Please provide examples of Examination of Conscience

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Tommy999

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Hello all,
I am non-Catholic Christian who feels I could benefit from doing periodic examinations of conscience that I assume practicing Catholics do on a regular basis in preparation for the sacrament of Confession/Reconciliation. The problem is that I have never done an examination of conscience before, and I was hoping someone could provide some practical guidelines on how this is done. I would greatly appreciate it.

I usually confess my sins to God right after I do them and feel convicted of them, especially in the case of the more serious ones. It’s just that I have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and I am afraid I may have forgotten some sins – and I sometimes finish a prayer by asking the Lord to forgive me of those sins that I can’t remember – but I don’t like doing this because I don’t want to downplay or minimize these sins.

I was hoping for some tips on doing an examination of conscience from Catholics who do this on a regular basis to help me to become more efficient and disciplined when it comes to my prayer life in the area of remembering and confessing sins and hopefully help me not to commit them again in the first place.Thanks! :tiphat:
 
The Fathers of Mercy put out a great pamphlet with an examination of conscience. It has a list of questions to review to help you identify your sins. It also has preparatory/post confession prayers, the ten commandments, the virtues, works of mercy, the beatitudes, and the capital sins.

You can download it for free from this link on the Fathers of Mercy website.
 
Because others have posted examples of ECs already, I’ll address other parts of your post. 🙂
Tommy999 said:
I have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and I am afraid I may have forgotten some sins – and I sometimes finish a prayer by asking the Lord to forgive me of those sins that I can’t remember – but I don’t like doing this because I don’t want to downplay or minimize these sins.
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It is, of course, laudable to confess all our sins since the previous confession, but we are human and sometimes (often?) a few will slip our minds. God understands this. Do make your best effort, but don’t beat yourself up if you forget some of your sins. You can ask forgiveness for those the next time you seek God’s pardon.

Note also that many Catholics, including me, append their confessed sins by asking forgiveness for those we may have forgotten.
Tommy999 said:
I was hoping for some tips on doing an examination of conscience from Catholics who do this on a regular basis to help me to become more efficient and disciplined when it comes to my prayer life in the area of remembering and confessing sins and hopefully help me not to commit them again in the first place.Thanks! :tiphat:
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Examine your conscience often. I know Catholics who confess weekly but examine their consciences daily, for example. Reviewing the events of the day just before going to bed every evening provides an opportunity to identify sin committed regularly before it becomes entrenched (habitual) and thus more difficult to overcome. It can also help us see clearly situations in which we are likely to commit sin(s) and determine if and to what extent these situations are avoidable…and how to handle ourselves in them if they are not.

Frequent, regular examination of conscience also helps us not to forget sins we have committed. The longer I go between confessions, the more I have to remember to confess. I imagine it would be similar for you, even though you do not seek sacramental Confession. Still, I think that increasing the frequency with which you ask God for His forgiveness for your sins would decrease the possibility that you’ll accidentally leave any of them out.

If you intend to examine your conscience daily, I don’t recommend using an EC that is too long. The one I use in all circumstances (meaning whether or not I’m preparing for imminent Confession) fits on three 3x6-inch/7.5x15cm pages, 43 lines per page. I have seen ECs that cover both sides of a legal-sized sheet of paper with minuscule print. Personally, I couldn’t review all that every day. YMMV, however.

Examine your conscience, but do not “grill” it. This is not a police interrogation, and God doesn’t want us to live our lives dissecting our actions over every moment of every day, completely paralysed by the fear of offending Him.

I hope this helps. God bless. 🙂
 
UpUpAndAway said:
Because others have posted examples of ECs already, I’ll address other parts of your post. 🙂

It is, of course, laudable to confess all our sins since the previous confession, but we are human and sometimes (often?) a few will slip our minds. God understands this. Do make your best effort, but don’t beat yourself up if you forget some of your sins. You can ask forgiveness for those the next time you seek God’s pardon.

Note also that many Catholics, including me, append their confessed sins by asking forgiveness for those we may have forgotten.

Examine your conscience often. I know Catholics who confess weekly but examine their consciences daily, for example. Reviewing the events of the day just before going to bed every evening provides an opportunity to identify sin committed regularly before it becomes entrenched (habitual) and thus more difficult to overcome. It can also help us see clearly situations in which we are likely to commit sin(s) and determine if and to what extent these situations are avoidable…and how to handle ourselves in them if they are not.

