Daily Examen

“God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever". - St. Ignatius of Loyola

The Daily Examen is a method of prayer that Ignatius of Loyola taught in his Spiritual Exercises. He considered it the most important thing a person could do each day. The Examen is a technique of prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to detect God’s presence and to discern his direction for us.

It takes only a few minutes. 

1. Become aware of God's presence
Begin to reflect on the events from thet day, with the guidance from the Holy Spirit, ask God to bring clarity and understanding. 

2. Review the day with Gratitude
With God in your presence, begin to highlight the joys, positives, delights, and gifts that occured from the day. Reflect on the work you did and the people that you interacted with. What did you receive and give from and to these people?

Reflect on even the smallest of things such as what food did you eat? What sight did you see? God is in the details. 

3. Pay attention to your emotions
One of St. Ignatius’s great insights was that we detect the presence of the Spirit of God in the movements of our emotions. What feelings did you experience throughout the day? Anger? Boredom? Sadness? Compassion? Confidence? Happiness? Reflect on these feelings, and lift these emotions up to God. 
What is God saying through these feelings?

Make note of the faults and sins, but talk with God on how to move on from those faults and sins. 

Does a specific feeling mean that God is wanting you to take a different path from the reasoning behind the specific emotion?

4. Choose one thing from the day and pray from it
 Ask the Holy Spirit to direct you to something that God may want you to pray from. This could be negative or postive. It can be significant or insignificant. Pray about this, and lift it up to God from your heart no matter what it is. 

5. Look toward tomorrow
Ask God to give light for the next day. Any emotions that may arise from this, bring them up to God. Are you feeling Nervous? Scared? Anxious? Cheerful? Apprehensive? Doubtful? Ask God for guidance and understanding. 

"St. Ignatius encouraged people to talk to Jesus like a friend. End the Daily Examen with a conversation with Jesus. Ask forgiveness for your sins. Ask for his protection and help. Ask for his wisdom about the questions you have and the problems you face. Do all this in the spirit of gratitude. Your life is a gift, and it is adorned with gifts from God".

End the Daily Examen with the Our Father.