Daily Examen Prayer: The Secret to Seeing Your Soul as God Sees It

St. Ignatius' Secret

St. Ignatius of Loyola said a phrase that, if truly embraced, has the power to change everything:

“Every evening, God shows you what He sees in your heart, but almost no one notices.”

Yet, every day millions of Christians live, work, hope, and suffer… without ever stopping to look at what God sees in them. We often live on the surface, dragged along by the current of events, while silent and decisive movements happen in the depths of our souls that we completely ignore.

Yet it takes only a few minutes to open a door that most people keep closed their entire lives: the door of the heart. It takes only a few minutes to see one’s own soul as God sees it.St. Ignatius called this moment “the Examen”. And be careful: it is not a school exam where you get grades, it is not psychological self-analysis, and above all, it is not a cold grocery list of your sins.It is a revelation. It is the moment when Heaven comes down, light enters, and man finally understands where he stands: whether he is walking toward God, or drifting away without realizing it.

Today we will enter this mystery. We will discover the Ignatian secret, the Daily Examen Prayer that has guided saints, converted hardened sinners, and changed the destiny of souls who were losing the meaning of life. We will see why Ignatius considered it even more important than meditation itself, and how this simple daily gesture can become an inexhaustible source of peace.

From Soldier to Mystic: Discovering the Language of God

St. Ignatius of Loyola was not born a saint. No one is. Before his conversion, he was an ambitious man, a soldier of great fame, in love with honor, women, and earthly glory. But one day, a cannonball shattered his leg during the siege of Pamplona, forcing him into a very long and painful rest in a remote castle.He had nothing to do. He asked for chivalry books to distract himself, the kind that were fashionable at the time. But in that house, there were none. They gave him only what they had: a "Life of Christ" and a collection of the lives of the saints.

And there, in the forced silence of a bed, God gave him one of the greatest revelations in the history of Christian spirituality.Ignatius noticed a strange phenomenon: when he fantasized about his worldly adventures and ladies to conquer, his heart would light up with enthusiasm for a few minutes… but immediately after, it remained empty, dry, sad. When instead he read the Gospel, or imagined imitating the poverty of St. Francis or the courage of St. Dominic, that peace did not vanish. It remained, continued, grew.He realized that God spoke to him not with audible words, but through the movements of the heart.

Thus was born one of the pillars of his life and of all Jesuit spirituality: the Daily Examen Prayer. Not just any examination, but the daily, sincere, and transparent search for what the Holy Spirit was working within him.

Video St. Ignatius' Secret

Why the Daily Examen Prayer is More Important Than the Rosary

For St. Ignatius, spiritual life is an invisible battle. It is not won with willpower, nor with theological intelligence. It is won with an enlightened conscience.Because evil—the "enemy of human nature," as he called it—advances especially when no one notices its presence. It acts in the dark, in distraction, in automatism. Good, on the other hand, grows when we learn to recognize and welcome it.The Examen is the light that unmasks the darkness. It is the lamp that illuminates the path.

The surprising thing is that St. Ignatius considered the Examen more important than meditation. He told his companions that if one day they were too tired, sick, or busy to pray at length, if they could not recite the whole office or read Scripture… they should never skip the Examen. Why? Because in those few minutes, God shows you who you are. He shows you the truth of your day. He makes you see where His grace operated and where evil tried to infiltrate like a silent thief. Without the Examen, we live blindly.

It Is Not a Judgment, It Is an Encounter

Many people are afraid of the examination of conscience because they think it is a time to feel guilty.But the Ignatian Examen is the exact opposite:

• It is not a list of sins: it is a dialogue with Truth.

• It is not severe self-judgment: it is letting God judge you with love.

• It is not looking in the mirror: it is looking at your day through the Father's eyes.

I will not list the steps of this method like a technical manual, because the Examen is not a technique, but a living spiritual experience. Imagine this scenario instead:It is evening. The day is over. You sit on the edge of the bed, or kneel, or simply stop in your favorite armchair. It doesn't matter where.Close your eyes.And pronounce these words in your heart: “Lord, show me the truth of my heart today.”

Ignatius says that at that moment, if the heart is sincere, the Holy Spirit approaches the soul. He does not arrive like a judge with a gavel in hand. He arrives like a gentle light. Like a torch revealing the corners of a dark room, the Spirit enters with meekness and lights a lamp where before there was only confusion.

In that sacred moment, the soul understands three fundamental things:

1. Where God Was Present (Gratitude)

Perhaps in a gesture of kindness you had already forgotten. In a word spoken with love by a friend. In a moment of unexpected peace while driving. Or in the beauty of a sunset.Ignatius said that recognizing the good is as fundamental as recognizing the evil. Indeed, more so. Because "the heart that gives thanks is a heart that sees." He who sees the good desires the good. He who sees grace attracts more of it. The Holy Spirit does not enter an agitated soul that complains, but a soul that gives thanks and trusts.

2. Where Evil Tried to Enter (Discernment)

Here it is not just about obvious sins (I stole, I lied). It is about subtler shades:

• That sudden irritation that made you lose patience with your children;

• That word spoken harshly to a colleague;

• That opportunity to forgive that you let slip out of pride;

• That envious thought you welcomed and cuddled without vigilance.

Ignatius said that evil always enters like a small spark, never like a wildfire. The Daily Examen Prayer serves to extinguish the spark before it burns down the house.

3. Who You Became Today (Direction)

Every day we become a little more like Christ, or a little more distant from Him. There are no neutral days. The heart changes always, it is plastic. The Examen serves precisely to see the direction in which we are going. Are we ascending or descending?

Training for Eternity

St. Ignatius said that the Examen is like "training" for the Particular Judgment.Because one day, when we leave this earth, Jesus will show us our entire life with absolute truth. It will be a moment of total unveiling.

But if we learn to make this small judgment of love every evening, we will not be afraid of that final day. Why? Because we will already know that Light. We will already know His voice. We will already know His way of looking at us. We will not be strangers to the Truth.

St. Faustina wrote in her diary: “Examine your heart every day, but do so in the light of My Mercy.”St. Ignatius agreed: without mercy, the examination becomes only anxiety, scruple, neurosis.With mercy, it becomes liberation. It becomes the sweetest moment of the day.

And then there is the last step, the one Ignatius considered the seal of it all: the concrete resolution. Not a vague resolution ("tomorrow I will be better"), not a titanic promise we will never keep. But a small step. A precise gesture."Tomorrow, when I meet that person, I will smile at them instead of avoiding them.""Tomorrow, I won't look at my phone as soon as I wake up, but I will say a Hail Mary."

Ignatius said that evil fears only one thing: perseverance in small steps. Good grows day by day, act by act, choice by choice.

Conclusion: Do Not Fear the Truth

Today we are used to running. We distract ourselves with a thousand screens, living without ever looking inside for fear of finding emptiness.Ignatius would say that the greatest danger for modern man is not sinning, but not noticing what is happening in his own heart. Living like sleepwalkers.

That is why the Examen is a revolutionary act.In a world that never stops, you stop.In a world that never listens, you listen.In a world that fears the truth and wears masks, you seek it openly.

And God speaks to you. God shows you. God guides you.He who lives like this already lives in the light of eternity. Because he lets God illuminate his life, one day at a time, transforming even mistakes into places of encounter.

Now it's your turn.

St. Ignatius said that even a single minute of sincere light can change the course of an entire life. If you really want to start this journey, if you want to open that inner door that almost no one opens, if you want to see your soul as God sees it… start tonight.

Close your eyes and make this simple prayer your own:

“Lord, show me the truth of my heart today.”

And you will see what happens.