Examination of Conscience Before Confession
Before Confession, find a quiet moment, ask the Holy Spirit for light with the prayer below or the Prayer Before Confession, and then go slowly through the Commandments, noting honestly where you have fallen short since your last confession. You don't need to read every line or fear the sins you can't recall: confess your mortal sins in kind and, as far as you can, in number, and trust the rest to God's mercy. Close with the prayer after examining, pray the Act of Contrition in the confessional, and afterward give thanks with the Prayer After Confession.
The Prayers
Prayer for Light Before Examining
O Lord God, who enlightenest every man who cometh into this world, enlighten my heart, I pray Thee, with the light of Thy grace, that I may fully know my sins, shortcomings, and negligences, and may confess them with that true sorrow and contrition of heart which I so much need. I desire to make full amends for all my sins, and to avoid them for the future to Thy honor and glory, and to the salvation of my soul, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Examination of Conscience by the Ten Commandments
This examination comes from a prayer book of 1889, so a few examples reflect the life of that time. Pass over what does not apply to you, and let the rest help you remember.
First Commandment
I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.
Sins against this Commandment are:
1. Those which detract from the honor and worship due to God, such as:
Neglect of prayer
Superstitious practices
Divination
Consulting fortune-tellers
Attaching undue importance to dreams, omens
Tempting God by exposing one's self to danger of soul, life, or health, without grave cause
Sacrilege
Profane or superstitious use of blessed objects
Profanation of places or things consecrated to God
Receiving the Holy Sacraments in a state of mortal sin
2. Those against Faith, such as:
Wilful doubt of any article of Faith
Reading or circulating books or writings against Catholic belief or practice
Joining in schismatical or heretical worship
Denying one's religion
Neglecting means of religious instruction
3. Those against Hope, such as:
Despair of God's mercy, or want of confidence in the power of His Grace to support us in trouble or temptation
Murmuring against God's providence
Presuming on God's mercy, or on the supposed efficacy of certain pious practices, in order to continue in sin
4. Those against Love of God, such as:
Wilfully rebellious thoughts against God
Boasting of sin
Violating God's law, or omitting good works, through human respect
Second Commandment
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Sins against this Commandment are:
All irreverence towards God's most Holy Name, such as:
Cursing and profane swearing
False, unlawful, and unnecessary oaths
Membership in societies condemned by the Church
Breaking or deferring lawful vows
Irreverence in Divine Service, and in churches and holy places even when service is not going on
Third Commandment
Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath-day.
Sins against this Commandment are:
Neglect to hear Mass on Sundays and Holydays of Obligation
Working or making others work without necessity on such days
Fourth Commandment
Honor thy father and thy mother.
Sins against this Commandment are:
For children:
All manner of anger or hatred against parents and other lawful superiors
Provoking them to anger
Grieving them
Insulting them
Neglecting them in their necessity
Contempt or disobedience of their lawful commands
For parents:
Hating their children
Cursing them
Giving scandal to them by cursing, drinking, etc.
Allowing them to grow up in ignorance, idleness, or sin
Showing habitual partiality, without cause
Deferring their children's Baptism
Neglecting to watch over their bodily health, their religious instruction, the company they keep, the books they read, etc.
Failing to correct them when needful
Being harsh or cruel in correction
For husbands and wives:
Ill-usage
Putting obstacles to the fulfilment of religious duties
Want of gentleness and consideration in regard to each other's faults
Unreasonable jealousy
Neglect of household duties
Sulkiness
Injurious words
For employers:
Not allowing one's domestics reasonable time for religious duties and instruction
Giving bad example to them, or allowing others to do so
Withholding their lawful wages
Not caring for them in sickness
Dismissing them arbitrarily and without cause
For the employed:
Disrespect to employers
Want of obedience in matters wherein one has bound one's self to obey
Waste of time
Neglect of work
Waste of employer's property, by dishonesty, carelessness, or neglect
For professional men and public officials:
Culpable lack of the knowledge relating to duties of office or profession
Neglect in discharging those duties
Injustice or partiality
Exorbitant fees
For teachers:
Neglecting the progress of those confided to their care
Unjust, indiscreet, or excessive punishment
Partiality
Bad example, loose and false maxims
For pupils:
Disrespect
Disobedience
Stubbornness
Idleness
Waste of time
For all:
Contempt for the laws of our State and Country, as well as of the Church
Disobedience to lawful authority
Fifth Commandment
Thou shalt not kill.
Sins against this Commandment are:
Unjust taking of human life (and hence, indirectly and implicitly, any violence of thought, word, or act which may lead thereto)
Exposing life or limb to danger without reasonable cause
Carelessness in leaving about poisons, dangerous drugs, weapons, etc.
