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Prayer

Hearing God Speak: Using the Daily Examen

Jim Manney

May 17, 2021 11:14 am May 17, 2021

6 min read

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6 min read

How can we hear God? Few questions are more important to answer than this one. We want to know God and what God wants of us. We want to hear…

How can we hear God? Few questions are more important to answer than this one. We want to know God and what God wants of us. We want to hear His voice. Most basically, we want a connection with God — a daily sense of His presence and loving care.

Catholic tradition points to at least four ways that we hear God. We encounter His presence in the natural world itself, which God created and pronounced “good” (Gn 1:31). We hear God’s voice in Scripture, “the word of God.” We also hear God speaking in the teaching of the Church.

In addition, God speaks to us in our experience. He is present in our daily lives: in our relationships, our work, our decisions and accomplishments, our dreams and disappointments. The prayer strategy known as the Daily Examen is a method for hearing the voice of God in our experience.

A Saintly Habit

The great saints, mystics and masters of prayer have long taught that cultivating a habit of prayerful reflection on our daily experience is a key to spiritual growth. The Daily Examen has been practiced by Christians since ancient times as a technique of doing precisely that. The Examen involves us in prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to detect God’s presence and to discern His direction for us.

One version of the Examen is the examination of conscience, which many Catholics practice as a way to prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. But the Daily Examen is useful for much more than just preparing for confession. It can help us see God’s hand at work in our whole experience.

St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), believed that the Examen is a gift that has come to us directly from God, and that God wants it to be shared as widely as possible. One of the few rules of prayer that Ignatius made for the Jesuit order was the requirement that Jesuits practice the Examen twice daily — at noon and at the end of the day. It’s a habit that Jesuits, and many other Christians, practice to this day.

How exactly is an Examen conducted? Christians have developed various versions, but one popular version, composed of five steps, is based on the Daily Examen that St. Ignatius practiced.

“Rummaging for God”

Father Dennis Hamm, S.J., a Scripture professor at Creighton University, Omaha, Neb., calls the Daily Examen “rummaging for God.” He likens it to “going through a drawer full of stuff, feeling around, looking for something that you are sure must be there.”

That’s an accurate description of what it’s like to pray the Daily Examen. We look back on the previous day, rummaging through the “stuff,” and finding God in it. We know He is there; we just have to look for Him.

Sometimes our prayer can become too formal and abstract. The Daily Examen helps us avoid that problem by keeping our feet on the ground. This reflective, Spirit-led review of the day grounds our prayer in concrete reality. Because we are God’s creatures living in a world that He loves and sustains, we can be assured that we can hear His voice in our lives in this world.

One final advantage to making a habit of the Daily Examen: We never run out of things to pray about.

Sometimes prayer gets dry. Sometimes we wonder what to say to God. The Examen eliminates these problems. As long as we have 24 hours to look back on, we’ll have hundreds of things to talk to God about — and to thank Him for.

How to Conduct a Daily Examen

This five-step Daily Examen is based on the one described by St. Ignatius Loyola in his “Spiritual Exercises,” perhaps the most influential book about prayer ever written.

Step 1. Become aware of God’s presence. Look back on the events of the day in the company of the Holy Spirit. The day may seem confusing to you — a blur, a jumble, a muddle. Ask God to bring clarity and understanding, to show you where He was at work in each situation.

Step 2. Review the day with gratitude. Gratitude is the foundation of our relationship with God. Walk through your day in the presence of God and note its joys and delights.

Focus on the day’s gifts. Look at the work you did, the people you interacted with. What did you receive from these people? What did you give them? Pay attention to small things — the food you ate, the sights you saw and other seemingly small pleasures. God is there in the details.

Step 3. Pay attention to your emotions. One of St. Ignatius’ great insights was that we can detect the presence of the Spirit of God in the movements of our emotions. Reflect on the feelings you experienced during the day.

Did you feel boredom? Elation? Resentment? Compassion? Anger? Confidence? What is God saying to you through these feelings?

In this reflection, God will most likely show you some ways that you fell short. Be sure to make note of these sins and faults. But look deeply for other implications as well.

Are you frustrated? If so, perhaps this means that God wants you consider a new direction in some area of your work.

Are you concerned about a friend? Perhaps He wants you to reach out to her in some way.

Step 4. Choose one feature of the day and pray about it. Ask the Holy Spirit to direct you to something during the day that God thinks is particularly important. It may involve a feeling, positive or negative. It may be a significant encounter with another person or a vivid moment of pleasure or peace. Or it may be something that seems rather insignificant.

Look at it. Pray about it. Allow the prayer that it provokes to arise spontaneously from your heart, whether it’s intercession, praise, repentance or whatever.

Step 5. Look toward tomorrow. Ask God to give you light for tomorrow’s challenges. Pay attention to the feelings that surface as you survey what’s coming up.

