At the beginning of his Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius of Loyola introduced two prayer exercises which he calls examens which are more properly understood to be examinations of conscience: the particular examen which focuses on a specific sin and the general examen which focuses on the general state of a person soul. However, over time, the Ignatian examen has come to be practiced as a daily reflection on a person's behavior in relation to God's presence and other people. For that reason, it has come to be known as an "examen of consciousness".
Intended to last about a quarter of an hour, this simple prayer focuses on discerning God's activity in your daily life and (when necessary) changing your behavior to bring it into harmony with God's redemptive plan for the individual and the world as a whole. Used in concert with Ignatius' "rules for discernment", the examen helps you monitor your emotional responses to the events of the day – feeling consolation when your behavior is in harmony with God's desires and desolation when your behavior separate you from God – you are able to monitor and adjust your behavior before disruptive choices become too deeply rooted to easily change. In this way, you remain attentive to God's desires in you and the world around you as you strive to love and serve God in your life.
The simplicity of the examen also allows it to be adapted in various ways. While the prayer was originally conceived as a review of the day, it also is possible to look forward to events anticipated in the coming day. Also, it is very easy to integrate prayers from various traditions into the structure of the examen. You were introduced to some of these variations when you read Nurturing the Courage of Pilgrims at the beginning of this program and during your journey through The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. So, you may have already comfortably integrated these prayers into your spiritual life.
If not, you will find it helpful to learn this prayer first in its traditional form and then consider the two Celtic adaptations: "Making a Morning Caim" and "An Evening Prayer of Remembrance".
To hear the guided traditional examen,
please click here.
To read this traditional examen prepared on A4,
please click here.
To read this traditional examen prepared on A4,
please click here.
To hear the guided morning examen,
please click here.
To read this morning examen prepared on A4,
please click here.
To read this morning examen prepared on US Letterhead,
please click here.
To hear the guided evening examen,
please click here.
To read this evening examen prepared on A4,
please click here.
To read this evening examen prepared on US Letterhead,
please click here.
(The traditional examen was first published in Timothy J. Ray’s Marking the Way: an introduction to Ignatian prayer styles. The two Celtic examens were originally published to accompany his A Journey to the Land of the Saints.)
Developing Personal Examens
You may find it helpful to develop your own version of the examen including the following steps:
— After becoming quiet, become aware and thankful for the general gifts you have received from God in your life. Recognize your need for God's generosity and goodness in your own life and in the world around you.
— Pray face to see clearly, to understand properly and respond generously to the guidance God is offering to you.
— Preview or review the events of your day. Recognize the presence and guidance God is offering in that day by considering your emotions, feeling consolation when you act in accordance with God's desires and desolation when you feel separated from them.
— Consider your responses to God's activity in your day and express either gratitude or remorse for these actions.
Resolve to respond more fully to God's desires and guidance in the future.
— Conclude with a simple prayer that will help you remember God's presence and activity in your life.
Review
After completing these activities, consider the following statement:
Being able to find God whenever he wanted, Ignatius was now able to find that God of love in all things through a test for congruence of any interior impulse, mood, or feeling with his true self. Whenever he found interior consonance (which registers as peace, joy, contentment) from the immediate interior movement and felt himself being his true, congruent self, then he knew he had heard God's Word to him at that instant. And he responded with that fullness of humble courage so typical of Ignatius.
George Aschenbrenner
The Hidden Self Grown Strong
What ideas or emotions does this evoke in you? Summarize these thoughts and feelings in your journal.
With time and practice, when adapted to your personality and preferred style of prayer, the examen will become woven into the fabric of your spiritual life and shape your behavior in increasingly less conscious ways.
To return to the Part 3 start page, please click here.
To return to the program main page, please click here.