Evening and Morning Prayer

“there was evening and there was morning the first day”

One of the first things many of us were taught to do in our Christian discipleship is to have a morning quiet time. We were told to take a few minutes to read the Bible and pray first thing in the morning. There is much to be thankful for in this instruction. It certainly is a very good thing to read the Bible and pray in the morning. To do so is to follow in the very footsteps of Jesus who “rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, went out to a quiet place to pray” (Mark 1:35). Developing a habit of morning prayer can serve as an important building block for one’s lifelong spiritual formation. Indeed, cultivating a morning prayer life has been a practice as ancient as King David who wrote, Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice (Ps 55:17).

David, sometimes waking up in a dewy pasture among his sheep, obviously prayed in the morning, as did Jesus, as have all the saints before us, and so must we. However, might the order in which David mentions his prayers provide some guidance for those of who would like learn to pray today? Evening, morning, and noon he hears my voice.

Our minds are culturally conditioned to conceive of the morning as the beginning of a given day. Great emphasis in the world of self-improvement is placed upon on rising as early as 5 am to attack the day by working out or get hustling. As with the morning quiet time, this is not a bad thing to emphasize. One can do far worse than learn to be an early riser and get moving in the mornings. Either habit however, the morning quiet time or the morning workout, will be much more difficult to develop if it is not coupled with a complementary evening routine.

Thus, the wisdom of the ancient reckoning of the day. In the Jewish mind, the day began at sundown. A wisdom found as early as the very first words of Scripture. There was evening and there was morning the first day. We would do well to consider this wisdom for our own lives. What would it look like to intentionally begin your day at sundown or with the evening meal? How might such a mindset change your life? What would it look like to begin your day with God in the evening? This counter-cultural mindset shift is rife with potential for your spiritual transformation.

St. Ignatius placed great emphasis on the practice of the Evening Examen. It is said, that of all the spiritual practices, he considered the examen to be the most essential. Certainly this is so because of the particular method that he used for this pray. Put another way, Ignatian Examen is so rife with potential for spiritual transformation because of what it is rather than merely when it is done. It will require a great deal of learning in order to receive the full benefit of Evening Examen. One may need to become acquainted with terms like consolation and desolation. One will likely need help understanding what it means to “receive the loving gaze of God.” Practically, Evening Examen might require you to navigate expectations of your spouse or others with whom you live.

If you google Ignatian Examen, you will find various examples and suggestions for the practice. Below, I’m including the Examen practice I’ve been developing for some time now. It is not meant to reflect a precise Examen method. It is simply a way of praying that I’ve found helpful. If part or all of it helps you, incorporate or adapt into your own praying. If not, leave it be. One of the challenges of learning to pray, much like learning to live, is discovering your own way of doing it. A tool like this is better understood as training wheels to help you get moving rather than a template for all to follow. Elements will be universal sure, but experience will be quite personal.

What is most important is to get started. Take 10-15 minutes, create a sacred place for prayer, cue up some meditative background music, use a paper journal and pen to jot down thoughts that seem important, and simply review your day in the presence of God. Let your day play like a movie in your mind. Notice moments of joy and sorrow, delight and drudgery, peace and pain. Thank God for the gifts and graces of the day, they were from His hand. Ask God to help you understand what caused even the less desirable movements like boredom, confusion, or irritation. Often, it is through these that His work in our souls can be best discerned, however uncomfortable that may be Then ask for His help to live for Him tomorrow. Try this. Give it a test run for one week. Try to get to bed a few minutes earlier than you typically do. Live into this ancient rhythm; there was evening and there was morning, the first day. If you will, I pray it might be for you the first day of a new kind of life of prayer with God.

EVENING PRAYER | Release the day to the Lord.

Presence | O God come to my assistance, O Lord make haste to help me.

review journal| cue meditative music | light candle

Gratitude | What are you most grateful for today?

Scripture | Take a moment to review today’s Scripture reading.

Review | Pause to consider your interior movements today. Let your day play in your mind like a movie. Seek not to judge but to notice. Choose 1 or 2 moments which seem to stand out.

Consolation | When did you feel most human, alive, or whole today?

Desolation | When did you feel confused, irritated, frustrated today?

Discern | Lord, what caused these feelings within me? Sit with this. Contemplate. Resist judgments and conclusions. Journal what comes to mind.

Confess | Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

Rejoice | In Jesus Christ, I am forgiven!

The Lord’s Prayer | Our Father in heaven. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Tomorrow | Lord, help me tomorrow with …

Grace | What is one step I can take toward God tomorrow?

Compline | Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen.