Examen Prayer
Praying for Grace in Our Lives

Let us pray each day for God to find our heart and help us live to our full potential as a child of God. 

The best way to learn to pray the Examen is to practice it daily.
We pray the Examen as a community every day at the beginning of the period following lunch.  

You are all invited to pray this prayer. 

We begin our Examen by quieting ourselves and blessing ourselves: 

At the beginning of our Examen, we always ask for grace.  For example: the grace to grow closer to God and one another.

In the Examen, we reflect each day on the same three questions.  After each question, give yourself at least 1 minute of silence reflect on the question.  Below are some suggestions on how you might use the Examen in your daily life.

Our first question each day is:  How is God at work in my life?

Saint Ignatius believed that God is at work in our world and in our lives.  God is active, and involved.  And Ignatius was confident that if we take the time to look, we can find God in all things.  During the silence which follows this question, we invite you to reflect upon God in your life since our last Examen.  Since our Examen will always be after lunch, begin with your afternoon classes yesterday.  See your life as a movie: what happened after school with your club or sports team, and at home last night with your family?  How was God present?  Think about your conversations with friends, time alone in study, or being with your family members.  Can you see God loving you?  Challenging you?  Inviting you?  How did you feel going to bed, waking up, getting ready for school, anticipating your day?  Saying goodbye to your family, greeting your friends.  Think about your classes this morning – Is God at work in your learning?  Your social interactions?  Your growth as a person? 

In this first question, our focus is on God.  We look for God at work in the ordinary events of our day.

In the second question, we turn our focus to ourselves, specifically how we have responded to God’s presence in our lives.  Like Ignatius, we believe in a God who calls, inspires, and invites us.  In this question we explore how we have used our gift of freedom since our last Examen. 

Our second question each day is: How have I responded to God’s presence in my life?

During the silence which follows this question each day, we invite you to reflect upon your response to God since our last Examen.  This is an opportunity to honestly look at your own actions and attitudes.  Have I been generous and loving in my relationships with family, friends, even enemies?  Have I been responsible with my health, my studies, my friendships?  Are there times I can recall when I have responded to God’s grace and helped to build God’s kingdom right here at Jesuit or in my own home? 

Is there weakness or sin in my use of freedom?  Have I been selfish or unkind?  Have I used my words and actions to put others down?  Are there habits in my life that need attention, that are hurting me or those around me?  In this second question, I focus on my responses in freedom since my last Examen.  I try as best I can to be truthful to myself – to rejoice in my goodness and to accept my shortcomings.

Our hope is that this prayer will change our community, one person at a time.  After focusing on God’s presence in our lives, and how we have lived this past day, our third question looks to the future, to the hours between now and our next Examen. 

Our final question is: How am I being called to respond now?

During the silence which follows this question each day, we invite you to reflect upon the opportunity you have in the next twenty-four hours to be a person for others, God’s companion, a person of love.  How am I being called to grow, or change?  Are there relationships that need my attention? Are there friends or family members who need my forgiveness?  Are there patterns or habits in my life God is inviting me to continue, deepen, confront, or change?  How can I be more fully myself today, the person God has created me to be?

Following the third question, we will end our Examen by quietly thanking God for the grace of this prayer and for the rest of the day.

We are hopeful that the Examen provides each of us a time for reflection that turns into action.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us.