The Most Amazing Prayer You’ve Never Heard Of
“One of the greatest mystics of all time, St. Ignatius of Loyola, believed that the prayer exercise called the “Examen” should be the most important quarter-of-an-hour of a person’s day, and yet today most Christians have never even heard of it.” —Fr. Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ Reimagining the Ignatian Examen
In our daily lives, God is everywhere. The St. Ignatian Examen allows us to invite God in all parts of our day’s events. An awareness that allows God to touch all the little moments and big moments of the day.
The sticky, the hurtful, the joyous, the exciting, and all the gifts and blessings we may experience within 24 hours.
The Examen of Consciousness — Five Daily Steps
What are the Five Daily Steps?
1. Ask God for Light to help see the day from a perspective of honesty, vulnerability, and authenticity.
2. Give Thanks to God by recalling the gifts received today: life, health, family, friends, job, etc.
3. Review your Day and take note of any emotions that surface, both positive and negative feelings and responses; simply be aware of moments as you review your day.
4. Reflect on Shortcomings by identifying moments when the opportunity to be more kind, more generous, more patient, more forgiving, etc. presented themselves. And now…
5. Look Toward the Day to Come and ask God to show you how to be the person you are called to be, how to be fully alive, how to love fully, and how to be fully loved.
Listen & reflect on God’s response, His call & His direction in your life.
This bracelet is a tool for self-examination that deepens our consciousness of God’s movements in our lives. 500 years ago, St. Ignatius of Loyola was inspired by the Holy Spirit to create a guide for all to fall deeper in love with God and to feel His love in a real and tangible way. St. Ignatius called it a Spiritual Awakening and created a 5-step daily exercise as a part of this awakening. Wear this bracelet as a reminder to practice this spiritual exercise daily — in the morning and in the evening. Begin each day with the five beads next to the gold St. Benedict Medal, and as you pray each of the daily steps of the Examen, move a bead to the silver St. Benedict Medal. In the evening, as you pray each step, move the beads back to the gold St. Benedict Medal. Repeat each day. It is perfectly ok if you forget along the way. Begin wherever you are.
A percentage of the proceeds of each bracelet goes to support the Loyola Institute for Spirituality.