Blessing and protection
Prayer of Examen
Direct answer
Prayer of Examen is a reflective prayer practice for reviewing the day before God.
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At a glance
- Found in
- Blessings & Christian Protection
- Related
- Blessing, Name of Jesus, Blood of Jesus, Armor of God
On the tree of the hidden arts: Meditation.
Prayer of Examen means a reflective prayer practice for reviewing the day before God.
A symbolic reading aid; dates, predictions, and supernatural certainty are deliberately excluded.
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Your life’s turning points, measured from your birth.
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What sets Prayer of Examen apart
The examen has a fixed order, and the order is the method. Ignatius puts gratitude first, before any fault is looked for, then a request for light, then the review of the day hour by hour, then sorrow and a plan for tomorrow. He thought it so important that a Jesuit excused from other prayer by illness or work was still to keep it. A 1972 essay by George Aschenbrenner recast it as an examen of consciousness, less a tally of sins than a noticing of where one was drawn.
- Source: Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, approved 1548
- Five points: thanks, light, review, sorrow, resolve
- Frequency: twice daily for Jesuits, at midday and at night
- Length: about a quarter of an hour
- Modern recasting: George Aschenbrenner, Consciousness Examen, 1972
Often mistaken for something else: The Stoic evening review is a philosopher questioning himself; the examen is addressed to God and opens with thanksgiving.
Where readings of Prayer of Examen go wrong
A common error is to use examen as obsessive self-criticism.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Blessings & Christian Protection
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
What is Prayer of Examen?
Prayer of Examen is a reflective prayer practice for reviewing the day before God.
