Originally published at https://arling.sk/notes/daily-examen-five-points-and-an-evening-page/

The daily examen: five points, and what an evening page can hold

The examen is an examination of conscience done at the end of a day, and Saint Ignatius of Loyola set it out in the Spiritual Exercises in five points: thank God for the benefits received, ask grace to know and correct one's faults, go through the hours of the day and notice faults in deed, word, thought and omission, ask God's pardon, and consider amendment. It takes a few minutes. It is not journalling, it is not a mood tracker, and it has no scoring. Anyone selling a printable for it is selling paper for something that needs almost none, which is worth saying out loud before describing the paper. This note goes through the five points, then explains why an evening page in a book can reasonably carry three questions rather than five headings, and what an evening page has no business claiming to be.

The five points

The order matters, and the first one is not an accident. It begins with thanks for the benefits received, before anything is examined at all. Then comes the request for the grace to know and correct one's faults, which is a way of saying that the examination is not a private audit.

The third point is the review: go through the hours of the day and notice faults in deed, word, thought and omission. The fourth is to ask God's pardon, the fifth to consider amendment, which points the examen at tomorrow rather than at regret about today.

Why an evening page can carry three questions

A page with five headings and five sets of ruled lines turns a short prayer into a form to fill in. Our evening page carries three questions of our own instead, each with lines under it: what am I thankful for today, where did I meet God and where did I turn away, what do I want to do differently tomorrow.

They are not a replacement for the five points and we do not present them as one. It is a short editorial form, not an official text, and the five points as Ignatius set them out remain what they are. The first question holds the thanks, the second holds the review, the third holds the amendment, and the grace and the pardon are asked rather than written down.

What the page does about dates

An evening page belongs to a day, and a book that prints the date on it ages badly. Ours does not: the days are numbered 1 to 31, with no year and no weekday, and each morning page has a line for your own date. Days 7, 14, 21 and 28 are written for Sunday, so a start on a Monday puts them on real Sundays, and you can start on any day and start again after you finish.

The evening page sits at the end of each of those days, after the reading and the four steps of lectio divina in the morning. In the file it is a separate page with its own links, three of them on the first day.

What an evening page is not

It is part of a private aid to prayer, not a liturgical book, and it does not replace the Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours or spiritual direction; no ecclesiastical approval is claimed. The three questions are ours and the book says so on the page itself.

Two more things we would rather say than have you find out: the headings, instructions and questions are our own editorial text prepared with the help of a language model and approved by the publisher, and no file of ours has been opened on a physical reMarkable, Kindle Scribe, Boox or Supernote.

FAQ

Is the examen the same as journalling?

No. It is an examination of conscience in five points, ending in the pardon asked and the amendment considered, and it is meant to take a few minutes at the end of a day. A page can hold it, but the writing is not the point.

Why three questions rather than the five points?

Because a page of five headings turns a prayer into a form. The three questions are a short editorial form of the same examination, and they are not presented as the official text.

Can I use the evening page without the morning one?

Nothing stops you. In the book they belong to the same numbered day, with the reading and the four steps in the morning and the examen in the evening, and the days carry no year and no weekday, so the rhythm is yours to set.

Where to look next

If you want to see an evening page before paying for anything, days 1 to 7 are a free sample on the Morning Quiet page at https://arling.sk/morning-quiet/, with no account and no e-mail address. The book is a digital download of three PDF files at 4.90 €, delivered as soon as the payment goes through. Our other titles set on the same page, including the ten printable puzzle books, are there as well.

ARLing also publishes printable puzzle books.