Spiritual Practice

Praying the Examen

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

When Lilly Lewin mentioned in her Freerange Friday last week that it was St. Ignatius of Loyola. whose death we honoured on July 31st, who gave us the EXAMEN, it triggered something in me. It is a while since I have used this practice to end my day, but her words made me feel that maybe it is time to return to this practice. It is a wonderful way to help us notice and recognize where we’ve seen God along our way as we walked through the day or through the week and provides great prompts for journalling. It is also a great way to wind down at the end of the day and take a few minutes to breathe, to centre ourselves on God and commit all that has happened through the day to our God.

There are five basic steps to this practice -

1. Place yourself in God’s presence and express your gratitude 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. You might like to keep a journal to write in as you recall specific moments and your feelings at the time. 

4. Reflect on what you did, said, or thought in those instances. Were you drawing closer to God, or further away? Perhaps you need to ask forgiveness for places you have strayed from God, or for specific actions and offenses to others.

5. Look toward tomorrow with hope focusing on the good things that could lie ahead — think of how you might collaborate more effectively with God’s plan for you in the coming days. Be specific, and conclude with the Lord’s prayer or similar prayer. Here is a prayer that I occasionally use at night

   Thank you God for this day,
   I breathe in the wonder of it.
   I breathe in the beauty of it.
   I breathe in the love of it.
   Though it held both grief and joy,
   I know that you walked with me. 
   Your presence embraced me.
   Your love surrounded me,
   Your light guided me. 
   Let me rest now, 
   And give it into your hands.
   

There are many forms of this prayer. On Godspacelight last year we posted 2 such practices. Louise Conner posted what is probably my favourite form of this prayer - the Ecological Examen which asks us to reflect on our personal relationship with creation, to acknowledge and change our ways, and to promote ecological justice by standing in solidarity with those most affected by environmental harm.

Lilly Lewin wrote another very helpful post about A Birthday Examen I love this idea, especially that we use this as an opportunity to celebrate who God has designed us to be. I have had several conversations this last week about the need to not just enjoy God, but to realize how much God enjoys each of us. A birthday examen is a practice that can really help us do that.

The Jesuits have an excellent Examen site, with about a dozen possible examines to use. There is one for everyday, another for refugees, and a couple for racism. There are others for COVID, and different aspects of civil life and global citizenship. This is a practice that can help move us forward wherever we are at in our lives.