Daily Examen

Examination

A gracious Spirit led revealing of how God was recently present in your life.

This is a Spiritual Practice of Urban Monastics.

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Overview

A Daily Examen is an intimate, meditative, and contemplative way to prayerfully reflect on your day. It helps us to better see and sense God’s presence in our moments, and discern His direction for us. The Holy Spirit leads and guides us through postures of gratitude, openness, and sorrow. This leads us into a deeper longing for God. The heart of the examen is to discover how God has been present in your life.

There are five steps to an examen. In the first, we invite God to be present with us. Each of the next four steps follows one of the four weeks of the spiritual exercises. These exercises were put together by Ignatius of Loyola. There is deep meditative and contemplative prayerful work that takes place across those weeks. They resonate deeply across monastic traditions. After the five steps, it concludes with a brief prayer of gratitude.

The Examen is not a time of self reflection. Rather, it is a form of spiritual contemplation.

A Short History

The examen has its roots in the mid 16th century with St. Ignatius of Loyola. Even before the founding of what would become the Jesuits in Paris, Ignatius had written and was leading others through his ‘Spiritual Exercises’. This was intended to be a 4 week period of intense prayer and meditation (4-5 hours a day), and isolation. Each week had a theme.

The first week starts with our own sin and bringing us into the depths of hell. Leading us to turn to Christ, and asking these three questions:

1. What have I done for Christ?
2. What am I doing for Christ
3. What ought I do for Christ?

The second week encourages us to move to imitate Christ.

The third week is a time of mystical identification with Christ’s sufferings, marked by the desire to weep and grieve with him.

The fourth week is a period of joyful communion with the risen Christ.

God’s Presence in the Examen

God is present in the Daily Examen because the heart of the examen is the invitation we extend to God. We must long to both see Gods presence in our life, and to long for refinement into who God knows and hopes for us to become.

Deeper Dive into the Practice

There are 5 Steps to praying the daily examen. Each step will involve a time of either contemplation or meditation.

Contemplation invites us into quiet stillness in the presence of God.

Meditation invites us into active engagement with a text, or with current reflections.

We’ll use an illustrative metaphor to help us hold these steps together. That of a light being turned on in our room previously in darkness.

The 5 Steps are:

1. Inviting Gods Light
2. Gratitude
3. Reflection
4. Sorrow
5. Tomorrow

Guide to Practicing the Examen

Inviting God’s Illuminating Light

The first step is prayer. We invite the illuminating light of God to reveal to us things we cannot see. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26)

Rest in the knowledge and presence of God within you. Think of the gifts the spirit gives freely to us: love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Gal.5:22)

Gratitude

This step focuses on the realization of our sinfulness, and gratitude for what Christ has done for us. God is with us always, and never leaves us. We reflect with gratitude on the ways God was present with us today. We reflect on the ways He has invited us to be present with Him.
All that I have is yours. (John 17:10)

Pause, and spend time in gratitude.

  • For the covenant: God’s irrevocable gift of Himself to me in Christ; His gift of everyone as a brother and sister.  
  • For myself: chosen with these qualities and failings in Christ.  
  • For everything: even the harsh and painful aspects of life which lead me to the Father through the Cross and Resurrection of His Son.

Some further questions to meditate on:

  • What have I got to be grateful for today?
  • What wonderful things of God has he placed in who I am?
  • How gracious was Christ with me as I have failed?
  • What harsh, painful aspects of life invite me to identify with Christ in his suffering? 
  • How am I becoming more grateful and contented? 

Reflection

This step invites us to look back. How have we responded to God’s loving presence and action in our lives? As we mediate here, let the Holy Spirit tear down the illusion that we manage our own lives. As that illusion crumbles, so do our ego, pride, and vanity fall with it.

Pause, and spend time in reflection.

  • How was I drawn to God today: a friend, event, written word, beauty of nature?
  • Have I learnt anything about God and His ways: in ordinary occasions, spare moments?
  • Did I meet Him in: fear, joy, work, misunderstanding, weariness, suffering?
  • Did His Word come alive in: prayer, scriptures, liturgy?
  • Did I bring Christ to my community? Did they bring Christ to me?
  • Have I been a sign of God’s presence and love to the people I met today?
  • Did I go out to: the lonely, the sorrowful, the discouraged, the needy?
  • Was I aware of God’s work in my own city, my country, in other nations of the world, in the Church at large?
  • Have I had a keener sense of being loved, of sinfulness, of desire to give back what I have received, of dependence?
  • Is there some part of my life still untouched by Jesus Christ and where He is calling me to a change of heart? 

Sorrow

True self-awareness is a gift given to us in love. It is given to us by our heavenly Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The sorrow that comes to us from the Divine Trinity is free from shame or blame. It grows out of our longing to be present with God in each moment and action, in ourselves and in our becoming. We experience sorrow for the ways we have failed to see or respond to God’s love at work within ourselves.

Pause, and spend time in that sorrow.

Let this awareness lead us towards:

  • Wonder at always being brought and welcomed home.
  • Joy and gratitude because I share in the victory of Christ.
  • A increasing mistrust of self and trust in God.
  • Serene acceptance of my weakness.
  • Overwhelming gratitude that God continues to transform me from a sinner into a child of God. 

Tomorrow

God gives us gifts in the past, the present, and the future. Every moment in the coming hours will be full of gifts and of the One who gives them. Let us place our trust in God and allow Him to lead us deeper into His presence. He who raised Jesus from death, raises us up from our weakness, poverty, and pain. He raised us from death to life so that we may share in the joyful celebration of Christ’s resurrection.

Pause, and spend time focusing on tomorrow.

Some questions to reflect on:

  • How will I face the future with God?
  • With apathy, distaste, fear, despondency?
  • Which parts of my life particularly call for the Lord’s healing and protection?