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If you’ve been praying the Daily Examen with us for some time, you may have noticed something surprising: patterns. Things that you notice over and over in your Examen. You may notice that, for example, in the gratitude part of the Examen, you are continually calling to mind someone who is helpful to you: a relative, a friend, a coworker, a neighbor, even someone that you see only from time to time, like the checkout person at your supermarket, or the receptionist at a doctor’s office, or the janitor at school. So a pattern develops. In that case, it might be time to thank this person explicitly for who they are in your life. Of course it may surprise them to hear, “You come up in my prayer frequently,” so instead you might just say, “You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about how generous you are, and I just wanted to say thanks.” Usually people are grateful to hear that.
Another pattern in prayer could be consistently feeling bad about something you do repeatedly. Let’s say you gossip too much, and it comes up again and again in the part of Examen where you look at sorrow and regret for your failings. In that case, God may be asking you to look at this part of your life more seriously, and make some amends. The Daily Examen, in other words, is not simply so that you can see where God was. It’s also a way that God has of helping you lead a holier life in the long term. Daily Examen, yes, but weekly, monthly, yearly, or even lifelong, effects.
