Examen
Also known as: Daily Examen
Ignatian end-of-day prayerful review of consolations, faults, and gratitude.
The Examen (Latin: examinatio) is the daily Ignatian contemplative practice of prayerfully reviewing the events, feelings, and movements of the day to discern God's presence and one's response. Ignatius considered the Examen so important that he held Jesuits should never omit it even when other prayers were prevented by circumstances. The traditional five-step structure: (1) become aware of God's presence and ask for the grace to see clearly; (2) review the day with gratitude, attending to specific gifts received; (3) pay attention to one's emotions and movements during the day, identifying consolations and desolations; (4) choose one feature of the day for focused prayer (often the most powerful movement, whether toward or away from God); (5) look toward tomorrow with God, asking for what is needed. The Examen is distinct from the more common practice of 'examination of conscience' (which focuses on identifying specific sins) — the Ignatian Examen attends to the broader pattern of consolation and desolation rather than only sin. Recent contemporary articulation by Dennis Hamm SJ ('rummaging for God: praying backward through your day,' 1994), George Aschenbrenner SJ ('consciousness examen,' 1972), and Jim Manney's A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer (2011) has substantially shaped contemporary practice. The Examen has spread well beyond Catholic religious orders into ecumenical Christian spiritual practice and increasingly into secular leadership-development and reflective-practice contexts.
Core components
- Daily prayerful review of the day
- Five-step traditional structure: presence, gratitude, review of emotions/movements, focused prayer, look forward
- Distinction from examination of conscience (which focuses on sin specifically)
- Connection to broader Ignatian discernment of spirits
- Attention to consolation and desolation patterns over time
- Typically 15-20 minutes
- Often practiced at end of day or twice daily
- Adaptable to various contexts
- Connection to journaling practice in many contemporary forms
Primary use case
Daily contemplative practice in Jesuit and broader Ignatian spirituality; reference practice in Christian spiritual direction across denominations; growing application in secular leadership and reflective-practice contexts; integration with contemporary mindfulness and journaling practices; foundation for some pastoral and counseling practices; basis for many daily-prayer apps (Pray-As-You-Go, Reimagining the Examen, etc.).
Common criticisms
- Secular adaptations sometimes reduce the Examen to a feelings-review or gratitude practice, missing the discernment dimension that distinguishes consolation from desolation
- risk of over-introspection or scrupulosity when the practice is not appropriately accompanied
- the framework's 16th-century theological context (including a personal devil and theistic providence) sits in tension with contemporary readings that prefer psychological framings
- tension between traditional Ignatian framing of the Examen as evening review and contemporary practice that varies substantially in timing and structure
- commercial spirituality and self-development industry has produced compliance-style adoption with varying fidelity
- the Five-Step structure is one common articulation but not the only authentic Ignatian form, leading to which-version-when ambiguity in popular literature
- integration with mindfulness traditions can be productive but raises questions about preserving distinctive Ignatian features.
Lineage
- Child of
- Ignatian Discernment
- Siblings
- Ignatian Discernment, Lectio Divina
- Derived from
- Ignatian Discernment