The daily examination of conscience

[jesusmademe]

Do you have any good ideas for doing this prayer? It seems to me that trying to do it wont work. You will just have to let it come naturally at the end of the day. I feel that methods dont work well with this prayer as methods can be an escape from the truth.

 

[CilladeRoma]

I have a deeply Ignatian spirituality and pray the examen twice a day.
Here is a link to the site that helped me when I first started.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I personally am fine with “letting it come naturally”. I have tried to pray the Examen as an examination of conscience and also tried to use examinations of conscience I find online. They aren’t very helpful because when I commit a sin, it usually stands out to me to the point where I don’t need the examination of conscience every night to remember it, and also I am at the point in my life where 90 percent of the stuff on the list doesn’t apply to me because my life has become settled.

I may try to pray the Examen again in a way that isn’t so much an “examination of conscience” as the Ignatian spirituality website presents a few different ways to pray it as a reflection on one’s day, not so much “what sins did I commit today”.

If you find yourself naturally just thinking of the sins you committed during the day then you probably don’t need to do a formal examination of conscience. It’s mostly helpful for those who aren’t sure what their sins are and need to work on developing their conscience and understanding better what constitutes a sin.

On a more general note, though, I notice you have started quite a few threads lately about prayers that “won’t work” for you or that you have a problem with. Since this seems to be a recurring theme in your life, and most Catholics don’t have so many problems with prayers, I would recommend that you schedule some time to sit down with a priest or spiritual director and talk about all these problems you seem to be having with prayers and whether there is some underlying issue in your prayer life.

God bless

 

[angel12]

I feel that methods dont work well with this prayer as methods can be an escape from the truth.

Seems to me it’s easier to escape from the truth if you don’t have a method. A set examen makes sure you review specific things. Sometimes those turn out to be the ones you’d rather not acknowledge.

 

[jesusmademe]

Are you seeing the daily examen as the same as the examen befor Confession. The Jesuits told me they are different prayers altvough connected.

People who freely choose things and work for them tend to value them more and often learn really important lessons from doing the work. People who just get handed stuff often don’t value it at all and learn nothing

Amen!
Really a good thought on the Examination prayer as well.
Gratitude and accepting the gifts is what we need

 

[Rob2]

Do you have any good ideas for doing this prayer?

These videos may help .

There are plenty more on YouTube .

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Are you seeing the daily examen as the same as the examen befor Confession. The Jesuits told me they are different prayers altvough connected.

They’re slightly different, as the Jesuits say, but there are people who use the examen partly as a way to identify their sins/ faults of the day, although there’s more to it than that. Like, “what did I do wrong today, how could I improve” etc. I don’t find that use of the examen to be helpful. I find it stressful (especially since I am doing this at night when I’m already very tired) and often just dwelling on the obvious.

There are other versions of the examen that focus more on one’s relationship with God on that day and I think those would be more helpful for me personally.