This is our suggested template for writing a Cardijn Daily Reflection.
Give your reflection a title.
Think of something that you experience and that concerns you. Write your reflection about the experience. Use your idea to construct a title for your reflection.
Use Cardijn’s See, Judge, Act method to structure your reflection.
Try to keep each section to about 200 words in length.
See
When you decide the starting point of your reflection, give it a context. What is happening in your world that concerns you enough to want to act to address your concerns? Through answering for yourself the questions about the causes and effects (what, why, when, where, how, how often, who, who’s affected, how are they affected), prepare yourself for action.
Do some research in the Joseph Cardijn Digital Library to uncover some insights into the situation you are focusing on that will help you to understand some of the deeper aspects of your concern.
Once you have completed this part of the journey, you are ready to draft the SEE section of your reflection.
Judge
Take a moment to think about your attitude towards the situation you have described. Why does it concern you? Find the Gospel reading for the Mass of the day you have chosen for the reflection. Read the Gospel a few times. Be alert to any part of the reading that speaks to you.
Allow the Gospel passage to be a lens through which you view the situation and your attitude towards the situation. How would the situation change if people lived the Gospel message?
Use your thoughts to draft the Judge section of your reflection.
Act
Now that you have identified for yourself the ideal situation, what has to change for the ideal to become the reality? What does that reveal about the sort of action that needs to take place to bring about the change? Take some time to think of an action that you can commit to that will contribute to the overall action.
Perhaps there are others who you can share your concern, your judgment of the situation and the action you will carry out. Think about how you can let them know and invite them to join you in your action.
Once you have worked through these ideas, you will be ready to write the Act stage of your reflection.