Are you doubtful? Cheerful? Apprehensive? Full of delighted anticipation? Allow these feelings to turn into prayer.

Seek God’s guidance. Ask Him for help and understanding. Pray for hope.

St. Ignatius encouraged people to talk to Jesus like a friend. End the Daily Examen with a conversation with Jesus.

Ask forgiveness for your sins. Ask for His protection and help. Ask for His wisdom, too, about the questions you have and the problems you face.

Do all this in the spirit of gratitude. Your life is a gift, and it is adorned with gifts from God.

Conclude with the Our Father.

Jim Manney writes from Michigan.

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5 min read

Scripture

Lectio Divina: Reading Scripture

Jim Manney

January 15, 2021 7:08 am January 15, 2021

5 min read

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5 min read

How do we allow the Scripture, in all its awesome power, to draw us closer to God? One important spiritual discipline that can help us in this regard is called…

How do we allow the Scripture, in all its awesome power, to draw us closer to God?

One important spiritual discipline that can help us in this regard is called lectio divina, which is Latin for “sacred reading.” It’s one of the oldest forms of Christian prayer, and the bishops at the synod repeatedly recommended that Catholics discover its power to make the Bible come alive.

From the very beginning, the early Christians imitated the Jewish model of using Scripture (the Old Testament) as a gateway into prayer. Once the New Testament books were written, Christians approached these sacred texts in the same way.

They understood that God was the author of Scripture, and that He was personally present in the words of Scripture. They read the words in a way that connected them to God. They learned how to read the Word of God with their hearts as well as their minds.

The Fathers of the Church read Scripture this way. St. Jerome, who translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, was an early advocate of “sacred reading.” Sts. Augustine, Basil and Benedict all made ample use of it.

Eventually, the practice became a common form of prayer in monastic communities in Europe. Lectio divina is still closely associated with monasteries, but in recent decades many Christians who lead active lives in the world have learned to pray this way as well.

Four Stages

The essence of lectio divina is reading the words of Scripture with one’s “heart,” guided by the Holy Spirit. It’s a flexible method and cannot be reduced to a technique. But those who are most skilled in it agree that lectio divina usually involves four stages.

Nearly a thousand years ago, a monk named Guigo de Castro described them in a letter to a fellow monk. Guigo’s outline is still the standard description of this prayer practice.

The scriptural text for lectio divina is usually chosen in advance. Typically, it is a short text, often a single verse containing the words of Jesus or a brief description of his actions.

The first step is lectio — reading. We read for understanding. What is the context of the verse? What did the author mean to convey to the people he was addressing? The question to ask in lectio: “What does the text say?”

The second stage is meditatio — meditation. We ruminate on the verse. We memorize it. We say it over and over again slowly and carefully. What do the words mean to me? How do they interact with our thoughts and memories? The question to ask in meditation: “What does the text say to me?”

The third stage is oratio — prayer. Our hearts have been stirred by meditating on the verse. God has spoken to us through the words. Now, what response do we make? The question asked in oratio: “What do we say to God in response to this text?”

The final stage is contemplatio — contemplation. Our prayer moves beyond words and beyond thought. We simply rest in God. We let His love transform us. The question asked in contemplation:”What is God saying to us?”

Lectio divina does not always unfold in an ordered progression of stages. Often we will oscillate between times of acting and times of receiving. We are “busy” reading, thinking, speaking. Then we quietly listen and receive what God has for us.

Nevertheless, the natural movement of lectio divina is toward ever-greater simplicity. It begins with close scrutiny of the words of Scripture. It ends with wordless enjoyment of God.

Gradually the words of Scripture dissolve and the Word of God is revealed before the eyes of our heart. Reading the sacred words fosters a dialogue with God. It’s a dialogue that concludes with an act of consecration, whereby we offer ourselves to God.

New Habits Needed

If we are to pray lectio divina successfully, we need to learn some new habits. First of all, we must slow down. Sacred reading takes time. Those who consistently pray this way often recommend that we set aside at least an hour in a quiet place for it. It’s not exactly an ideal way to pray on the bus during your daily commute (though this is just a guideline, not a rule).

We also need to learn to read differently. We’re accustomed to reading texts in order to understand the information they convey. It’s a cognitive process, an act of the intellect.

The goal of “sacred reading,” however, is to seek God. It’s an exercise of the heart and a process that’s led by the Holy Spirit. As one writer on lectio divina put it, “The full process of ‘reading’ could take 15 minutes or be spread over 15 years.”

Interest in lectio divina has surged in recent years. Pope Benedict XVI recommended it as a way for us to hear God and to respond to Him “with openness of heart.” If we learn to pray this way, the Pope has said, “this practice will bring to the Church — I am convinced of it — a new spiritual springtime.”

Jim Manney writes from Michigan.

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