AN EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE

1. I am the Lord your God. You shall not have other gods before me.

■ Do I seek to love God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength (Dt 6:5)? Do I put anything or anyone above God? Do I pray daily?

■ Have I made idols of things and have made them God in my life?

■ Have I received Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin?

■ Have I abused the Sacrament of Penance by lying to the priest or deliberately not confessing a mortal sin?

■ Have I denied a truth of the faith out of concern for the respect or opinion of others?

2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

■ Have I used God’s holy name irreverently?

■ Have I blasphemed God, the Church, Mary, the saints, or sacred places or things?

3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.

■ Do I try to keep Sunday as a day of prayer, rest, and relaxation, avoiding unnecessary work?

■ Have I deliberately come late or left early from Mass without a good reason?

4. Honor your father and your mother.

■ Do I honor and respect my parents?

■ Have I deliberately hurt my parents?

■ Do I treat my children with love and respect?

■ Do I support and care for the well-being of all family members?

■ Have I neglected family duties?

■ Do I honor and obey my lawful superiors?

5. You shall not kill.

■ Have I deliberately harmed anyone?

■ Have I had an abortion or encouraged an abortion?

■ Have I attempted suicide or seriously considered it?

■ Have I abused drugs or alcohol?

■ Have I led anyone to sin through bad example or through direct encouragement?

6. You shall not commit adultery.

For the married:

■ Am I faithful to my spouse in thought and action?

■ Have I used artificial contraception,✥ or been sterilized?

■ Was I married outside the Church without proper permission of the Church?

For those not married:

■ Have I engaged in sexual activity with anyone?

For all:

■ Have I deliberately viewed pornographic magazines, videos or internet websites?

■ Have I masturbated?

■ Have I used impure language or told impure jokes?

■ Do I dress modestly?

7. You shall not steal.

■ Have I stolen or accepted stolen goods?

■ Have I deliberately destroyed the property of others?

■ Have I cheated anyone of what I owe?

■ Do I gamble excessively?

■ Do I share what I have with the poor and the Church according to my means?

■ Have I pirated materials: videos, music, software?

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

■ Have I lied? Have I sworn falsely?

■ Have I plagiarized or been academically dishonest?

■ Have I gossiped? Have I revealed secrets or confidential

information without good reason?

■ Have I ruined the good name of others by spreading lies or maliciously revealing their faults and sins?

9. You shall not desire your neighbor’s wife.

■ Have I deliberately and consciously permitted sexual thoughts about anyone besides my spouse?

■ Do I guard my imagination and senses?

■ Have I watched shows, plays, pictures or movies that contain impure scenes with the deliberate intention of being aroused by them? Am I responsible about what I read?

10. You shall not desire your neighbor’s goods.

■ Am I envious of the possessions, abilities, talents, beauty, or success of others?

■ Do I love my neighbor? Is there anyone whom I do not love or refuse to love. 

■ Do I forgive from my heart those who have hurt me? Do I harbor hatred or grudges? Do I pray for my enemies?

■ Have I ridiculed or humiliated others?

■ Do I seek to help others in need?

■ Do I love myself as God loves me? Do I care for my physical, emotional, and spiritual health?

   Do I forgive myself for my sins after bringing them to God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation?

■ Have I deliberately missed Mass on a Sunday or Holy Day of obligation without a serious reason?

■ Do I go to confession at least once a year when I have serious sins to confess?

■ Do I receive Holy Communion, at least once during the Easter season?

■ Do I take part in the major feasts celebrating Our Lord, the Virgin Mary, and the saints?

■ Do I abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent (for ages 14 and over) and fast on one full meal on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (for ages 18-59)? Do I fast for one hour before Holy Communion (water and medicine allowed)?

■ Do I contribute sufficiently to the best of my abilities to support the material needs of the Church?

ACT OF CONTRITION

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended

you, and I detest all my sins because of

your just punishments, but most of all because

they offend you, my God, who are all good and

deserving of all my love.I firmly resolve, with the

help of your grace, to sin no more and to avoid

the near occasions of sin.