A True Assessment of You and God: The Examen

The word “examen” comes from Latin and refers to the weight indicator on a balance scale.  It carries the idea of “an accurate assessment of the true situation.”[i] The Examen gives us an assessment of the true situation between us and God.  This spiritual practice forces us to pay attention to matters we may normally remain oblivious to.  It empowers us to see the small but significant things that get in between us and God.

Another name for the Examen is the Prayer of Examen.  Traditionally, the Prayer of Examen has two aspects.[ii] The first is an “examen of consciousness” through which we recognize the ways in which God has been present to us during the day and how we’ve responded to that presence.  We examine how conscious we have been of God throughout the day and in what ways God may have been speaking to us or reaching out to us during the day.  Because our spiritual lives are so often unexamined, these moments of divine consciousness are often invisible to us.  The Examen makes them visible.

The second aspect of the Prayer of Examen is an “examen of conscience” through which we recognize the moral and spiritual areas of our character which need cleansing and purifying.  Here, through a detailed review of the past few areas, we bring into vision what may ordinarily be out of vision.  We notice the “big” and “small” habits and customs which have either helped or hindered our drawing near to God.

Writing about this examen of conscience, St. Ignatius of Loyola writes, “Let him go over hour by hour, or period by period, commencing at the hour he rose, and continuing up to the hour and instant of the present examen, and let him make…as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect.  Then let him resolve anew to amend himself up to the second Examen which he will make.”[iii] In other words, Loyola actually envisioned us making a visually tally of the times we had fallen into a particular sin or defect over the course of several hours.  Then, with God’s help, we resolved to live anew for the remainder of the day.

If you choose to spend an Examen reflecting on character issues, it may be helpful to think through think through different categories of sin.[iv] For example you could consider the list of the seven deadly sins: pride, anger, lust, envy, greed, sloth, and gluttony.  You could use the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20).  Or you could reflect on lists in Paul’s letters in which he contrasts sins to avoid with qualities to pursue (Rom. 12:9-21; 1 Cor. 13:4-8; Gal. 5:16-23; Col. 3:5-14).  With these in mind, during your Examen you can consider your answer to two questions: In what ways did I struggle with the sins in this list today?  In what ways did I experience the positive qualities in this list today?

If, during an Examen, you find that a particular sin shows up again and again, you might choose to dig more deeply by asking yourself, Why did I do what I did?  What happened as a result of my sin?[v] Exploring these two questions can help get at some of the profounder issues underlying that particular sin.

Marjorie Thompson writes that when using an Examen to focus on character issues it is very important to “put on neither the rose-colored glasses of naïve optimism nor the gray-colored glasses of needless pessimism.”[vi] That is, some of us are so positive and uncritical that it’s difficult for us to discern any character struggles during our day.  Others of us are so negative and critical that it’s difficult for us to discern any character successes during our day.  This is why the Examen necessitates an examination of both highs and lows, successes and failures, steps forward and steps backward.

This kind of daily self-examination can be difficult.  Yet it is worth it.  Thompson reminds us of three benefits which flow from it.[vii] First, it leads to greater self-awareness.  The more we truly know ourselves the better able we are to truly know God.  Second, it leads to greater truthfulness and honesty about ourselves.  We can now let go of pretense and humbly accept ourselves as we are.  Finally, it leads to greater compassion.  The more clearly we see ourselves, the less likely we are to judge and critique others.  Seeing our brokenness helps us identify with the brokenness in others.

Take Ten

Ruth Haley Barton provides the following as a way of conducting both an examen of consciousness and an examen of conscience.  Take ten minutes today and follow her pattern of prayer:[viii]

1. Look back on the events of the past twenty-four hours, asking God to guide you in seeing what he wants you to see.
2. As you reflect on the events, ask God to show you where he was present with you, even though you may not have recognized it at the time.
3. Ask God to show you the places where you are growing and changing.  Thank him for evidence of his transforming work.
4. Ask God to show you places where you fell short of Christlikeness.  Be careful not to succumb to shame or morbid introspection; instead, simply name your failure honestly, confess it to God, and receive his forgiveness.
5. Finish by thanking God for the day and for his presence in your life.

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[i] Richard Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (HarperSanFrancisco, 1992), 27.

[ii] Foster, Prayer, 27-28.

[iii] St. Ignatius Loyola and Father Elder Mullan, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (Saint Benedict Press, 2010), 21-22.

[iv] John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted (Zondervan, 1997), 123-124.

[v] Ortberg, Life, 126.

[vi] Marjorie Thompson, Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life (Westminster John Knox, 1995), 86.

[vii] Thompson, 98-99.

[viii] Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rythms Participant’s Guide (Zondervan, 2011), 62.