Examination of Conscience

Prior to going to Confession, one should prepare themselves for the Sacrament through an examination of conscience. The following is offered as a preparation guide.

• What Is my my attitude to the sacrament of penance? Do I sincerely want to be set free from sin, to turn again to God, to begin a new life, and to enter into a deeper friendship with God? Or do I look on it as a burden, to be undertaken as seldom as possible?
• Did I forget to mention, or deliberately conceal, any grave sins in past confessions?
• Did I perform the penance I was given? Did I make reparation for any injury to others? Have I tried to put into practice my resolution to lead a better life in keeping with the Gospel?

The Lord says: “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart.”

• Is my heart seat on God, so that I really love him above all things and am faithful to his commandments, as a son loves his father? Or am I more concerned about the things of this world? Have I a right intention in what I do?
• God spoke to us in his Son. Is my faith in God firm and secure? Am I wholehearted in accepting the Church’s teaching? Have I been careful to grow in my understanding of the faith, to hear God’s word, to listen to instructions on the faith, to avoid dangers to faith? Have I been always strong and fearless in professing my faith in God and the Church? Have I been willing to be known as a Christian in private and public life?
• Have I prayed morning and evening? When I pray, do I really raise my mind and heart to God or is it a matter of words only? Do I offer God my difficulties, my joys, and my sorrows? Do I turn to God in time of temptation?
• Have I love and reverence for God’s name? Have I offended him in blasphemy, swearing falsely, or taking His name in vain? Have I shown disrespect for the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints?
• Do I keep Sundays and feast days holy by taking a full part, with attention and devotion, in the liturgy, and especially in the Mass? Have I fulfilled the precept of annual confession and of communion during the Easter season?
• Are there false gods that I worship by giving them greater attention and deeper trust than I give God: money, superstition, spiritism, or other occult practices?

The Lord says: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

• Have I a genuine love for my neighbors? Or do I use them for my own ends, or do to them what I would not want done to myself? Have I given grave scandal by my words or actions?
• In my family life, have I contributed to the well-being and happiness of the rest of the family by patience and genuine love? Have I been obedient to parents, showing them proper respect and giving them help in their spiritual and material needs? Have I been careful to give a Christian upbringing to my children, and to help them by good example and exercising authority as a parent. Have I been faithful to my husband (wife) in my heart and in my relations with others?
• Do I share my possessions with the less fortunate? Do I do my best to help the victims of oppression, misfortune, and poverty? Or do I look down on my neighbor, especially the poor, the sick, the elderly, strangers and people of other races?
• Does my life reflect the mission I received in confirmation? Do I share in the apostolic and charitable works of the Church and in the life of my parish? Have I helped to meet the needs of the Church and of the world and prayed for them: for unity in the Church, for the spread of the Gospel among the nations, for peace and justice, etc.?
• Am I concerned with the good and prosperity of the human community in which I live, or do I spend my life caring only for myself? Do I share to the best of my ability in the work of promoting justice, morality, harmony and love in human relations? Have I done my duty as a citizen by obeying just laws and paying my taxes?
• In my work or profession am I just, hard-working, honest, serving society out of love for others? Have I paid a fair wage to my employees? Have I been faithful to my promises and contracts?
• Have I obeyed legitimate authority and given it due respect?
• Have I been truthful and fair, or have I injured others by deceit, calumny, detraction, rash judgment, or violation of a secret?
• Have I done violence to others by damaging life or limb, reputation, honor, or material possessions? Have I involved them in loss? Have I been responsible for advising an abortion or procuring one? Have I kept up hatred for others? Am I estranged from others through quarrels, enmity, insults, anger? Have I been guilty of refusing to testify to the innocence of another because of selfishness?
• Have I stolen property of others? Have I desired it unjustly and inordinately? Have I damaged it? Have I made restitution of other people’s property and made good their loss?
• If I have been injured, have I been ready to make peace for the love of Christ and to forgive, or do I harbor hatred and the desire for revenge?

Christ our Lord says: “Be perfect as your Father is perfect.”

• Where is my life really leading me? Is the hope of eternal life my inspiration? Have I tried to grow in the life of the Spirit through prayer, reading the word of God and meditating on it, receiving the sacraments, self-denial? Have I been anxious to control my vices, my bad inclinations and passions (e.g., envy, love of good and drink)? Have I been proud and boastful, thinking myself better in the sight of God and despising others as less important than myself? Have I imposed my own will on others, without respecting their freedom and rights?
• What use have I made of time, of heath and strength, of the gifts God has given me to be used like the talents in the Gospel? Do I use them to become more perfect every day? Or have I been lazy and too much given to leisure?
• Have I been patient in accepting the sorrows and disappointments of life? How have I performed mortification so as to “fill up what is wanting to the sufferings of Christ”? Have I kept the precept of fasting and abstinence?
• Have I kept my senses and my whole body pure and chaste as a temple of the Holy Spirit consecrated for resurrection and glory, and as a sign of God’s faithful love for men and women, a sign that is seen most perfectly in the Sacrament of Matrimony? Have I dishonored my body by fornication, impurity, unworthy conversation or thoughts, pornography, evil desires, or actions? Have I given in to sensuality? Have I indulged in reading, conversation, shows, or entertainments that offend against Christian and human decency? Have I encouraged others to sin by my own failure to maintain these standards? Have I been faithful to the moral law in my married life?
• Have I gone against my conscience out of fear or hypocrisy?
• Have I always tried to act in the true freedom of the sons and daughters of God according to the law of the Spirit or am I the slave of forces within me?