Prayer of Examen
Introduction to the Prayer of Examen. Videos and playlists help teach you how to approach the Examen.
Prayer of Examen
The Prayer of Examen, popularized by Ignatius of Loyola, has been adapted over the years to provide a way of remembering how God has met us throughout our day. Practicing the Prayer of Examen helps us to know the truth of God’s love for us, that he is intimately with us, and to see our own daily life is full of grace.
The Prayer of Examen invites us to reflect on our past twenty-four hours, walking back through our day hour by hour, that we might see how intimately God is involved our lives. We truly come to personally experience that “we live and move and have our being in God.” (Acts 17)
Two Options to be Led in the Prayer of Examen
Luann Budd, introduces a modern adaptation of the Prayer of Examen from Helen Cepero’s book, Journaling As A Spiritual Practice. See handout.
This thirty-minute video includes a brief introduction to the Prayer of Examen, then four ways to reflect on our past day, and a concluding one-sentence prayer. Two minutes of silence follow each reflection so that you can spend time praying and journaling.
Background music is from Jeff Nelson’s, Prayer Songs album. Used with permission.
Heather Simko, leads this Prayer of Examen. She uses a modern Jesuit approach to the prayer as she guides us to prayerfully review our day.
Heather begins by giving us an opportunity to still our hearts. Then she guides us as we pray through our day, being attentive to how God was at work in our lives.
This ten-minute video can be expanded if you would like to “press pause” and take additional time for prayer and reflection along the way.
Historical Context
Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)
Ignatius has one of those great conversion testimonies. He was fully a man of the world until 1521 when he was wounded in battle. His leg injuries required months of rehabilitation and “from this experience of suffering came a remarkable reflection on his life with God.” His reflections triggered “a moral and spiritual transformation that changed his life and forever changed the world.” (Foster, Longing for God, 149)
In 1534 Ignatius gathered ten men and formed the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Through his 12-volume Spiritual Exercises and 30-day retreats, he sought to help people find a closer walk with God by engaging in an imaginative, prayerful reflection on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus which transformed their hearts. And when people are transformed by the goodness of God, the grace they’ve experienced overflows in goodness and love for others.
Ignatius believed that we can have a direct experience of God that not only changes us but also helps us contribute something worthy to society.
- Richard Foster, Longing for God, 154