Praying an Examen: an invitation to what gives you life
The Examen is a practice or prayer of paying attention that “helps you see where God is active in your daily life.” (James Martin, SJ in Learning to Pray.)
You can use the Examen to look back on any time-frame or experience: your day, or week, month or year, a class, a retreat, or even a conversation. The Examen invites us to notice when and how we are connected to God and Love and Life. It also invites us to pay attention to when we are disconnected from God, Love, and Life.
As we practice paying attention, we may notice patterns. According to the Linns, in their book Sleeping with Bread, “God’s will is generally for us to do more of whatever we are most grateful for or whatever gives us most life.” As we notice these patterns of gratitude, connection, and aliveness, the Examen helps us to discern who we are created to be and how God is inviting us to show up in the world.
Some questions that might be used in an Examen Practice include:
What am I most grateful for today? What am I not so grateful for today?
When did my heart feel open? When did my heart feel closed?
When was I connected to God or others? When was I disconnected?
When did I feel really alive? What in my day was life draining?
In addition to helping us notice what is important to us, the Examen can also help us notice the times that we are shutting down, being unloving, disconnected, or closed. The Examen invites us to be curious about those times. What are they about? Why? Most importantly, we can let God love us especially in those moments. (This is one of the key messages in the Linns’ Sleeping with Bread.)
How to Practice the Examen:
There are different approaches to praying the Examen, we are sharing the process taught by the Linns in their book Sleeping with Bread.
Preparation
Do whatever helps you to experience unconditional love. Ground yourself by putting your fleet flat on the floor and breathing deeply. Breathe love in. Let your exhale be full of that unconditional love.
Most Grateful For
From this place of love, ask God to bring to your heart the moment today for which you are most grateful. (Or use another question that resonates with you for your reflection.) Notice how you felt during this moment. What made it so special? Let yourself sit with gratitude. Let yourself experience that moment of love and life again.
Least Grateful For
Ask God to bring to your heart the moment today for which you are least grateful. When were you least able to give and receive love? Be curious and gentle with yourself as you let yourself just be with this moment. Let God love you in this moment, just as you are.
Give Thanks for whatever you have experienced.
(Adapted from Sleeping with Bread: Holding what Gives You Life, by Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn, and Matthew Linn, 1995, Paulist Press, p. 30.)
The more we practice noticing these patterns of gratitude, connection, and love in our days and weeks and months, the better we’ll be at noticing God’s presence and activity in the present moment.
Other Resources:
Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone, by James Martin, SJ (chapter 9).