The Examen Prayer: How to Pray the Daily Examen in 5 Simple Steps

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You had a whole day. Meetings, meals, conversations, silences. Somewhere in all of it, God was present — and you probably missed it. Not because you weren’t paying attention, but because no one taught you how to look back and see Him there.

That’s exactly what the examen prayer is for. Developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola nearly 500 years ago, the daily examen is a simple, structured way to review your day with God — noticing where He showed up, where you responded with love, and where you turned away. Ignatius considered it so essential that even if his Jesuits skipped every other prayer, he insisted they never skip this one.

The examen isn’t complicated. It takes 10 to 15 minutes. You don’t need a theology degree or a contemplative monastery. You need a quiet moment — at the kitchen table after the kids are in bed, in your car before walking into the house, sitting on the edge of your bed before sleep. And you need a willingness to let God show you your day through His eyes.

Here’s how to do it — step by step, in plain language, with practical guidance for making it a prayer you actually return to.

What Is the Examen Prayer?

The examen (sometimes called the “examination of conscience” or the “Ignatian examen”) is a daily prayer of review. You look back over the past day — or even the past few hours — and pay attention to two things: where you experienced God’s presence (what Ignatius called consolation) and where you felt distant from Him (desolation).

It’s not a guilt trip. It’s not a checklist of sins. It’s more like sitting with a trusted friend and saying, “Let me tell you about my day” — except the friend is God, and He already knows. The point isn’t to inform Him. The point is to let the review change you.

The Catechism describes this kind of prayerful self-awareness as essential to growth: “The examination of conscience is the most important means of ensuring our spiritual progress” (cf. CCC 1454). St. Ignatius structured the examen into five movements — not rigid rules, but a natural flow that helps you pray through your day honestly.

The 5 Steps of the Examen Prayer

Step 1: Place Yourself in God’s Presence

Before you review anything, stop. Breathe. Acknowledge that God is here — not as an abstract idea, but as someone who was with you through every moment of this day.

You might simply say: “Lord, You were with me today. Help me see where.”

This step matters more than it seems. Without it, the examen becomes self-analysis — just you picking through your own behavior. With it, the examen becomes a conversation. You’re inviting God to be the one who shows you what happened.

Step 2: Give Thanks

Before looking at what went wrong, look at what was given. Ignatius always started with gratitude — not as a warm-up exercise, but because gratitude is the truest lens for seeing reality.

Ask yourself: What am I grateful for today?

It might be something significant — a good conversation with your spouse, a moment of patience with your children, a breakthrough at work. Or it might be small — the warmth of coffee in the morning, sunlight through a window, the fact that you made it through a hard day. St. Paul’s instruction to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) isn’t a command to pretend everything is fine. It’s an invitation to notice that God was present even when things weren’t.

Step 3: Review the Day

Now walk through your day like a film reel. Don’t analyze yet — just watch. Morning, midday, afternoon, evening. Where did you feel alive, peaceful, connected? Where did you feel drained, anxious, empty?

Ignatius used the language of consolation and desolation for this. Consolation is any movement toward God — peace, hope, love, energy, gratitude, a desire to serve. Desolation is any movement away — restlessness, discouragement, temptation, flatness, self-absorption.

The key insight: these aren’t always what you’d expect. Sometimes consolation comes during a difficult conversation where you stayed honest. Sometimes desolation comes during something that looked fine on the surface but left you feeling hollow. Trust what you notice.

If you’ve read our guide on what to do in spiritual desolation, you know that recognizing these movements is itself a powerful form of spiritual discernment.

Step 4: Face What Needs Facing

This is the step people dread — and the one that sets the examen apart from journaling or mindfulness exercises. You look honestly at where you fell short. Not to wallow. Not to spiral into shame. But to bring it to God while it’s still fresh.

Maybe you were harsh with your kids at dinner. Maybe you wasted two hours scrolling when you’d promised yourself you’d pray. Maybe you gossiped, or harbored resentment, or chose comfort over the right thing.

Name it simply. Then ask for forgiveness — not as a formula, but as a real conversation: “Lord, I’m sorry. I see it now. Help me do better tomorrow.”

This isn’t a replacement for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. But it does something confession alone can’t — it catches patterns in real time. When you review your day every night, you start seeing the same struggles surface. That awareness is the first step toward change. As the Catechism teaches, “the regular examination of conscience is a necessary preparation for the sacrament of Penance” (cf. CCC 1435).

Step 5: Look Ahead with Resolve

The examen doesn’t end looking backward. It ends looking forward. Ask God: What do I need for tomorrow? Where will I need Your help?

If you noticed you were impatient today, ask for patience tomorrow — not in the abstract, but for the specific moment you know will test you. If you felt distant from God during your afternoon slump, ask for the grace to pause and pray at that exact time tomorrow.

Close with a simple prayer. The Our Father works. So does a brief, honest sentence: “Lord, I give You tomorrow. Walk with me.”

What the Examen Looks Like in Real Life

On paper, five steps sounds clean and orderly. In practice, the examen is messier — and that’s fine.

Some nights you’ll sit down and the gratitude will flow. You’ll notice three or four moments where God was clearly present, and you’ll feel His closeness as you pray. Those nights are gifts.

Other nights you’ll sit down and feel nothing. The day will seem like a blur of obligations. You won’t be able to identify consolation or desolation — just fatigue. On those nights, the examen might last three minutes. You’ll say, “Lord, I’m tired. I didn’t see You today, but I know You were there. Help me see You tomorrow.” And that’s enough. That is the prayer.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who practiced her own form of daily review, wrote: “I just tell God what I want to tell Him, without composing beautiful sentences, and He always understands me.” The examen isn’t a performance. It’s showing up.

How to Make the Examen a Daily Habit

Knowing the five steps is easy. Doing them every night is hard. Here’s what actually helps:

Anchor it to something you already do. The most effective way to build any prayer habit is to attach it to an existing routine. The examen works naturally before bed, but it also works after dinner, during your commute home, or in the quiet after putting kids to sleep. Pick one anchor and commit to it for two weeks. As we explored in our guide to habit stacking for Catholic prayer, connecting a new practice to a daily anchor dramatically increases the odds it sticks.

Start short. A five-minute examen is better than a fifteen-minute examen you skip. In the beginning, just do Steps 2 and 3 — gratitude and review. Once the habit is established, expand to the full five steps.

Use a prompt if your mind goes blank. Some people find it helpful to start with a concrete question: When did I feel most alive today? When did I feel most drained? Or: When was I most loving? When was I least loving? These questions get you into the flow faster than trying to “feel” your way through the day.

Track it. There’s something about marking a day complete that reinforces the commitment. Whether you use a simple checkmark on a calendar or an app like Holy Habits to track your daily examen alongside other spiritual practices, the act of tracking builds accountability and reveals patterns over time.

Expect resistance. The examen asks you to be honest with yourself and God. That’s uncomfortable. You’ll find reasons to skip it — you’re too tired, it’s too late, nothing happened today. Push through those first few weeks. Like any habit, it gets easier. And like any prayer, the fruit shows up gradually.