Happy Feast Day of St. Ignatius of Loyola!

Many Catholics are familiar with St. Ignatius as the founder of the religious order of the Society of Jesus (also known as the Jesuits). The Jesuits are, among other things, known for their network of high schools, colleges and universities, their commitment to serving the poor and the vulnerable, and their rich tradition of Ignatian spirituality.

Have you ever heard of The Spiritual Exercises, Ignatian Contemplation, or the Daily Examen? All of these are forms of prayer that are at the heart of Ignatian Spirituality and that hold in their center the idea that God can be found “in all things.” The Spirit moves in our conversations with friends, family members, and strangers; God’s presence is alive in Scripture and Tradition; and the Creator of all speaks through the thoughts and feelings that greet us throughout our days. God is interwoven into the fabric of every moment of our lives, whether we notice God or not, but Ignatius believed that followers of Jesus would be more equipped to hear and respond to God’s call for us and spread the love of Jesus if they were more attuned to God’s presence.  Ignatian practices aim to help us increase our attention and sensitivity to the Divine at work and play in our every day existence.

I’m a big fan of all aspects of Ignatian Spirituality. When I worked as a Director of Faith Formation, I often led guided meditations based on St. Ignatius’s form of Imaginative prayer; I gravitate towards retreats that incorporate the Spiritual Exercises, as St. Ignatius and his companions crafted them (there are many Spiritual Exercises, after all); and I’ll find myself resonating with the words of a prayer or quotation, like the Suscipe, to then find out it was written by St. Ignatius.

Ignatian Spirituality, in its different forms, has woven its way in and out of my life for years. But one aspect that has remained nearly constant has been the Daily Examen.

The Daily Examen

The Examen is an ancient prayerful practice that involves reflection on one’s day in order to notice God’s presence within in and to discern God’s direction for us moving forward. While St. Ignatius by no means “invented” the Examen, he strongly believed in the power of the Examen for discernment and spiritual growth and desired to share it broadly. To that end, he presented the reflective practice in his Spiritual Exercises and made the rule that Jesuits pray the Examen twice daily.

The Examen is a flexible prayer that can be adapted to fit an individual, culture or moment’s needs, but it broadly consists of five steps.

How to Pray the Examen

(Adapted from jesuits.org)

1. Place yourself in God’s presence, giving thanks for God’s great love for you.
2. Pray for the grace to understand how God is acting in your life.
3. Review your day, recalling specific moments and your feelings at moments throughout the day.
4. Reflect on what you did, said, or thought in those instances. Were you drawing closer to God, or further away?
5. Look toward tomorrow, thinking of how you might collaborate more effectively with God’s plan. Be specific.  Conclude your Examen by praying the Lord’s Prayer.

Variations of the Examen

With google at our fingertips, we can find adaptions of the Examen to fit countless particular circumstances and needs.

We can use a simplified form of the Examen when we are out of our usual routine but desiring to stay attuned to God while on vacation.

We can pray a Parent’s Examen, if our vocation as a mom or dad is at the heart of our life.

We can use an Examen with an even more overt gaze towards Examination of Conscience when preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or even when making a personal confession at the end of every day.

We can pray the Examen using a video or an app if we think we could benefit from extra structure and guidance.

We can get really specific, with a Social Media Examen, an Anti-Racism Examen, or a an Examen for Managers.

The Examen in My Life

The truth is that while I love seeing how the Examen can and has been adapted in very specific ways, I tend to gravitate towards using the simple, five-step Examen in my day-to-day prayer life. Because writing helps me focus, I usually pray the Examen through journaling (at this point, I tend to use a blank journal, but if I were new to the Examen, a guided journal like this one would have been helpful). I place myself in God’s presence with a deep breath and a moment free from thought. Sometimes, I sit in this silence for a mere moment, while other times, I take a longer pause. As I give thanks and as I ask for God’s grace to help me notice God’s presence, I try to move beyond words and just let these feelings of gratitude and grace wash over me. For each of the last three steps of the Examen, I jot down a few bullet points or ideas in my journal.  Even though the Examen is often thought of as an end-of-the-day prayer that allows a person to reflect on the last twelve to eighteen hours, I find that I fall asleep too quickly at night when I get into prayerful mode, so I use the Examen in the morning, looking back at the previous day. This practice both helps me learn from my past and sets me up to be attuned to God’s presence in the day ahead.