Examination of Conscience

BEGIN by examining yourself on your last confession: Whether a grievous sin was forgotten through want of proper examination, or concealed or disguised through shame. Whether you confessed without a true sorrow and a firm purpose of amendment. Whether you have repaired evil done to your neighbor. Whether the penance was performed without voluntary distractions. Whether you have neglected your confessor’s counsel, and fallen at once into habitual sins.

Then examine yourself on the Ten Commandments; the Commandments of the Church; the Seven Capital Sins; the duties of your state of life; and your ruling passion. Calmly recall the different occasions of sin which have fallen in your way, or to which your state and condition in life expose you; the places you have frequented; the persons with whom you have associated. Do not neglect to consider the circumstances which alter the grievousness of the sin, nor the various ways in which we become accessory to the sins of others.

The Ten Commandments of God

1. I AM the Lord, thy God, Who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me. Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them.

2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain.

3. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.

4. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be long-lived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee.

5. Thou shalt not kill.

6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

7. Thou shalt not steal.

8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.

The Six Commandments of the Church

1. TO HEAR Mass on Sundays, and holy days of obligation.
2. To fast and abstain on the days appointed.
3. To confess at least once a year.
4. To receive the Holy Eucharist during the Easter time.
5. To contribute to the support of our pastors.
6. Not to marry persons who are not Catholics, or who are related to us within the fourth degree of kindred, nor privately without witnesses, nor to solemnize marriage at forbidden times.

The Seven Deadly Sins, and the Opposite Virtues

1. Pride ……………………. Humility.

2. Covetousness …………….. Liberality.

3. Lust ……………………. Chastity.

4. Anger ……………………. Meekness.

5. Gluttony ………………… Temperance.

6. Envy …………………….. Brotherly love.

7. Sloth ……………………. Diligence.

The Four Sins which Cry to Heaven for Vengeance

1. Wilful murder.
2. The sin of Sodom.
3. Oppression of the poor.
4. Defrauding the laborer of his wages.

Nine Ways of Being Accessory to Another’s Sin

1. By counsel.
2. By command.
3. By consent.
4. By provocation.
5. By praise or flattery.
6. By concealment.
7. By partaking.
8. By silence.
9. By defense of the ill done.

The Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy

1. To admonish sinners.
2. To instruct the ignorant.
3. To counsel the doubtful.
4. To comfort the sorrowful.
5. To bear wrongs patiently.
6. To forgive all injuries.
7. To pray for the living and the dead.

The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy

1. To feed the hungry.
2. To give drink to the thirsty.
3. To clothe the naked.
4. To visit and ransom the captives.
5. To harbor the harborless.
6. To visit the sick.
7. To bury the dead.

Preliminary Examination

• WHEN did you make your last confession?
• Did you take sufficient pains to awaken contrition?
• Did you omit to confess a mortal sin, either intentionally or through forgetfulness?
• Did you intentionally neglect to say the penance which was imposed on you, or were you so careless as to forget it?
• Have you carried out the resolutions you made at your last confession or have you paid no heed at all to them?

Examination on the Ten Commandments of God

• I. HAVE you doubted in matters of faith?

• Murmured against God at your adversity or at the prosperity of others?

• Despaired of His mercy?

• Have you believed in fortune-tellers or consulted them?

• Have you gone to places of worship belonging to other denominations?

• Have you recommended yourself daily to God?

• Neglected your morning or night prayers?

• Omitted religious duties or practices through motives of human respect?

• Have you rashly presumed upon God’s forbearance in order to commit sin?

• Have you read books, papers, and periodicals of anti-Catholic or atheistic tendency?

• Made use of superstitious practices?

• Spoken with levity or irreverence of priests, Religious, or sacred objects?

• II. Have you taken the name of God in vain?

• Profaned anything relating to religion?

• Have you sworn falsely, rashly, or in slight and trivial matters?

• Cursed yourself or others, or any creature?

• Angered others so as to make them swear, or blaspheme God?

• III. Have you kept holy the Lord’s Day, and all other days commanded to be kept holy?

• Bought or sold things, not of necessity, on that day?

• Done or commanded some servile work not of necessity?

• Missed Mass or been wilfully distracted during Mass?

• Talked, gazed, or laughed in the church?

• Profaned the day by dancing, drinking, gambling, or in other ways?

• IV. Have you honored your parental superiors, and masters, according to your just duty?

• Deceived them?

• Disobeyed them?

• Have you failed in due reverence to aged persons?

• V. Have you procured, desired, or hastened the death of any one?

• Borne hatred?

• Oppressed any one?

• Desired revenge?

• Not forgiven injuries?

• Refused to speak to others?

• Used provoking language?

• Injured others?

• Caused enmity between others?

VI and IX. Have you been guilty of any sin against holy purity in thought, word, or deed?

VII. Have you been guilty of stealing, or of deceit in buying, or selling, in regard to wares, prices, weights, or measures? Have you wilfully damaged another man’s goods, or negligently spoiled them?

• VIII. Have you borne false witness?
• Called injurious names?
• Disclosed another’s sins?
• Flattered others?
• Judged rashly?

X. Have you coveted unjustly anything that belongs to another?