Do You Do A Nightly Examen?

[TeresaBenedicta]

Do you do a nightly examen? How does it work?

[Miss Hepburn]

[quote name='TeresaBenedicta' date='16 June 2010 - 01:07 PM' timestamp='1276711668' post='2129929']
Do you do a nightly examen? How does it work?
[/quote]


What a sweet little question.

Mine is all throughout the day actually.

"How does it work?" I Practice the Presence - so there is pausing and feeling
His Presence. Throughout the day. I know the Lord wants my love and wants to
give me His love. So I am making sure all day that I'm letting any distracting thoughts go
to the way side. It becomes so easy - even if some clerk is rude to me - oh well,
so what - poor thing...
she doesn't know the peace of abiding in His Word and Words.
I can only smile and spread a bit of the reflection of His peace and joy...

My life has become so simple -Him, Him, Him...day and in the middle of the night.
I'm serious - this has been going on for years...this Romance.

[laetitia crucis]

I do the Ignatian Daily Examen:

[quote]
The Examen traditionally has five steps:

[list=1]

[*]Recall you are in the presence of God. No matter where you are, you are a creature in the midst of creation and the Creator who called you forth is concerned for you.
[*]Give thanks to God for favors received. Pause and spend a moment looking at this day's gifts. Take stock of what you received and gave. Notice these clues that guide living.
[*]Ask for awareness of the Holy Spirit's aid. Before you explore the mystery of the human heart, ask to receive the Holy Spirit so that you can look upon your actions and motives with honesty and patience. The Spirit gives a freedom to look upon yourself without condemnation and without complacency and thus be open to growth.
[*]Now examine how you are living this day. Recalling the events of your day, explore the context of your actions. Review the day, hour by hour, searching for the internal events of your life. Look through the hours to see your interaction with what was before you. Ask what you were involved in and who you were with, and review your hopes and hesitations. What moved you to act the way you did?
[*]Pray words of reconciliation and resolve. Having reviewed this day of your life, look upon yourself with compassion and see your need for God and try to realize God's manifestations of concern for you. Express sorrow for sin, give thanks for grace, and praise God for the times you responded in ways that allowed you to better see God's life.
[/list][/quote]

In the convent, I would do this in the morning before morning prayer, midday, and then after night prayer.

Now I do this in the morning as I'm getting ready for the day, and then in the evening as I'm preparing to go to bed.

I love St. Ignatius.

[TeresaBenedicta]

Thanks, friends!

I've seen the Ignatian one before and think I may have tried to do it for a while, but somehow ended up forgetting it or dropping it.

Do you write anything down or take notes?

Does practicing a daily examen help you when you prepare for confession?

[Cherie]

[quote name='TeresaBenedicta' date='16 June 2010 - 04:02 PM' timestamp='1276718521' post='2130028']
Thanks, friends!

I've seen the Ignatian one before and think I may have tried to do it for a while, but somehow ended up forgetting it or dropping it.

Do you write anything down or take notes?

Does practicing a daily examen help you when you prepare for confession?
[/quote]

I do something similar to was LC says - I learned it in the convent.

It certainly helps prepare me for confession, and I think the two are very much linked. Because of the daily examen, I have a better idea of the sins and faults toward which I tend the most. I found it to be EXTREMEMLY helpful for Confession, and confessors have even encouraged me by saying I had made a good, thorough examination of conscience.

For me, I do take "notes" (meaning, writing things down). But many spiritual directors caution this practice, because it can lead to scrupulosity or hyper-focusing on one's faults. For me, I have a terrible memory, so it really has really aided me in making a good examination of conscience to write things down, and I've been permitted by my spiritual directors to do so. However, I have been told it is only something that should be done in less than 5 minutes--if you're taking longer than that, than you should probably not be one to write those things down.

[TeresaBenedicta]

[quote name='CherieMadame' date='16 June 2010 - 06:11 PM' timestamp='1276722686' post='2130059']
I do something similar to was LC says - I learned it in the convent.

It certainly helps prepare me for confession, and I think the two are very much linked. Because of the daily examen, I have a better idea of the sins and faults toward which I tend the most. I found it to be EXTREMEMLY helpful for Confession, and confessors have even encouraged me by saying I had made a good, thorough examination of conscience.

