Paul Berens

Examen

“Speak little, listen much.” (—St. Ignatius of Loyola)

  1. Signum Crucis
  2. Become aware of God’s presence. Look back on the events of the day in the company of the Holy Spirit. Ask God to bring clarity and understanding.
  3. Review the day with gratitude. Walk through your day in the presence of God and note its joys and delights, the day’s gifts and His graces, the work you did, the people you interacted with. All the details.
  4. Pay attention to emotions. Reflect on the feelings you experienced during the day1. Boredom? Elation? Resentment? Compassion? Anger? Confidence? What is God saying through these feelings? God may show you some ways that you fell short. Make note of these sins and faults. Look deeply for other implications.
  5. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it. Ask the Holy Spirit to direct you to something during the day that might be particularly important (e.g., an encounter with another person, a vivid moment) and pray about it.
  6. Look toward tomorrow. Ask God to give you light for tomorrow’s challenges. Seek His guidance. Ask Him for understanding, help, resolve to do better, and hope.
  7. Pater Noster
  8. Signum Crucis

  1. One of St. Ignatius’ great insights was that we detect the presence of the Spirit of God in the movements of our emotions. ↩

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