The Prayer of Examen

History

The Prayer of Examen is attributed to St. Ignatius of Loyola and serves as a catalyst for the spiritual exercises he developed. St. Ignatius became a believer while lying in a hospital bed, having been injured in battle. After reading about the life of Christ and the lives of the saints he decided to dedicate his life to the Lord. After Ignatius received Christ, he underwent a three-day confession. Ignatius later received authority from the Pope to begin the Society of the Jesuits, a religious order of those who would follow Ignatius’ instructions (the Spiritual Exercises) on the spiritual life.

The Spiritual Exercises were initially written for a retreat director.1 The exercises were developed to rid the soul of all inordinate attachments, and once cleansed, to prepare the soul to seek and find God’s will and live accordingly. The exercises were to be conducted during a thirty-day period of time (four weeks). The instructions are very specific, although Ignatius does allow for much flexibility in the exercises to accommodate different individuals needs. During the individuals’ retreat they would meet with a spiritual director, pray for four to five hours, attend mass and keep silence.2

The Prayer of Examen is an important discipline discussed in the exercises. The examen is simply a portion of the overall retreat program that Ignatius developed,. and is now often applied as a useful discipline on its own. “A prayer of examen involves two major activities: (1) an examination of consciousness to discover how God has been present throughout our day; (2) an examination of conscience to discover those areas in our lives that need further growth and healing."3

Practice

Examen of Consciousness
The idea behind the prayer of consciousness is to open oneself to how God has been moving throughout one’s day. Traditionally the Prayer of Examen involves looking at the past, but one can also arrange this exercise to focus on the present and the future. In the Prayer of Examen we want to take notice of what God has been calling us to in our day and how he has been speaking to us. When doing this we may simply be recalling things that we noticed at the time, or we may be opening our heart to the ways in which God was moving but that we were unaware of in the moment.

The following questions are a good place to start. The questions themselves are not particularly special, but are simply meant to trigger exploration, and can be changed or added to. Set aside twenty minutes of time in a place that you will not be disturbed to do this prayer exercise. Allow four to five minutes for each question and then move on. If you find God calling you to focus your attention on one particular question, then stay with that question for as long as the Lord desires.


When did I sense your presence the most in my day?
When did your presence seem farthest away from me in my day?
How were you loving me in my day?
How were you loving me even when your presence seemed far away?
How did I respond to your love in my day?

Examen of Conscience
The idea behind the Examen of Conscience is to allow the Lord to search your heart. This prayer should be prayed in the spirit of Psalm 139:23-24. The idea is not to simply beat ourselves up over our sin or to do self-analysis, but rather to open ourselves to God in light of the truth of one’s heart. As with the questions for the examen of consciousness, the following questions are simply meant to trigger exploration, and can be changed or added to. Set aside twenty minutes in a place that you will not be disturbed for this prayer exercise. Allow ten minutes for reflection and ten minutes for confession. Do not be concerned with getting through all of your sins, but rather be open to whatever the Lord reveals. You may spend your entire time reflecting on one or two sins and confessing those, or you may find yourself recalling and confessing a number of them.

Open myself to God regarding:
What my idols are
What my unhealthy attachments are
What my vices are
What my desires and beliefs are that are not ordered toward God
Confess these areas of sin