Preparatory Prayer [46]: I will beg God our Lord for grace that all my intentions, actions, and operations may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty.

Mental Representation:  The same. I will imagine my soul as a prisoner in this corruptible body, and consider my whole composite being as an exile here on earth, cast out to live among brute beasts.  My whole composite being, body and soul. 

Grace:  I will ask God for what I desire: Here it will be to ask for a growing and intense sorrow and tears for my sins. 

Points [56]: 5 points

First Point:  This is to see a record of my sins. 

Saint Paul says: all must appear before the judgment seat…(2 Cor 5.10)

And

Jeremiah 16:17 – For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes.

Saint Ignatius tells us: I will call to mind all the sins of my life, reviewing year by year, and period by period.  Three things will help me in this:

First, to consider the places where I lived

Secondly, I will consider my dealings with others

Thirdly, the offices and positions I have held

The fruit I am looking for are those times that I desired and willed to commit sin. Removing from consideration what other people have done — I must discover those sins that happened because I approved them.

Second Point:  I will weigh the gravity of my sins, and see the loathsomeness and malice which every mortal sin I have committed has in itself, even though it were not forbidden. 

There is something anti-natural in sin; even more for mortal sin.  Ignatius goes beyond seeing sin as a matter of following or breaking rules. Sin is a free act that acts against goodness.

Third Point: I will consider who I am, and by means of examples humble myself:

1. Who am I compared with all men?
2. What are all men compared with the angels and saints of paradise?
3. Consider what all creation is in comparison with God. 
4. I will consider all the corruption and loathsomeness of my body. 
5. Moving myself, I will consider myself as a source of corruption and contagion from which has issued countless sins and evils and the most offensive poison.

Fourth Point:  I will consider who God is against whom I have sinned, going through His attributes and comparing them with their contraries in me:

• His wisdom with my ignorance.

Ascent of Mount Carmel (Bk1,Ch4):

…All wisdom and human ability compared to God’s wisdom is ignorance: the wisdom of the world is foolishness (1Cor3,19)…those who value their knowledge and ability as a means for reaching their end are actually lacking wisdom. 

God’s power with my weakness:

God is the First Cause and First Mover.  God is being itself without change or limits.  While the creature is dependent.  In truth, the difference between God’s power and my weakness is vast and is something that is very natural to recognize.  Still, I must ask for the grace to accept these facts and to resist any of those tendencies treat myself as god, or God as if He were like me.

• His justice with my iniquity

Justice means to give what is due to another.  Out of justice we ought to give God that which is due to Him.  Israel in the Old Testament experienced moments of lucidity, moments when they realized:  they cried to the Lord and said, “We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord and have served false Gods. (Samuel 12,10).  Israel had often complained against God, accusing Him of not caring for them. Now is the time to set things right in my thoughts–defending God and accusing myself or at least accusing mankind in general.

• His goodness with my wickedness

Those who set their hearts too much on the good things of the world become wicked in God’s sight (Ascent Mt Carmel). How often have I not wanted God’s graces, preferring instead a creature rather than the good that come from God? 

Fifth Point:  Saint Ignatius invites us to use our emotions and to see the reality of these things under consideration.

Here, I wish to experience a cry of wonder accompanied by surging emotion as I pass in review of all the creatures.  How is it that they have permitted me to live, and have sustained me in life!  Why have the angels, though they are the sword of God’s justice, tolerated me, guarded me, and prayed for me! Why have the saints interceded for me and asked favors for me! And the heavens, sun, moon, stars, and the elements; the fruits, birds, fishes, and other animals–why have they all been at my service! How is it that the earth did not open to swallow me up, and create new hells in which I should be tormented forever!

Colloquy (Conversation with God, as with a friend):  I will conclude with a colloquy, extolling the mercy of God our Lord, pouring out my thoughts to Him, and giving thanks to Him that up to this very moment He has granted me life.  I will resolve with His grace to amend for the future.  Close with an Our Father.