The daily examen: a five-minute prayer that makes Confession easier

The examen is a short prayer at the end of the day. You look back over the last few hours with God: what you're grateful for, where you met him, and where you fell short. It takes five minutes. Done most nights, it does something a monthly cram never does. Confession stops being a memory test.

Where it comes from

St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, set out the examen in his Spiritual Exercises, a book he began in the 1520s (no. 43, the "general examen"). Five centuries later it is still one of the simplest prayers in the Catholic tradition, and one of the most practical.

The five steps

1. Give thanks. Start with what God gave you today. Be concrete: a conversation, a meal, a moment of quiet, the fact that you made it through a hard afternoon. Gratitude sets the tone for everything after.
2. Ask for light. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the day honestly, the way God sees it. Not more harshly, not more kindly. Just truthfully.
3. Review the day. Walk through it from waking up to now. Where were you patient? Where were you short with someone? When did you feel close to God, and when did you forget him completely? Notice. Don't argue with yourself.
4. Ask forgiveness. For what you did wrong, say sorry to God, simply. If something you noticed is serious, plan to bring it to Confession.
5. Look ahead. Resolve, with God's grace, to do better tomorrow. Pick one small, specific thing. Then close with an Our Father.

The examen and the examination before Confession

They're related, but not the same. The examination of conscience you make before Confession looks back to your last Confession and focuses on your sins, often using the Ten Commandments (here's how). The daily examen covers one day, and it looks for God's presence as much as for your failures.

Each helps the other. If you pray the examen most nights, by the time you go to Confession you already know what you need to confess. You'll often notice your own patterns too: the same sin showing up on the same kind of day, after the same kind of stress. That's useful to bring to a priest.

Making it a habit

• Same time, same place. Right before bed works for most people. Some prefer the commute home.
• Keep it short. Five minutes done most nights beats thirty minutes done once.
• Be kind to yourself. The examen isn't a performance review. If you miss a night, start again the next.
• Write a line or two. A few words about the day makes the next Confession much easier.