The Ignatian Examen

St. Ignatius calls us to find God in all things. The examen is a technique of prayer and reflection where we recall the events of our day and note where we saw Gods presence. When fully adopted, the examen can become a way to determine how God has been at work in our lives and the ways that we either have or have not responded to this activity of God.

While the examen can be adopted for many different situations, all follow a basic structure. Choose a time period to consider and look back on. It could be a day, week, month, year, or even a lifetime. Then enter into the prayer. 

1. PRESENCE: Place yourself in God’s presence. You may think of a time or place in which you felt the consoling presence of God. This could have been witnessing a beautiful sunset over an ocean or mountain vista, a particular church liturgy or song. Allow yourself to be in this scene again and feel God with you.

2. GRATITUDE: Give thanks. As you think about your time period of examination be thankful for the many moments. Start simply: Weather and seasons that give new life, the air that I breathe, a helpful person I met, etc.

3. ASK: Pray for the grace for God to reveal how He sees the moments of your life in all their complexity, hiding nothing from your reflection. 

4. REVIEW: Thinking through your day(week, etc.) recall one or two specific moments that stick out. Pay close attention to your feelings and emotions in those moments. 

5. REFLECT: Consider what you did, said, or thought in those moments. Ask yourself if you were drawing closer to God, or further away? Look for patterns of thoughts or behavior. What does this say about myself and direction? Ask for forgiveness for the times that you may have fallen away.

6. LOOK AHEAD: Think towards tomorrow. Considering what the next day(s) holds for you, think of how you can greater follow the Way of God and live in gratitude for God's many gifts. Try and be specific. Conclude with a special prayer such as the “Our Father.”

Some may prefer a moderator when praying the examen. Many variations of the examen can be found on sites such as Youtube. We suggest the narrated examen below by Sister Margaret:

Watch Video

• Social Media Examen - Reflect on how you relate to and through social media.
• An Ecological Examen - Discern opportunities in your day to embrace ecological justice.
• An Examen for Civic Life - Reflect on the interrelationship between Gospel values and political engagement.
• An Everyday Examen - No matter what kind of day you're having, you'll find God in it with this Examen.