The Jesuit Guide To (Almost) Everything - James Martin [44]
EXAMEN(S)
Even though Ignatius told the Jesuits never to omit it from their day, the examen doesn’t need to be followed slavishly. For Ignatius the examen went like this: gratitude, awareness of sins, review, forgiveness, grace.
But Jesuits pray it in a variety of ways. For me, it’s hard to identify sinfulness without first reviewing the day. It’s also easier to ask for forgiveness after thinking about my sins. So my examen goes like this: gratitude, review, awareness of sins, forgiveness, grace.
Others find that the steps overlap. Some run through the review and, in the process, recall something sinful and immediately ask for forgiveness.
The examen was meant for everyone, not just Jesuits. Dorothy Day, the American-born founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, talks about the examen in her journals, published as The Duty of Delight. “St Ignatius says never omit 2 examens, 15 minutes each,” she writes on April 11, 1950. Then she gives her own way of doing it.
Thank God for favors.
Beg for light [that is, the grace to see clearly]
Survey
Repent
Resolve
Day found the examen not only reminded her of the simple joys of life, but goaded her to self-improvement. “We all do too much talking,” she wrote in 1973, at the age of seventy-five. She had been complaining and gossiping too much, she felt. “I must stop.” The examen led her to action.
“There is no ‘right’ way to pray,” as David told me. So pray it in whatever way draws you closer to God.
There is, however, one common pitfall: doing the examen as if it were simply a list to be completed. Many Jesuits (including me) fall prey to this temptation. For busy people it’s tempting to plop down at the end of the day and race through the day on their own: I did this, then I did that, then I did this, and so on.
To guard against this, you might remind yourself that you’re doing the examen with God. Recalling this makes it not only more prayerful but more like a dialogue and less like a task that needs to be completed. Sometimes just recalling that you’re in God’s presence is enough.
The Examen in Five Steps
Here is how I like to do the examen. It’s only slightly modified from what St. Ignatius suggests in the Exercises.
Before you begin, as in all prayer, remind yourself that you’re in God’s presence, and ask God to help you with your prayer.
Gratitude: Recall anything from the day for which you are especially grateful, and give thanks.
Review: Recall the events of the day, from start to finish, noticing where you felt God’s presence, and where you accepted or turned away from any invitations to grow in love.
Sorrow: Recall any actions for which you are sorry.
Forgiveness: Ask for God’s forgiveness. Decide whether you want to reconcile with anyone you have hurt.
Grace: Ask God for the grace you need for the next day and an ability to see God’s presence more clearly.
YOU SHALL SEE ME PASS
The examen builds on the insight that it’s easier to see God in retrospect rather than in the moment. To highlight that insight, let me tell you a story.
A few years ago, I edited a book called How Can I Find God? in which I asked the famous and not-so-famous to address that question. Somewhat boldly, I wrote to the superior general of the Society of Jesus, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, and was delighted when he mailed back a concise essay. His approach accented the practice of “looking back” to find God.
Father Kolvenbach recounted the story of an abbot in the Middle Ages who would speak to his monks every day “on finding God, on searching for God, on encountering God.” One day a monk asked the abbot if he ever encountered God. Had he ever had a vision or seen God face-to-face?
After a long silence the abbot answered frankly: no, he hadn’t. But, said the abbot, there wasn’t anything surprising in this because even to Moses in the Book of Exodus (33:19–20) God said, “You cannot see my face; for no one shall see