For me, I do take "notes" (meaning, writing things down). But many spiritual directors caution this practice, because it can lead to scrupulosity or hyper-focusing on one's faults. For me, I have a terrible memory, so it really has really aided me in making a good examination of conscience to write things down, and I've been permitted by my spiritual directors to do so. However, I have been told it is only something that should be done in less than 5 minutes--if you're taking longer than that, than you should probably not be one to write those things down.
[/quote]

That's a huge struggle for me with confession-- I [i]have[/i] to write things down and bring them in with me. I never realized that could be potentially problematic, but my s/d never said anything about it and I did that with him many a times.

One of my biggest problems, even when making a general examination of conscience for confession, is simply not being able to recall my sins. And it's not as though I don't think I've sinned-- I know I have... I just can't remember them, for the life of me. This becomes much worse if I can't go to confession very often (I like to go every two weeks). I'm almost tempted to write down my sins almost immediately after committing them, just so I can remember. I know it sounds horrible, but... I don't know why I can't remember. I feel guilty right away and make an act of contrition, but then can never recall it later.

That's why I wonder if a nightly examen, along with a few written notes, might be helpful.

The sad thing is that I generally have a pretty good memory. And I [i]am[/i] authentically sorry for my sins-- it's not as though I just don't care enough to remember. And trust me, I [i]do[/i] sin.

[Marie-Therese]

I do something very similar to the Ignatian examen that LC described, but it's just something I freestyle. I try to stay cognizant throughout the day, and I feel contrition almost instantly when I sin, so I ask forgiveness immediately. At the end of the day I go over what I think I did poorly and ask guidance to have that particular fault illuminated so that I can strive to correct it. I also thank God for the graces that allowed me to do things "correctly" because without His love and grace I am unable to do the right thing on my own.

I also try to make a particular point of asking my guardian angel and the Blessed Virgin for their guidance and intercession. I have been known to go to confession with a list of things so I wouldn't forget.

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

When I read these posts, I feel like such a poser. What am I doing here? I'm a basically good person--I'm painfully honest, I'm kind to elderly nuns and helpless animals, and I try my best not to hurt anyone.

But holiness? It's eluded me all my life, although I have tried so many times I've lost count. God has something else in mind for me--I just don't know what it is. Maybe it's only to make others feel good about their relationships with God, because they are so strong in comparison with mine.

<sigh>

[zunshynn]

[quote name='IgnatiusofLoyola' date='16 June 2010 - 05:53 PM' timestamp='1276732391' post='2130151']
When I read these posts, I feel like such a poser. What am I doing here? I'm a basically good person--I'm painfully honest, I'm kind to elderly nuns and helpless animals, and I try my best not to hurt anyone.

[b]But holiness? It's eluded me all my life, although I have tried so many times I've lost count.[/b] God has something else in mind for me--I just don't know what it is. Maybe it's only to make others feel good about their relationships with God, because they are so strong in comparison with mine.

<sigh>
[/quote]

So have I. But, holiness is what God has in mind for all of us, so we've just gotta keep truckin' along.

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='TeresaBenedicta' date='16 June 2010 - 05:42 PM' timestamp='1276724572' post='2130084']
That's a huge struggle for me with confession-- I [i]have[/i] to write things down and bring them in with me. I never realized that could be potentially problematic, but my s/d never said anything about it and I did that with him many a times.

[b]One of my biggest problems, even when making a general examination of conscience for confession, is simply not being able to recall my sins. And it's not as though I don't think I've sinned-- I know I have... I just can't remember them, for the life of me. This becomes much worse if I can't go to confession very often (I like to go every two weeks). I'm almost tempted to write down my sins almost immediately after committing them, just so I can remember. I know it sounds horrible, but... I don't know why I can't remember. I feel guilty right away and make an act of contrition, but then can never recall it later.[/b]

That's why I wonder if a nightly examen, along with a few written notes, might be helpful.

The sad thing is that I generally have a pretty good memory. And I [i]am[/i] authentically sorry for my sins-- it's not as though I just don't care enough to remember. And trust me, I [i]do[/i] sin.
[/quote]

I struggle with the EXACT same thing (bolded bit). I tend to be a note-taker in various situations. This is one of them. This is also another reason why I miss having HUUUUGE habit-pockets... when I had a rare free moment, I'd try to write things down as best as I could remember for confession. Otherwise, I'd just forget.... like you, I struggle with the recall.

Note to self: I need to brush up on my note taking. It was totally helpful when I did this on a regular basis.

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='zunshynn' date='16 June 2010 - 08:00 PM' timestamp='1276732826' post='2130152']
So have I. But, holiness is what God has in mind for all of us, so we've just gotta keep truckin' along.
[/quote]

iawtc.

100%!!!

