X Pray
The Examen
The evening prayer of St Ignatius of Loyola: look back over the day with God, give thanks, ask forgiveness, and rest in his love. About ten minutes before sleep.
Painting by Mikael Eriksson for CathoNav
- Begin
- Presence
- Light
- Review
- Reflect
- Tomorrow
Tonight
The day with God
Find a quiet moment before sleep. Make the Sign of the Cross. There is nothing to achieve here — only to look at your day together with the Lord who loves you.
I · Presence
Be with God
Place yourself in God’s presence and give thanks for his great love for you.
Slow down and breathe. God has been with you all day. Thank him for one or two gifts of today — a person, a word, a moment of beauty.
II · Light
Ask for light
Pray for the grace to understand how God is acting in your life.
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you your day as God sees it — with truth, and with mercy.
III · Review
Look back
Review your day: recall specific moments and your feelings at the time.
Walk through the day from waking until now. Where did you feel joy, peace, love? Where were you restless, hurt, or far from God?
IV · Reflect
Weigh it
Reflect on what you did, said or thought: were you drawing closer to God, or further away?
Thank God for the good. Where you fell short, tell him simply and ask his forgiveness — with the Act of Contrition.
V · Tomorrow
Look ahead
Look toward tomorrow: how might you work with God’s plan more fully?
Choose one concrete thing for tomorrow. Then close with the prayer the Lord taught us — the Our Father.
Good night
Rest in peace
“In peace I will lie down and fall asleep, for you alone, LORD, make me secure” (Psalm 4:9). Entrust the night to God and to your guardian angel.
The prayer of St Ignatius
Finding God in all things
St Ignatius of Loyola taught the examen of conscience in his Spiritual Exercises. It is a prayer of gratitude and honesty: seeing where God was present in the day, and where we turned away from him.
“It is important for every person to be sufficiently present to himself in order to hear and follow the voice of his conscience” (Catechism 1779). The examen is also a good preparation for confession.
The five steps follow the Ignatian Examen as taught by the Jesuits (Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States); the short guidance under each step is our own. Psalm 4:9 from the New American Bible.