St. Ignatius on the Consciousness Examen

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius is a book not to be read but to be savored. It actually logs the the spiritual journey of St. |Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. Throughout the centuries, this book has been used by many retreat directors as they accompany their retreatants through their individual spiritual journeys.

In this book, St. Ignatius outlines the Consciousness Examen which he suggests that the retreatant do everyday during his long retreat. This method of prayer though has been adopted by many religious and lay people as their daily prayer. It is suggested that the examen, as it is commonly called, be done twice - one during noon and the other before retiring for the day. The prayer is helpful to one who wishes to discern how God moves in the daily routine of his life and to pray over God's invitation to him everyday.

Below is a quotation from The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius on the Consciousness Examen:

METHOD FOR MAKING THE GENERAL EXAMEN. It contains in it five Points.

First Point. The first Point is to give thanks to God our Lord for the benefits received.

Second Point. The second, to ask grace to know our sins and cast them out.

Third Point. The third, to ask account of our soul from the hour that we rose up to the present Examen, hour by hour, or period by period: and first as to thoughts, and then as to words, and then as to acts, in the same order as was mentioned in the Particular Examen.

Fourth Point. The fourth, to ask pardon of God our Lord for the faults.

Fifth Point. The fifth, to purpose amendment with His grace.

Our Father.

from http://spiritualorientations.com/first.html