Desires of revenge
Quarrels
Fights
Showing aversion or contempt for others
Refusing to speak to them when addressed
Ignoring offers of reconciliation, especially between relatives
Cherishing an unforgiving spirit
Raillery and ridicule
Insults
Irritating words and actions
Sadness at another's prosperity
Rejoicing over another's misfortune
Jealousy at attentions shown to others
Tyrannical behavior
Inducing others to sin by word or example
Gluttony
Drunkenness
Rash use of opiates
Injury to health by over-indulgence
Giving drink to others, knowing that they will abuse it
Sixth and Ninth Commandments
Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
The former forbids in action what the latter forbids in thought or desire. We shall not enter into details on this subject. It is a pitch which defiles. Those who sin against these two Commandments know it well; those who do not should pray God that they may never learn. It is sufficient to remind penitents that each and every act, if deliberate, contrary to the holy virtue of Purity, be it in thought or desire, in look, gesture, word, or deed, is a Mortal Sin, and as such must be mentioned in Confession intelligibly, yet modestly.
It will be further useful to remark that in regard to sins of this kind it is wrong to dwell too much on details; that we should be especially careful to take note of the avoidable occasions of our falls, and to direct our purpose of amendment to the keeping away from them, rather than to the making of vague, general resolutions about the future avoidance of the sin itself.
Seventh and Tenth Commandments
Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
Sins against these Commandments are:
Stealing (What value? What damage done to property or interests?)
Possession of ill-gotten goods
Exorbitant prices
False weights and measures
Cheating
Adulteration of wares
Careless or malicious injury to the property of others
Cheating at play
Appropriation of what is lent or found, without reasonable pains to return it, or to find its owner
Concealment of fraud, theft, or damage, when in duty bound to give information
Petty thefts
Culpable delay in paying lawful debts, or of restitution, when able to make it
Neglect to make reasonable efforts and sacrifices in this matter, e.g., by gradually laying up the amount required
Eighth Commandment
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Sins against this Commandment are:
Lying
Perjury
Frauds, public and private, such as at elections, etc.
Malicious falsehoods
Lies for unjust or bad ends
Lies against character, especially if told publicly
Revealing secrets
Publishing discreditable secrets about others, even if true
Refusing or delaying to restore the good name we have blackened
Slander or detraction, and encouraging these in others
Baseless accusations, groundless suspicions, rash judgments of others, in our own mind
The Precepts of the Church
1. Have I neglected, without good reason, to hear Mass on Sundays and Holydays of Obligation, and to keep those days holy by avoiding all servile work?
2. Have I failed to fast or abstain, without sufficient reason, on those days commanded to be so observed by the Church?
3–4. Have I omitted to confess my mortal sins at least once a year, or to make my Easter duty?
5. Have I refused to contribute to the support of my Pastor, according to my means? Gone to Mass Sunday after Sunday, without giving anything to the collections?
6. Have I entered into marriage, or aided any one else to do so, without banns, or before a State official or a Protestant minister; or without dispensation within the forbidden degrees of kindred; or with any other known impediment?
After Examining: A Prayer for Mercy
O my God, I cry unto Thee with the prodigal: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee; I am no longer worthy to be called Thy Son. I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost. O seek Thy servant, for I have not forgotten Thy commandments. Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, O Lord. O spare me for Thy mercy's sake. Prove me, O God, and know my heart; examine me, and know my paths. Thou whose property is always to have mercy and to spare, O meet me in pity, embrace me in love, and forgive me all my sin. I confess my sins unto Thee, O Christ, Healer of our souls, O Lord of Life. Heal me, heal me of my spiritual sickness, Thou who art long-suffering and of tender mercy; heal me, O Lord Christ. Accept my supplications, O Thou Holy Spirit, unto whom every heart is open, every desire known, and from whom no secret is hid, and who givest life to our souls; hear and answer, O Spirit of God. O Heavenly Father, who willest not that any sinner should perish, give me true repentance for this my sin, that I perish not! To what misery am I come by my own fault! O merciful God, pity and forgive me for Jesus' sake. Thine eyes, O God, are as a flame of fire searching my inmost heart. O pardon my sin, for it is great! Thou, God, seest me in all the foulness of my sins! Blessed Jesus, speak for me, plead for me, come between my soul and my offended God, that I perish not. Amen.
Here may be said the Miserere (Psalm 51), or any of the Penitential Psalms.
Saints of mercy and repentance: St. Alphonsus Liguori, named patron of confessors and moral theologians by Pope Pius XII in 1950, and St. Peter, who denied the Lord three times, wept bitterly, and was forgiven and made the shepherd of His flock.
See also: Act of Contrition, Prayer Before Confession, Prayer After Confession, Evening Examination of Conscience Prayer, Confiteor, Come, Holy Spirit, and Psalm 51 (Miserere).
Source: the prayer for light, the examination, and the prayer after examining are from A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (1889; copyright 1888), pages 276 and 278–283, public domain. The Commandments are quoted from the same book (page 20). Punctuation is lightly modernized, and the examples, which the book runs together with dashes, are set out as lists. A few small edits: the older name of one theological virtue is given as “love of God,” an obvious misprint is corrected, and the book’s page cross-references, a closing reference to its own page of Penitential Psalms, and one dated 19th-century item about schools are left out.
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