Further back a man whistled a different tune.

Sometimes the sounds collided, sometimes they harmonised.

They were backed by the percussion of hammers and steel and the slamming of car doors, the occasional roar of a plane taking off.

All of this, for me, was parable.

My days are made of messy music. Each element is right with purpose but often collectively, they seem discordant.

Morning prayer brings the day as fresh gift, ready to be unwrapped. I ask Jesus to supervise the unwrapping, saying I want him to be in control.

But actually, I have my own plans for the day, all of them rather tidy. In other words, I'm hoping for music that is beautifully orchestrated.

It never happens.

In the evening, when I come to the prayer of the Examen, I've got a whole album of messy music to play back to my friend Jesus.

Usually there are a couple of sighs, a groan or two of embarrassment, but it is all held in gratitude.

That's the thing with the Examen, we discover that the discordant notes and how we have judged them, are by far our best teachers.

The Examen is not about a divided understanding of the day.

It's not about, "Thank you for this and forgive me for that."

The latter would be like saying, "I failed that test, God, so please don't send it again."

We give thanks for everything, especially the difficult teaching that is opening a door to growth.

When we do this, we realize our mistakes are guides to God's grace, not fences that keep us from it.

Sometimes the process suggests that we laugh at ourselves.

I mean, how could I have believed that someone had stolen my wallet when all the time a good Samaritan had gone out of his way to deliver it intact to the Police Station?

That realisation was cringe-making but a very good teaching. Certainly, I felt rather small, but all that smallness was gratitude.

On our Faith journey, the Examen unwraps the truth that imperfection is a great blessing.

Seen as such, imperfection will heal dualistic thinking, tuning our spiritual ear to the messy music of our days so that we realize it is all God-given.

Even those persistent negative thoughts that bother us, carry the light of possibility.

They are meant to be.

Dealing with them is part of our spiritual path and that is why they are there. The work we do with them, leads us to greater awareness of the abundance of God' love.

When we know that God is in every part of our lives, as much in the shadow as in the light, we have Wisdom.

Yet there is more. The Examen reveals that Wisdom is not something to be acquired.

It is already within us. All we needed was God's help to unwrap it.

• Joy Cowley is a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and retreat facilitator.

I was sure that after getting married in the Catholic Church, everyone around me would see the differences in my life and I would be Catholic forever.

I thought my conversion was the beginning of my happily ever after, regardless of how broken my life before the Church had been.

That isn't quite what happened.

Instead, every new crisis adds to the stress caused by the multiple crises before it. And every time, I find myself looking up at the crucifix, wondering why I ever thought that this Catholic thing was going to be so easy.

I've tried so many ways to get me and everyone in my life acting how I think we should. I don't get mad at God anymore because I've learned, after trying it plenty of times, that that really doesn't help anyone. But I've tried everything else.

In one bout of despair, I stopped going to Mass; at another time, I went to all the Masses. I've prayed the rosary and novenas; I've talked to priests and talked to therapists. I have set up GoFundMe accounts and seen the love of God in action when people donated, and I've felt the loneliness when people didn't.

There is absolutely nothing that I haven't tried in order to relieve in "the Catholic way" some of the consistent struggle and pain of life.

What I am coming to realize is that this struggle is the Catholic way.

Most stories of the saints are tidied up; they give the impression that saints never did anything wrong. That isn't Catholicism.

Saints are human; they had their struggles and their sins. Being a saint doesn't mean doing no wrong; it means loving Jesus enough to take our wrongs to Him, and trust that He will make something out of us anyway. Continue reading

• Leticia Ochoa Adams describes herself as 'a hot mess convert who loves Jesus and has a scandalous sense of humour'. She writes at www.letiadams.com.

Religion can help believers relate kindly and justly to other people.

And religion can stiffen the will of believers when they face unjust suffering for their faith.

I was taught these things when I studied Christian ethics, and they continue to motivate me in my work as an ethics professor today.

But experience has me rethinking these claims more than I did at the beginning of my journey.

Now I see that religion can sometimes do a poor job helping believers discern right from wrong or relate kindly and justly to others.

And religion can easily persuade people that the rejection they experience for their hurtful or ill-considered convictions is martyrdom for "God's truth," leaving them even more entrenched in their destructive beliefs.

My two key teachers in the field of Christian ethics in the 1980s were the Baptist theologian Glen Stassen of Southern Baptist Seminary and the Lutheran ethicist Larry Rasmussen of Union Theological Seminary in New York.

These men knew each other and shared many common scholarly interests that shaped me as well. These included the Nazi period in Germany, the extraordinary life of the scholar-pastor-resister Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the challenge of overcoming racism and the fight against the nuclear arms race during the Cold War.

Both men modeled and taught me an essentially hopeful vision about the role that Christian convictions can play in making believers more faithful and society better.

They taught a faith that had learned the lessons of the Nazi period; that honored Bonhoeffer for standing fast against Nazi seductions when so many of his fellow Christians surrendered their souls; that resisted America's own racism; and that rejected the idea that more nukes would make the world safer. Continue reading

• David Gushee is Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics and director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University. He writes the Christians, Conflict and Change blog at RNS.

Fasting should be a meaningful gesture of self-denial out of love for God. All the better if it helps us grow in self-control and deeper appreciation for various pleasures, conveniences and luxuries in our lives.

If you want to try something a little different this year, consider the following alternatives.

1) Screen time and digital devices

Most of us have some level of attachment to our gadgets and digital media, and Lent is the perfect time to fast from them. Perhaps it's no TV before bedtime, no random web surfing during the day, or no social media until Easter. You might consider going completely screens-free on weekends or using your smartphone for essential communication only.

2) Negative talk and criticism

It's a rare person who doesn't criticize others occasionally or engage in some form of negative talk — a light jab here, an unnecessary comment there. Fasting from this kind of speech is much easier said than done, but it's a powerful act of self-denial that can change you for the better.

3) Hot showers

There's nothing like a hot shower to get your morning started, but consider turning that temperature down and submitting yourself to lukewarm or cold showers instead. Another alternative is to set a timer and take short showers instead of leisurely ones. (Which of course will be easy the colder the water is!) In February and March, this can be an especially tough sacrifice. Then again, Jesus died on the cross for you. Just saying.

4) Non-essential shopping

Many people have a hard time saying no to the latest gadget, a fabulous new pair of shoes or little extras like gourmet coffees when they're out and about. Consider staying away from shops during Lent. You can take this a step further and give some of the money you save as alms — another pillar of Lenten practice. Continue reading

• Zoe Romanowsky is lifestyle editor and video content producer for Aleteia, the source of the article above.

"It is a harmonious whole, harmonious, and the Holy Spirit does it!" he explained. "He renews all things: he renews our heart, our life, and makes us live differently, but in a way that takes up the whole of our life."

"You cannot be a Christian of pieces, a part-time Christian," the Pope said, because Christianity requires a renewal of the entire person.

Continue reading