Discovering the Power of St Ignatius Loyola's Examen by Jim Manney

For me, reading "A simple life-changing prayer: Discovering the Power of St Ignatius Loyola's Examen" by Jim Manney was a little bit like a refresher course.

I originally discovered the Ignatian Examen years ago and liked the rhythm of its simple steps. For me it was a great way of focussing on God's presence in our world. I discovered a rhythm of prayer that worked for me – one that focusses on gratitude, that can be prayed anywhere whenever I had some downtime. Gratitude is the hallmark of Ignatian Spirituality – it is like a training exercise designed to encourage a habit of the mind to look for God in our everyday world.

The description of this book begins by saying:

For most people most of the time, prayer is hard. It is especially difficult—not to mention unsatisfying—when people experience it as formal, dry, and repetitious. But what might happen if you discovered a simple prayer that changed all that?

The Ignatian Examen itself consists of five simple steps, which Manney describes in his final chapter "The Realtime Examen" as:

1.       Pray for light* Begin by asking God for the grace to pray, to see and to understand

2.       Give thanks Look at your day in a spirit of gratitude. Everything is a gift from God.

3.       Review the day. Guided by the Holy Spirit, look back on your day, pay attention to your experience. Look for God in it.

4.       Look at what’s wrong Face up to failures and shortcomings. Ask forgiveness for your faults. Ask God to show you ways to improve.**

5.       Resolve what to do in the day to come where do you need God in the day to come? What can you do today?

*Personally, I prefer to include "Be still" as at least part of Step 1.

** In the chapter on step 4, Manney reminds the reader that the whole context of the examen is love – if God loves us more than we love ourselves, then we're free to look clearly at what’s wrong and do what’s necessary to set things right. 

"A simple life-changing prayer" is a little book – only 85 pages – that is written in a simple, friendly style with great insights and recommendations. In his book Manney covers some of the difficulties people experience with praying, and how this style of prayer can solve some of these. Probably the stand-out recommendation for me was to try praying the Ignatian Examen for a month – long enough for the novelty to wear off and get comfortable enough with it so that it doesn't seem artificial anymore. Manney goes on to cover each of the five steps, giving examples and stories that are relatable. There have been many books published about the Daily Examen of the years, but I liked this one for its readability and simplicity.

I also noticed that 80% of the 478 reviews on Amazon.com.au for this book gave it a 5-star rating! Published by Loyola Press in 2011, "A simple life-changing prayer" is available to borrow from Theology House:

A Simple Life Changing Prayer - Theology House

It is also available to buy in print or audiobook online from Amazon.com.au or direct from Loyola Press.