[Marie-Therese]

[quote name='IgnatiusofLoyola' date='16 June 2010 - 07:53 PM' timestamp='1276732391' post='2130151']
When I read these posts, I feel like such a poser. What am I doing here? I'm a basically good person--I'm painfully honest, I'm kind to elderly nuns and helpless animals, and I try my best not to hurt anyone.

But holiness? It's eluded me all my life, although I have tried so many times I've lost count. God has something else in mind for me--I just don't know what it is. Maybe it's only to make others feel good about their relationships with God, because they are so strong in comparison with mine.

<sigh>
[/quote]

Honey, let me tell you. You are no poser. The best any of us can do is try. If you get the impression of holiness from me, I can guarantee you that I could give you a thousand and one examples every single day of me behaving in a way that in no way resembles holy.

I have never thought that I could ever achieve any degree of saintly behaviour. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I love God, and that love makes me want to try. So I try. That is really all I do. I fall a hundred times, and His love just gives me the courage to get back up and try again.

We are all sinners. Our relationships with God grow and evolve over time. Just trust that He will put you where you need to be.

[Innocent]

I'm very good at the "making plans stage" of anything, and tend to run into stiff resistance and slow down when the time comes to execute the plans.

Thus some months ago, I prepared a General Examen and a Particular Examen for myself and printed it out on two sides of A4 paper (in 2 pages per sheet mode) which I then fold into half so that I can take it with me wherever I go.

For the General Examen, I alternate between this document I found online:

[center]
[url="http://ldysinger.stjohnsem.edu/@texts2/1550_ignatius/examen-var.doc"]The Spiritual Life: The Ignatian Examen (Direct link to MS Word document)[/url][/center]

and this document I prepared for myself taking excerpts from the book [url="http://www.archive.org/details/secretofsanctity00franuoft"][i]The secret of sanctity, according to St. Francis de Sales and Father Crasset[/i][/url] (free download available from the Internet Archive)

[center]
[url="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhj278q8_10drbg8gdx"]General Examen (Excerpts from The Secret of Sanctity)[/url][/center]

The below is my personal Particular Examen, prepared according to my predominant faults:

[center][url="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhj278q8_7cz9v75d3"]Particular Examen[/url][/center]



However, as I said in the first paragraph, I have not been very regular at all in using it. Ideally, my plan was to do this at that time when the LotH recommends the person praying Compline to do an examen, but I keep forgetting it.

[Innocent]

[quote name='IgnatiusofLoyola' date='17 June 2010 - 06:23 AM' timestamp='1276732391' post='2130151']
When I read these posts, I feel like such a poser. What am I doing here? I'm a basically good person--I'm painfully honest, I'm kind to elderly nuns and helpless animals, and I try my best not to hurt anyone.[/quote]

I daresay you're not alone. I am quite familiar with "feeling like a poser" in the presence people who exhibit a sincere commitment to holiness in their lives. And unlike you, I can't even honestly say that I'm a kind person, and I don't even do my best not to hurt anyone.

[quote name='IgnatiusofLoyola' date='17 June 2010 - 06:23 AM' timestamp='1276732391' post='2130151']But holiness? It's eluded me all my life, although I have tried so many times I've lost count.
[/quote]

As a matter of fact, holiness has been eluding me so skillfully in proportion to my attempts to attain to it, that I find that I'm quite close to giving up the spiritual struggle many times and I often find myself wondering if the struggle is worth it at all.

Though I can say that de Caussade's book on Holy Abandonment is one of my favourite spiritual books, in reality, I find that my attitude is often closer to the Duke of Gloucester's bitter lines "As flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods," than to any semblance of abandonment to divine providence.


[quote name='IgnatiusofLoyola' date='17 June 2010 - 06:23 AM' timestamp='1276732391' post='2130151']God has something else in mind for me--I just don't know what it is. Maybe it's only to make others feel good about their relationships with God, because they are so strong in comparison with mine.[/quote]

So, to sum it up, I just wanted to let you know that you're hardly alone, if that makes [b]you[/b] feel any better.

The only good thing I can say of my spiritual life is that if it were not for the Sacraments I'd be much, much worse.

Edited June 17, 2010 by Innocent

[TradMom]

+Praised Be Jesus Christ!

I do it either one of two ways...as I write in my journal (I usually go over the day, what I did and how I can do better) or I read the 10 Commandments and reflect upon them as they apply to my life (as an example...I obviously don't kill someone on a regular basis, but I have been guilty of killing a good mood, someone's confidence, etc...)

I hope this helps, as this is a wonderful practice!

Pax,
TradMom