Finding God in the Ordinary with St. Ignatius

Catholic prayer can sometimes feel like one more obligation in an already crowded week. Work, family, commuting, parish commitments and the constant stream of news can leave little space for stillness. St. Ignatius of Loyola offers a practical way forward through the Examen, a prayerful review of the day that helps us notice where God has been present.

The Examen is simple enough for a quiet moment after dinner, a train ride home or a Sunday arvo walk. It does not require a retreat centre, a special book or a perfect mood. With patience, it can form a habit of gratitude, honest self-knowledge and generous service in the ordinary circumstances of Australian life.

The spiritual vision of St. Ignatius

St. Ignatius of Loyola was a sixteenth-century soldier who underwent a deep conversion after being wounded in battle. During his recovery, he began to distinguish between thoughts that drew him towards God and those that left him restless, discouraged or self-absorbed. This experience shaped the spiritual wisdom later gathered in the Spiritual Exercises.

At the heart of Ignatian spirituality is the conviction that God is active in every part of life. Prayer is not restricted to Mass, a chapel or formal devotional time. God can be encountered in caring for children, serving a customer, visiting an elderly relative, studying, making a difficult decision or persevering through a demanding shift.

The Examen prayer grows from this belief. It trains a person to look back over the day with faith rather than vague sentiment. The aim is not to produce a flawless record of good behaviour. It is to recognise grace, name what needs healing and become more available to God tomorrow.

What the Examen prayer involves

The Examen is a reflective form of daily prayer, usually lasting between five and fifteen minutes. It is different from an examination of conscience before the Sacrament of Reconciliation, although the two can support each other. In the Examen, a person reviews the movements of the heart and the events of the day while remaining aware of God’s merciful presence.

Ignatius encouraged people to notice consolation and desolation. Consolation refers to an inner movement towards faith, hope, love, peace and generous action. Desolation can involve discouragement, resentment, anxiety, isolation or a narrowing of attention around the self. These terms do not mean that every pleasant feeling comes from God or that every painful experience is spiritually harmful. Discernment requires honesty, context and patience.

A good Examen also resists the temptation to turn prayer into self-monitoring. The purpose is relationship. A person is looking back over the day with the Lord, allowing gratitude and truth to open a deeper response. This makes the practice especially valuable for Catholics who want a more personal connection with Scripture, the sacraments and daily discipleship.

The five movements of this daily reflection

Many people pray the Examen through five movements. First, they become aware of God’s presence. This may involve a slow breath, the Sign of the Cross or a simple sentence such as, “Lord, you are here with me.” Beginning with God’s nearness helps the prayer remain grounded in trust rather than self-criticism.

Next comes gratitude. The person recalls specific gifts from the day: a kind conversation, a safe journey, a moment of laughter, a task completed, a meal shared or the strength to continue when things were difficult. Gratitude makes ordinary grace visible. It also corrects the habit of remembering only problems and disappointments.

The third movement is a candid review of the day. Rather than replaying every event, the person notices moments of peace, tension, generosity, impatience, courage or avoidance. What drew the heart towards God? What pulled it away? Where did a person respond freely, and where did fear or pride take control?

The prayer then turns towards sorrow and healing. A person can ask forgiveness for a harsh word, neglected responsibility, dishonest motive or missed opportunity to love. This is not a performance of shame. It is an act of confidence in divine mercy. Finally, the person looks towards tomorrow and asks for grace to live with greater faithfulness, perhaps choosing one concrete action.

Bringing Ignatian prayer into Australian life

The Australian context offers plenty of opportunities for this kind of spiritual attentiveness. A parent might pray the Examen after the school run in Melbourne, while a nurse in Brisbane might reflect after a long hospital shift. Someone in Perth may use the quiet of an evening walk, while a worker in regional New South Wales may pray before beginning an early drive between towns.

Distance and schedules matter in Australia. Parish communities can be separated by long roads, public transport may shape attendance in Sydney, and many families organise their lives around school terms, weekend sport and rotating work hours. A brief daily prayer can be more sustainable than waiting for a completely free hour. The point is consistency, not an ideal setting.

Australian speech often values directness and practicality. The Examen meets that instinct without becoming shallow. A person can ask plainly: “What gave me life today? Where was I closed off? What is God inviting me to do next?” These questions can be prayed in a suburban kitchen, a ute before work or a parish car park before an evening meeting.

It is also useful to adapt the timing to local routines. In summer, an early morning Examen may be more comfortable than praying late in a hot room. During busy periods such as the end of the school year or harvest season, a three-minute version may preserve the habit. When people register for Catholic events online, clear times and practical details matter; spiritual formation benefits from the same realism.

The Examen and the vocation of fatherhood

Ignatian reflection can be especially fruitful for men seeking to live fatherhood with greater patience and courage. Modern family life brings financial pressure, digital distractions, demanding work patterns and the challenge of being emotionally present. A father may provide materially while still sensing that he has been unavailable in conversation, prayer or affection.

