

Seen in this light, even our awareness of sin is a grace. It is a sign that God is softening our hearts and opening our eyes. So we come to God with honesty, but never with fear. For God is near to those who are brokenhearted. When we look back over our day, noticing where we have resisted love—toward God, toward our neighbor, or even toward ourselves—we do so in the presence of the One who is already offering mercy. Our sorrow, then, is not despair, but a kind of homecoming. We have wandered but we are always welcome to come home. 

The Examen, then, leads us not into shame but into truth. It helps us name where we have resisted love, while trusting that love has never stopped pursuing us. In this way, sorrow for sin becomes less about self-condemnation and more about renewing our relationship with God who never turns away from our pain and suffering.

So always begin with gratitude. Notice the gifts of this day, and in that light, gently bring before God the places where you have closed your heart. Trust that the grace that reveals them is already healing them.

For in the end, we are not defined by our sin, but by God’s love—a love that surrounds us and is always drawing us home.

And if, as you pray the Examen, something rises to the surface that you would like to name and bring into the light—or if you find yourself struggling to believe that God truly loves you—I want to invite you to reach out to Galen or me. It would be a gift to sit with you, to listen, to pray, and to remind you of what is most deeply true: that you are a loved sinner.

May the peace of God guard your hearts today.

With much love,

Katie