Frequent, regular examination of conscience also helps us not to forget sins we have committed. The longer I go between confessions, the more I have to remember to confess. I imagine it would be similar for you, even though you do not seek sacramental Confession. Still, I think that increasing the frequency with which you ask God for His forgiveness for your sins would decrease the possibility that you’ll accidentally leave any of them out.

If you intend to examine your conscience daily, I don’t recommend using an EC that is too long. The one I use in all circumstances (meaning whether or not I’m preparing for imminent Confession) fits on three 3x6-inch/7.5x15cm pages, 43 lines per page. I have seen ECs that cover both sides of a legal-sized sheet of paper with minuscule print. Personally, I couldn’t review all that every day. YMMV, however.

Examine your conscience, but do not “grill” it. This is not a police interrogation, and God doesn’t want us to live our lives dissecting our actions over every moment of every day, completely paralysed by the fear of offending Him.

I hope this helps. God bless. 🙂
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I really liked your post, UpUpAndAway, and found it especially helpful and wise. I will endeavor to do an examination of conscience nightly as you suggest but will not try to overdo it to the point of becoming a police interrogation.

Thanks again to all who responded. May the Lord bless all of you.
 
Tommy999 said:
I really liked your post, UpUpAndAway, and found it especially helpful and wise. I will endeavor to do an examination of conscience nightly as you suggest but will not try to overdo it to the point of becoming a police interrogation.

Thanks again to all who responded. May the Lord bless all of you.
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You’re welcome. 🙂

I forgot one thing, possibly the most important: be honest about your behavior. It’s very easy and therefore common for us to relativise our faults and wrongdoings, sometimes to the point of concluding our sins are not sins at all. Some people go completely in the other direction and see sin where there is none. The correct balance between laxity and scrupulosity can be tricky to achieve. Nevertheless, it is the hallmark of a properly examined conscience.
 
What makes you think we don’t (like you) confess “straight to God”? We don’t go to a priest because we have a problem with confessing to God, but for us it’s both and not either or
 
adamhovey1988 said:
What makes you think we don’t (like you) confess “straight to God”? We don’t go to a priest because we have a problem with confessing to God, but for us it’s both and not either or
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I don’t see the phrase “straight to God” anywhere in the OP’s posts…? Nor do I see him at all suggesting what you seem to think he’s suggesting. :confused:
 
UpUpAndAway said:
You’re welcome. 🙂

I forgot one thing, possibly the most important: be honest about your behavior. It’s very easy and therefore common for us to relativise our faults and wrongdoings, sometimes to the point of concluding our sins are not sins at all. Some people go completely in the other direction and see sin where there is none. The correct balance between laxity and scrupulosity can be tricky to achieve. Nevertheless, it is the hallmark of a properly examined conscience.
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This is exactly my goal. 🙂 Achieving a proper balance is what I am shooting for. Laxity and scrupulosity are the two ditches I am trying to avoid on either side – with God’s help. At this point, I am a little on the lax side but I could see myself going too far the other way if I’m not careful.
 
adamhovey1988 said:
What makes you think we don’t (like you) confess “straight to God”? We don’t go to a priest because we have a problem with confessing to God, but for us it’s both and not either or
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Understood, Adam. I have nothing but respect for Catholicism, which is why I am here asking the Catholic community for advice in the first place. By revealing an area of weakness in my spiritual life I am vulnerable to being ridiculed, but that is a chance I willingly took in order to grow ever closer to Christ, which is my overriding goal.

By the way, I have no qualms with Catholics going to the sacrament of confession – I consider it a healing way of knowing for sure your sins are forgiven that I don’t currently enjoy in my faith tradition. I assume it also provides a level of accountability and coaching that might help someone from repeating the same sin over and over by having a human representative of Christ to answer to, but that’s just my opinion from the outside looking in.
 
The Evening Review

with Fr. James Kubicki, SJ

You can find it on Youtube.
 
Excellent question OP. And thanks to those who responded with links to resources. I use the EC in St Augustine’s Prayer Book. It’s lengthy, but feel it’s very effective for me. I’m Anglican and our priest hears confession weekly or by appointment. Though you may have heard it before, the Anglican tradition of the sacrament of confession is generally “All may, none must, some should.”
 
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