A gentle review of the day can reveal these patterns without reducing fatherhood to a list of failures. A man might remember a moment when he listened attentively to his daughter, apologised to his son or chose to come home rather than remain absorbed in work. He may also recognise when fatigue became irritability or when his phone displaced the family sitting nearby.

The reflection on modern fatherhood offers a useful companion to this examination of daily responsibilities. The Examen can help a husband and father move from general intentions to specific decisions: putting the phone away during dinner, asking forgiveness before bed or setting aside time to pray with the family.

This practice applies beyond fathers. Mothers, single people, grandparents, religious brothers and sisters, parish leaders and young adults can all discover where love was received and where it was resisted. Ignatian spirituality is attentive to the particular vocation of each person, because grace works through real responsibilities rather than an imagined life.

Retreats, pilgrimage and deeper discernment

A daily Examen can remain brief, yet it may gradually awaken a desire for more sustained prayer. A retreat provides space to step back from normal routines, listen more carefully and bring significant decisions before God. A pilgrimage adds movement, place and shared faith, helping people encounter the Church through sacred sites, fellowship and deliberate travel.

For Australians, a pilgrimage can involve considerable planning. Travelling from Adelaide, Hobart or Darwin to a Catholic gathering requires attention to flights, accommodation, leave from work and family arrangements. That practical effort can itself become prayer when it is offered as a desire to seek God. Information about pilgrimages and retreats can help Catholics consider how a change of setting might support spiritual renewal.

St. Ignatius also teaches that discernment is more than choosing between attractive options. It involves asking what leads to a deeper love of God and neighbour over time. A retreat may clarify whether a person needs to reconcile with someone, simplify a commitment, serve in a parish, pursue a vocation or establish a more faithful prayer routine.

The Examen prepares the ground for this discernment because it develops attention. A person who regularly notices interior movements becomes better able to recognise repeated patterns. Prayer may reveal that a decision is being driven by status, fear or the wish to please others rather than by charity and truth.

Related traditions of contemplative prayer

The Ignatian method belongs to the wider Catholic tradition of mental prayer. It is practical and reflective, yet it should not be treated as a technique that guarantees immediate calm. Some days will feel rich and focused; other days may seem dry, distracted or emotionally unsettled. Faithfulness means returning to prayer without demanding a particular experience.

St. Teresa of Ávila offers a complementary approach. Her teaching on mental prayer emphasises friendship with Christ and the importance of spending time with him honestly. Her guide to mental prayer can help readers see how the Examen fits within a larger life of contemplation, humility and loving relationship with Jesus.

The two traditions can meet naturally. An evening Examen may begin with awareness of Christ’s presence, move through gratitude and self-examination, and end with quiet companionship rather than many words. The prayer is then less about analysing oneself and more about allowing Christ to shape the heart.

For those who benefit from written prompts or a digital aid, a supplementary prayer resource may provide another way to support regular reflection. Any resource should serve prayer rather than replace Scripture, participation in the sacramental life or personal attentiveness to God.

Simple ways to make the practice consistent

The Examen becomes more fruitful when it is connected to a stable daily cue. Some people pray before sleep, while others choose the drive home, the end of a work break or the time after children have gone to bed. A phone reminder can help establish the habit, though the device should be put aside once prayer begins.

A short form is perfectly legitimate. The following prompts can guide a few quiet minutes:

• Become aware of God’s loving presence
• Give thanks for one concrete gift
• Notice consolation and desolation
• Ask for grace for tomorrow

A longer review can be useful once a week, especially on a Sunday. It may help to write a few lines rather than relying on memory. Keep the focus on patterns and invitations, not on producing a spiritual scorecard.

For a weekly review, consider these areas:

• Relationships that brought peace or tension
• Work, study and use of time
• Habits involving screens, money or speech
• A practical step towards greater love

The Sacrament of Reconciliation remains important when serious sin needs to be confessed and forgiven. The Examen does not replace that sacrament, nor does it replace Sunday Mass. Instead, it can prepare the heart to participate more consciously in both. It can also lead to a more compassionate awareness of other people, since the person praying begins to recognise personal weakness and dependence on grace.

Begin with five minutes for one week. Choose a dependable time, use a simple structure and end with a brief prayer such as, “Lord, thank you for staying with me. Help me receive your mercy and love more faithfully tomorrow.” The Marian Center of Indianapolis provides opportunities for Catholic conferences, retreats, pilgrimages and spiritual formation that can support this personal practice within the life of the Church.

Make the Examen your own while keeping its essential direction: towards God’s presence, gratitude, truth, mercy and a willing response. Set aside a few minutes tonight, look back over the day with Christ and take the next faithful step.