Official Website of the
Catholic Diocese of Little Rock
Published: November 4, 2017
By Judy Hoelzeman
St. Edward Church, Little Rock
Part of the rich tradition of the Catholic Church is to look back on our day’s activities to remember how well we responded to God’s call that day. St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) wrote his examen in about 1524 as part of his well-known spiritual exercises. It is a simple way to do a daily review. The Ignatian examen has five parts:
A second example of reviewing the day is called night prayer to the Holy Trinity. It works in three steps:
It is not necessary to use a particular formula at all. Questions like this may serve the same purpose: For what moment today am I most grateful? For what moment am I least grateful? When did I feel most alive today? When did I feel life draining out of me?
With continued daily review, we form the habit of finding God in all things — in what we feel, think and do and in interactions with family, friends and co-workers. We often forget that God is present in every part of human experience.
When did I give and receive the most love today? When did I give and receive the least love? Part of the function of a daily review is to try to recognize your feelings (fear, anger, jealousy, joy, pride, gratitude) and the motives for your actions. These questions seem to help with that.
People familiar with 12-step programs like AA and Alanon will notice that the daily review is similar to the practice of the 10th step, which reads: “Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.” Practicing this step helps us let go of the unnecessary burdens of guilt quickly.
With continued daily review, we form the habit of finding God in all things — in what we feel, think and do and in interactions with family, friends and co-workers. We often forget that God is present in every part of human experience.
Father James Martin, S.J., said of the examen, “Each moment offers a window to where God has been in your day.”
The primary motive of a daily review is to grow closer to God and to know God’s will. And a welcome byproduct of the practice might be good, sound sleep.