13. Praying of Examen
Dear Jim,
The prayer of Examen comes in many varieties. I understand your concerns about it, but really it is just a time for you to review your previous day with God. Some forms of the Examen have many steps, but some are quite simple. If the complexity is part of what’s holding you back, then you might benefit from this simplified version I’ve learned to practice. I hesitate to even call it an Examen, because it is so oversimplified, but it is at least near the mark.
I start by asking God to speak to me about the time elapsed since my previous Ex amen. I then evaluate that time (usually for me the period is a day) in five or six large segments. I look at each segment and try to determine if that time felt like I was aligned with God’s will. For those segments where I felt aligned, I give thanks. For those segments that felt like I was outside of God’s will, I repent, thank God for his forgiveness, ask for the grace to change and act differently the next time, and then I move on to the next segment. These segments are not equal in time, they’re more like bookmarked parts of the day. My segments are usually the following: the work I do in the morning, my lunch time, my afternoon work, dinner with my family, and the remaining time I spend before bed exercising and making phone calls.
The most obvious value of the exercise is that it helps to align our lives with God’s will more and more. However, the Examen is much more than just a behavior modification exercise. The most valuable thing about it is that it sharpens our discernment of God’s will in our lives. Evaluating each day’s events helps to make our discernment sharper in the small things, so that when the larger decisions come we are more accustomed to discerning God’s will.
There is one other thing that might be holding you back. For some personalities, it is extremely difficult to make the call as to what is from God and what is not. If it takes you more than a few minutes to make the call on a segment, you can move on to the next. If you find that this is happening for all or most of the segments, then it may not be wise to engage in this exercise right now. Pray that God would show you whether he would have you persist further or try something different.
