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"Examination of Conscience"-- Sing Along to "Change My Heart"
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Change my heart, O God,
Make it ever true;
Change my heart, O God,
May I be like You. _______________________________________ Change my heart, O God,
Make it ever true;
Change my heart, O God,
May I be like You. ________________________________________ You are the Potter,
I am the clay;
Mold me and make me,
This is what I pray. ________________________________________ Change my heart, O God
Make it ever true;
Change my heart, O God,
May I be like You. ________________________________________ You are the Potter,
I am the clay;
Mold me and make me,
This is what I pray. ________________________________________ Change my heart, O God
Make it ever true;
Change my heart, O God,
May I be like You. (KEEP REPEATING) ________________________________________ "EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE:"
THE LORD SAYS; "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART."
1. Is my heart set 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?
2. God spoke to us in His Son. Is my faith in God firm and secure? 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? Have I been willing to be known as a Christian in private and public life?
3. 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?
4. Have I love and reverence for God's name? Have I offended Him in blasphemy, swearing falsely, or taking His name in vain?
5. Do I keep Sundays holy?
6. Are there false gods that I worship by giving them greater attention and deeper trust than I give to God: money, superstition, spiritism, or other occult practices?
THE LORD SAYS; "LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU."
1. 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?
2. 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 by exercising authority as a parent? Have I been faithful to my husband (wife) in my heart and in my relations with others?
3. 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?
4. 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.?
5. Am I concerned for 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? Have I paid my taxes?
6. 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?
7. Have I obeyed legitimate authority and given it due respect?
8. If I am in a position of responsibility or authority, do I use this for my own advantage or for the good of others, in a spirit of service?
9. Have I been truthful and fair, or have I injured others by deceit, calumny (false slander), detraction, rash judgement, or violation of a secret?
10. Have I done violence to others by damage to 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?
11. Have I stolen the 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?
12. 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."
1. 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 communion, practicing self-denial? Have I been anxious to control my vices, my bad inclinations and passions, e.g., envy, love of food 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?
2. What use have I made of time, of health 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?
3. Have I been patient in accepting the sorrows and disappointments of life? How have I performed self-discipline and self-denial so as to "fill up what is wanting to the sufferings of Christ"? Have I kept the precept of fasting and abstinence?
4. 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 matrimony? Have I dishonored my body for fornication, impurity, unworthy conversation or thoughts, evil desires, or actions? Have I given in to sensuality? Have I indulged in reading, conversation, shows, and 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 of God according to the law of the Spirit or am I the slave of forces within me?
____________________________________________________ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE "EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE":
If possible, prepare yourself for confession with regularity, not allowing too much time to pass. Prepare your confession in a climate of prayer, responding to these questions under the gaze of God, seeing Him as the one you can go to for help to progress more quickly along the path of the Lord.
"You shall not have other gods besides Me" (Deuteronomy 5:7). "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). Do I love God like this? Do I give Him the first place in my life? Do I eagerly reject all idols that could get between Him and me, be it money, pleasure, superstition, or power? Do I listen with faith to His Word? Do I persevere in prayer?
"You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain" (Deuteronomy 5:11). Do I respect the holy name of God? Do I abuse Him in my references to Him, offending Him, or making use of Him, instead of serving Him? Do I bless God in each one of my actions? Do I surrender myself without reserve to His will for me, trusting entirely in Him? Do I entrust myself with humility and confidence to the guidance and teaching of the pastors which the Lord has given to his Church? Do I make an effort to go deeper in and strengthen my life of faith?
"Take care to keep holy the Sabbath day as the Lord, your God, commanded you" (Deuteronomy 5: 12-15). Do I make Sunday the center of my week, beginning with the most important moment, the celebration of the Eucharist? Do I use it, and the other days consecrated to the Lord, to praise and give thanks to God, to entrust myself to him and take rest in him? Do I participate faithfully and actively in the liturgy, preparing myself beforehand with prayer, and making the effort to obtain its fruits during the entire week? Do I sanctify the holy day with some act of love toward the needy?
"Honor your father and your mother" (Deuteronomy 5:16). Do I love and respect those who have given me life? Do I make the effort to understand and help them, above all in their weaknesses and limits?
"Thou shalt not kill" (Deuteronomy 5:17). Do I make the effort to respect and promote life in all of its stages and aspects? Do I do everything in my power to promote the good of the others? Have I done evil to someone with the explicit intention of doing it? "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). How do I live charity toward my neighbor? Am I attentive and available, above all with the poorest and weakest? Do I love myself, knowing how to accept my limits under the gaze of God?
"You shall not commit impure acts" (cf. Deuteronomy 5:18). "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife" (Deuteronomy 5:21). Am I chaste in thoughts and actions? Do I make the effort to love with gratitude, free of the temptation to possess or be jealous? Do I always respect the dignity of the human person? Do I treat my body and the bodies of others as a temple of the Holy Spirit?
"You shall not steal" (Deuteronomy 5:19). "You shall not desire your neighbor's goods" (Deuteronomy 5:21). Do I respect the goods of creation? Am I honest in my work and in my relations with my neighbor? Do I respect the fruit of others' labor? Am I envious of the goods of the others? Do I make an effort to make others happy, or do I only think of myself?
"You shall not bear dishonest witness against your neighbor" (Deuteronomy 5:20). Am I sincere and loyal in each word and action? Do I always speak only the truth? Do I try to give confidence and act in a way that inspires confidence in the others?
Do I make an effort to follow the example of Christ in my life of surrender to God and my neighbor? Do I try to be like Him: humble, poor and chaste?
Do I faithfully find the Lord in the sacraments, in fellowship, and in service to the poor? Do I live with hope in eternal life, seeing each thing under the light of God, always trusting in His promises?