Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Pray For Us

When is the last time your smoke alarm sounded in your home?

What did you do?

Did you plug your ears and ignore it?

Or did you run out of the house until the ringing of the alarm was no longer in earshot?

Or might you have followed the sound and explored possible causes of the blaring alarm?

Just like the smoke alarm, my feelings have a root cause and it’s up to me to explore the depth of them to be more mindful.

I’m able to do this with my favorite prayer, the Examen which forces me to look at the good, bad and ugly of how I live a particular day or moment of the day. I was sold on this prayer 20 years ago because it was only a 15-minute exercise. However, that short time... has lasting effects! I now pray the Examen more than once a day to take note of emotions that bubble up after a tense meeting or heated conversation.

I use it to calm down at night.

I begin thanking God for the blessings of the day and end with a desire to do better and to be better tomorrow. When is the last time you were able to tend to your deeply rooted feelings inside of your heart?

Pray the 5 easy steps of the Examen and watch what happens! 

—Lori Stanley/Executive Director of Loyola Institute in Orange

Loyola Institute for Spirituality 

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.