Ignatian
Discernment and the daily Examen.
The plan that orbits the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. The Examen is its load-bearing practice — prayed twice, midday and night — and it is not a tally of sins but a noticing of where God moved during the day and where you resisted.
The Gospel of the day is met with the imagination: place yourself in the scene, look, listen, speak to the Lord. Behind it all runs the discernment of spirits, agere contra against disordered attachment, and the magis — always the greater good, the more loving response.
For decision-makers, intellectuals, anyone in a season of transition. The plan of the discerner.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises
What it proposes
- Morning Offering — Suscipe 06:30 · Daily · Essential
The morning oblation — offering the whole day's liberty, memory, and will to God before discernment begins.
- Holy Mass 07:00 · Daily · Ideal
Daily Mass and Communion when possible, uniting one's small choices to the one perfect self-offering of Christ.
- Gospel of the Day 07:30 · Daily · Essential
Met with the imagination as Ignatius taught — place yourself in the scene, look, listen, and speak with the Lord in colloquy.
- Examination of Conscience 13:00 · Daily · Essential
The midday particular examen, watching the one disordered attachment chosen for combat — agere contra, acting against it by name.
- Examination of Conscience 22:00 · Daily · Essential
The load-bearing practice of the whole rule — not a tally of sins but a noticing of where God moved during the day and where you resisted.
- Spiritual Reading 21:00 · Daily · Ideal
Daily reading that feeds discernment, schooling the heart to recognize the difference between the spirits that draw it and those that drain it.
- Confession 10:00 · Essential
Regular confession, the sacramental clearing that keeps discernment honest and the will free to choose the magis.
In the Ember app, adopt this tradition as your own plan of life, practice by practice, with times and reminders.