The Examen - An Ignatian Practice


       As promised, here are some ideas for your practice of The Examen which can transform and deepen your spiritual life. I've done a lot of study about this spiritual discipline and have practiced it intermittently for the past few decades. The suggestions below are just that; options for how you might wish to practice the prayer.  May it bring you joy day-by-day in 2013 and beyond.

  • Take a moment to remember you are beloved of God, just as you are.  There is nothing that can separate you from the love of God.

  • Remember and give thanks for the gifts that God's love has bestowed upon you today; sunshine, friendship, an answered prayer, strength for a challenge, daily bread, etc.

  • Ask God for a blessing that will make this prayer time more than a human endeavor; then watch for an insight that comes not from within you neither heart nor mind, but from above.

  • Trusting in God's love, review the past 24 hours.  What were the thoughts, wonderings, insights or ponderings that God bestowed.  What were the thoughts that came from someplace else?  How did you respond to Divine and other promptings?

  • With the past 24 hours in perspective, we seek the mercy of God's forgiveness, from the only one who can offer us healing.  God hears the prayer of those who seek Him and heals us.

  • Filled with the joy of being made whole, we make plans for tomorrow and how we'll live more purposely in the Light of God's Love. 
 
  • Bathed in the Spirit of peace, we conclude our prayer. 
       Some folks do The Examen as a mental prayer while others choose to practice it as a journaling prayer.  Again, there's no right way. I've planned to begin the New Year with The Examen --once more making it a daily exercise and invite you to join me and tens of thousands of others who use it this way.  God Bless you and those you love in 2013 with Hope, Peace and Joy.

Kathleen Bronagh* Weller
THE CELTIC MONK
 
*For those of you who know my middle name is Lee... please see the 2011 Ireland Blogs that will tell about St. Bronagh -- and the 2010 blog regarding my Final Vows as a Benedictine Oblate where I
chose that name.   

   

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