A key tool in the process of ongoing discernment is the practice of the examen prayer which Fr. Gallagher discusses in The Examen Prayer: Ignatian Wisdom for Our Lives Today.  In five simple steps Ignatius helps individuals to be aware of the presence of God’s love at work in their lives and to grow in their loving response to it.  It is the examples of individuals endeavoring to live out the reality of the examen prayer in their own lives that add clarity to both the text and the practice.  It becomes clear in Fr. Gallagher’s book that a persevering practice of spiritual discernment helps us to gather the fragments of life into a pattern of greater freedom and hopeful living.