Isn’t it difficult for us to stand still just for a few moments each day! Perhaps the most vital, yet neglected part of the spiritual life is the practice of the so-called daily examen of conscience. The daily examen is highly recommended by spiritual writers. St Ignatius of Loyola considers it almost the lifeblood of our spiritual journey.

The daily examen of conscience is an exercise of reflection on our life in the light of our service of God. We tend to associate this with the commonly known ‘examination of conscience’ which prepares the way for the Sacrament of Penance. Yet, the characteristics of the daily examen are rather different.

The daily examen invites us for what is called the ‘general examen’ and the ‘particular examen’, both of which are normally practiced in the evening in an atmosphere of prayer.

The general examen

Throughout the general examen, we recall our moral behaviour during the past day. We kind of ‘walk- through’ the events of the day. We ask ourselves what have we done or left undone. What have we said or left unsaid. We acknowledge that the Lord has permitted both pleasant and unpleasant or painful situations. We seek to examine where we have practiced virtue throughout the day and we thank the Lord for permitting us to faithfully cooperate with His grace. In the same manner, we seek to acknowledge our occasional failures to cooperate with his grace such as lack of humility, prudence, charity and patience. We ask the Lord for forgiveness and for His fresh empowerment not only to combat our sinful behaviour but to exercise more generosity in God’s service as an expiation for our past moral shortcomings. As we draw close to end the general examen, we offer the next day to the Lord, and as we listen to our conscience, we ask the Lord to enlighten us with His wisdom to know both what we are to do and how to do it well and what we are to avoid. Most of all we pray for the strength of will to do His will rather than our own.

The particular examen

The general examen leads the way to the particular examen. Here we focus on coping with the predominant moral weakness of our personality. We identify that dominant tendency within us such as anger, envy, greed, pride or lust that seems to take over when we come face to face with particular circumstances or persons. Once identified, we plead for the Lord’s grace to strengthen our will in learning to master such weakness in our life. The particular examen emphasises that it is much better to concentrate our efforts on the one weakness that predominates our moral behaviour than scattering our whole energy to try and master the whole field of our passions.

In the presence of Him who has already conquered our sin through His death, in the presence of the risen victorious Lord, the daily examen invites us to open our hearts in humility surrendering ourselves to His healing presence.

© GORDON P VASSALLO (Published in CIS Newsletter 2010)