The School of Prayer: Daily Self-Examination
The Examen and Wesley's 22 Questions for Checking Your Spiritual Pulse
In Sunday’s sermon I mentioned a practice called “The Examen,” which is attributed to St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), one of the founders of the Catholic “Society of Jesus” (the Jesuits). The Examen was part of Ignatius’ compilation of meditations and prayers titled The Spiritual Exercises, which provided the Jesuits an order for prayer like that of St. Benedict and his “Little Rule for Beginners.” The Jesuits had a less rigorous practice for daily prayer than the Benedictines, but one of the requirements for monks in the Order was practicing The Examen twice daily at noon and at the end of the day.
The Examen is a short exercise but one that focuses on some self-examination each day. We evaluate the day, our experiences within it, and we bring our self-examination to the Lord. The Examen revolves around five key reflections:
1. Become aware of God’s presence. Where have I sensed that God has been with me today? When did I feel disconnected to him? Take a moment and breathe slowly, asking God to be present with you as you review the day.
2. Review the day with gratitude. Even in the worst days there are some things for which we can be thankful. Focusing on gratitude enables us to see where God is at work. It can be something simple or profound, but offer thanks to God for something that happened today.
3. Pay attention to your emotions. How did I manage the day emotionally? Were there times I was stressed, angry, worried? Or was there a moment where I experienced deep joy? This is an opportunity to take your emotional temperature and allow God to speak into it as you close the day.
4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it. What happened today that you want to pray more about? What part of the day do you need to review with God? Did you encounter someone today whom God has laid on your heart to pray for? Was there something you wanted to bring before the Lord that you’ve been wrestling with? This part of the Examen allows you to focus your prayer on the day past as you spend time with the Lord.
5. Look toward tomorrow. What’s on your agenda tomorrow? What are anticipating? What are you concerned about? Excited about? What do you need to do to prepare spiritually for the day ahead?
As I said on Sunday, I have been practicing The Examen during my evening prayer time, just before going to bed. And I use my bullet journal to write down my responses to the each of these parts of the Examen. In many ways this “clears the deck” before going to bed, allowing me to take the stress, concern, or replaying of the day out of my mind and put it on paper. I find that when I do that I am able to sleep better and not awake with those concerns on my mind. I have brought them to the Lord as the last act of the day.
But there’s another practice of self-examination that is part of our Wesleyan tradition. John Wesley developed 22 questions that were designed to be used at the end of each day—kind of like The Examen on steroids. While this list of questions for reflection is obviously longer, it does get down to more specifics and it forces us to get uncomfortable at times as we evaluate our daily life. I tend to look at this list weekly to check in with myself and the Lord. I find it to be both challenging and inspiring as I grow in my relationship with God. Here are Wesley’s questions:
Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
Can I be trusted?
Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
Did the Bible live in me today?
Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
Am I enjoying prayer?
When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
Do I pray about the money I spend?
Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
Do I disobey God in anything?
Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
Am I defeated in any part of my life?
Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
How do I spend my spare time?
Am I proud?
Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
Do I grumble or complain constantly?
Is Christ real to me?
Spending a little time for self-examination at the end of each day and at the end of each week is a practice that promotes a deeper experience of prayer. As we open ourselves to the Lord, we find that he will open himself more to us and meet us at our places of greatest need. The point here is not to beat ourselves up, but to seek to be more like Jesus in our lives. Real life change and transformation begins when we acknowledge our weakness and rely on the Spirit’s strength to move us in a new direction.
I invite you to try out The Examen, or Wesley’s questions, or a combination of the two. Write down some of your responses each day and, after a month, see how you’ve changed as a result of what God is doing with your transparency. As one of my spiritual mentors and seminary professors Steve Seamands says, "Jesus won't heal things that we insist on hiding from him." Give Jesus an opening to heal and change you by putting everything on the table.
It’s one of the best learnings from The School of Prayer!
In case you missed Sunday’s sermon on “Calling on the Name of the Lord,” you can watch it right here:
Good evening, Pastor Kaylor. I just want you to know that I appreciate your ongoing work with all this. We’ve spoken before by email, I listen to your podcasts (and am greatly missing Wednesdays with Wesley).
I want you to know that this missive has inspired my preaching series between Easter and Pentecost 2024, and every time I’ve ever preached something you’ve inspired, I credit you. Thank you so much!