St. Ignatius of Loyola Prayer: The Suscipe and Examen

St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556), the soldier who became a saint, founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and gave the Church the Spiritual Exercises, one of the most influential guides to prayer ever written. His prayer of total self-offering, the Suscipe (“Take, Lord, receive”), and his daily Examen are prayed by millions of people. Below are the Suscipe in a public-domain translation, a step-by-step guide to the Examen, prayers to St. Ignatius for discernment and for a generous heart, Scripture and his story.

The Suscipe: “Take, O Lord, and receive”

St. Ignatius placed this prayer at the end of the Spiritual Exercises, in the “Contemplation to Attain Love.” In the translation printed in Father Lasance’s My Prayer-Book (1908):

Take, O Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. Thou hast given me all that I am and all that I possess; I surrender it all to Thee that Thou mayest dispose of it according to Thy will. Give me only Thy love and Thy grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will have no more to desire.

Suscipe is Latin for “receive.” The prayer offers God the four things we most cling to, our freedom, memory, understanding and will, and asks only for his love and grace in return.

The daily Examen

Ignatius is said to have told his companions never to omit the examination of conscience, even on days when they had no time for other prayer. A simple way to pray it each evening, in about ten minutes:

Become aware of God’s presence. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you look at your day with God’s eyes.
Give thanks. Recall the gifts of the day, large and small, and thank God for them.
Review the day. Go through the day hour by hour. Where did you feel close to God? Where did you feel far from him?
Face your failings. Notice where you sinned or failed to love, and ask for forgiveness.
Look to tomorrow. Ask for the grace you need for the next day, and end with an Our Father.

See also the examination of conscience to prepare for confession.

A prayer to St. Ignatius

Written for this page:

St. Ignatius of Loyola, soldier of Christ,
you laid down your sword to serve the King of kings
and sought in all things the greater glory of God.
Pray for me, that I may find God in all things,
know his will and do it generously.
Obtain for me the grace I ask: (name your intention). Amen.

A prayer for discernment

Ignatius taught his followers to notice the movements of their hearts, consolation and desolation, in order to discern God’s will.

St. Ignatius, master of discernment,
help me in this decision: (name it).
Free me from fear and from attachments that cloud my judgment.
Let me notice where God is drawing me,
choose what leads to his greater glory,
and act with peace and courage once I have chosen. Amen.

This prayer was written for this page. See the Come, Holy Spirit prayer.

A prayer for a generous heart

Lord Jesus, teach me to serve you as you deserve:
to give without counting the cost,
to work without looking for reward,
and to be content with knowing that I do your will. Amen.

This prayer was written for this page in the spirit of St. Ignatius.

The Anima Christi

St. Ignatius loved the medieval prayer Anima Christi, “Soul of Christ, sanctify me,” and recommends it in the Spiritual Exercises; many editions print it on their first page. See the Anima Christi page for the full prayer in English and Latin.

Scripture for St. Ignatius

The question Ignatius put to his friend Francis Xavier, which changed Francis’s life:

For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?

The words behind the Jesuit motto, Ad maiorem Dei gloriam, “For the greater glory of God”:

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.

The life of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Íñigo López de Loyola was born in 1491 at the castle of Loyola, in the Basque country of northern Spain, the youngest of thirteen children. He grew up as a page at court and became a soldier, vain of his appearance and eager for glory. On May 20, 1521, while defending the fortress of Pamplona against the French, his leg was shattered by a cannonball.

During his long recovery at Loyola he asked for romances of chivalry, but the only books in the house were a life of Christ and a book of the lives of the saints. As he read, he noticed that dreams of worldly glory left him dry and restless, while thoughts of imitating the saints left him peaceful and joyful. This was the beginning of his conversion and of his teaching on discernment.

In 1522 he laid down his sword before the image of Our Lady at Montserrat and spent almost a year in prayer and penance at Manresa, where he began to write the Spiritual Exercises. After a pilgrimage to Jerusalem he went back to school, finally at the University of Paris, where he gathered a group of companions, among them St. Francis Xavier and St. Peter Faber. On August 15, 1534, at Montmartre, they vowed to serve God together.

In 1540 Pope Paul III approved the Society of Jesus, and Ignatius was elected its first superior general. From Rome he directed the rapidly growing order, wrote its Constitutions and thousands of letters, and founded schools, among them the Roman College. He died in Rome on July 31, 1556, and was canonized on March 12, 1622, with Francis Xavier and Teresa of Avila. Pope Pius XI named him patron of spiritual retreats.

Feast day and patronage

Feast day: July 31. A novena can run from July 22 to 30.
Patron of: spiritual retreats and the Spiritual Exercises, the Society of Jesus, soldiers, and the Basque country.
Symbols: the black Jesuit habit, a book with the words Ad maiorem Dei gloriam, and the monogram IHS.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most famous prayer of St. Ignatius?

The Suscipe: “Take, O Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will.”

What is the Ignatian Examen?

A short daily prayer in which you review your day in God’s presence, give thanks, notice where you met or missed God, ask forgiveness and ask for grace for tomorrow.

What is St. Ignatius the patron saint of?

Spiritual retreats, the Jesuits, soldiers and the Basque country.

What does AMDG mean?

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam, “For the greater glory of God,” the motto of St. Ignatius and the Jesuits.

More prayers and saints

Texts and sources

The Suscipe: F. X. Lasance, My Prayer-Book (1908), Prayers During the Day, public domain (Wikisource).
Scripture: Matthew 16:26; 1 Corinthians 10:31, Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner), public domain.
The steps of the Examen are adapted from the method of the general examen in St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises, no. 43.
The other prayers were written for this page.