What is the Examen?

I’ve been on a journey as of late.  I’ve spent most of my life now as a Christian, living with Christian principles.  Except for a few years in my 20’s when I was “working it out”, I have been going to church every Sunday since I was 19 years old.  I try to have a daily quiet time, where I read and pray.  But the religious practice I’ve been part of the last 25+ years, this is what we do.  Of course there has been some fasting, which I tried my best to avoid.  There was the occasional prayer chain.  But these were the daily practices.  But the last few years have found me on a new journey.  It started with a book, then a day retreat, then a 2 year cohort program with 6 extended retreats.  God has been shifting how I experience him over the last number of years.  Which brings me to the examen. 

Short answer?  According to the Ignatian Spirituality website, the examen is a technique of prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to detect God’s presence and discern his direction for us. The Examen is an ancient practice in the Church that can help us see God’s hand at work in our whole experience.

For me, the examen has become a way to see in hindsight where God has shown up in my recent day, week or month, or even year.  And the practice of it helps me to start experiencing God more in real time.  What if the practice of looking back could help you experience the now with more presence? 

There are a few different versions of the examen.  But for now let’s work with the one of the Ignatian Spirituality website.  I’ve added some scriptures to help me…

1. Become aware of God’s presence.

Psalm 139 – Where can I go from your presence?  If I go to the heavens you are there…  if I make my bed in the depths you are there….

The bible tells us that God is always present.  There is even a special word to describe this, omnipresent.  He is all around us, all of the time.  So we don’t need to invite him to join us here.  We just need to be aware of how he is already here with us.  The is the beauty of God.  He is here and just waiting to have you pay attention to him.  To notice him already in your midst.  You can do this by meditative breathing, listening to worship or instrumental music.  There are some great meditation apps that can guide you.  Whatever you choose to do, take a moment, to notice God, right there, right next to you.  His gaze is already upon you. 

2. Review the day with gratitude.

1 Thes 5:18-give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Ignatius Loyola thought there was no worse sin than ingratitude, that all other sins were born from this.  He may be right.  Although it is not listed in the commandments or other main scriptures regarding sin, when you consider this, most sins are born from a place where we cannot see all that we have to be grateful for.  Imagine if Eve had been seeping with gratitude when the serpent tempted her.  Gratitude can protect us.           

3. Pay attention to your emotions.

Psalm 25:17 Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish

One of my favorite new tools is the feelings wheel.  I love the multitude of feelings listed.  It has helped me and my family immensely in weeks past, to be able to find the words to say how we are feeling.  Scripture is full of emotions.  The psalms are David’s expression of his feelings.  The gospels are full of how Jesus felt.  God made us to be emotional beings.  I believe when we are in touch with and honest about our real feelings, not how we think we should feel, that it brings us closer to experiencing God. 

4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.

1 Chronicles 16:12 – Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgement he pronounced

If you could see a line graph of your day, you would notice that it is full of highs and lows.  Good points and difficult points and lonely points, and anger points.  Pick one.  And pray from that point.  It’s like taking a micro view of that moment.  Where was God?  What was he doing?  Was he trying to say anything? 

5. Look toward tomorrow.

Luke 11:3 Give us each day… our daily bread.

In Acts we hear how God has planned our days so we could know him.  Yet we still have our plans for our days.  We have the things we need to get done, tasks calling our names.  Take a moment, pray over them.  Imagine what God might want to say to you about them.  What is his opinion about your plans? 

 The entire practice of the examen should only be 15-20 minutes.  It doesn’t need to be too much longer.  It can even be an addition to your regular spiritual routine.  But I encourage you to try it for a month.  Every day for a month.  See if a little practice doesn’t make permanent. 

Let me know how things go for you. You can drop me a line at samanthamlam@gmail.com. Hope to hear from you!