Examination of Conscience for Confession

First Commandment Sins which detract from the honor and worship due to God:

Have I been negligent in the worship of God, seldom or never adoring and praising Him, or giving Him thanks; praying but little or with little attention?	How long has this negligence continued?
Have I neglected to make acts of faith, hope, or love of God; have I neglected to say my morning and evening prayers?	How long has this negligence continued?
Was I culpably distracted in my prayers or have I disturbed and distracted others in their prayers?	How often?
Have I given up prayer when it seemed difficult and uninviting?	How often?
Have I been guilty of superstitious practices; divination; consulted fortune-tellers; attached undue importance to dreams, omens; taken part in the worship of satan and occult practices?	How often?
Have I tempted God by exposing myself to danger of soul, life, or health, without grave cause?	How often?
Have I forgotten through negligence in examining my conscience or purposefully concealed any mortal sins in my confessions?	This would invalidate your confession. All mortal sins would have to be confessed again since your last good confession.
Have I been guilty of Sacrilege by receiving any sacrament in a state of mortal sin (Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Communion etc)?	How often and which sacraments?
Have I profaned or superstitiously used blessed objects; have I profaned places or things consecrated to God?	How often?
Have I confessed my sins without contrition?	This would invalidate your confession. All mortal sins would have to be confessed again since your last good confession.
Have neglected to perform the penance I received in confession or said it with willful distractions?	How often?
Have I relapsed into habitual sins soon after confession or neglected the good counsel of my confessor?	How soon and how often?
Have attempted a second marriage when bound by a valid first marriage--this applies to the accomplice as well, joined a secrete society, desecrated the Holy Eucharist or procured an abortion etc.?	These sins incur an automatic excommunication (latae sententiae).
Have I formally left the Catholic Church for another religion (Apostacy), or married in another religion?	These sins incur an automatic excommunication (latae sententiae).
Have I after falling into mortal sin, neglected for a long time to turn to God by repentance?	For how long a time?
Have I exposed myself to the evident danger of mortal sin (occasion of sin)?	How often and of what sin?
Have I been guilty of malice--a deliberate choice of evil?	How often and of what sin?
Have I abused Holy Scriptures or scoffed at holy things?	How often?

Those against Faith:

Have I willfully doubted any article of Faith which the Church has set forth to be believed by the faithful (heresy)?	How often?
Have I read or circulated books, videos or writings against Catholic belief or practice?	How often?
Have I joined in schismatic or heretical worship (Protestant, Jewish, Islamic or interfaith)?	How often?
Have I neglected or refused to learn of the Articles of my Catholic Creed or the Commandments which I am bound to know?	For how long a time?
Have I joined any forbidden societies or groups such as the Freemasons, Communists, Planned Parenthood, and organization promoting homosexual marriage etc.?	How often have I financially supported these groups or attended meetings?
Have I denied the existence of God or pretended to be indifferent as to God's existence or the necessity of the Catholic Faith for salvation?--(Indifferentism is the sinful belief that one religion is as good as another).	How often?
Have I been slow in trying to banish or overcome doubts against faith?	How often?
Have I loved someone or something more than God (ex. fornication, adultery, money, friends or family that are an occasions of sin etc)?	How long have I have been in this way?
Have I made arrangements upon my death for my body to be cremated?	You must either before or after confession undue these arrangements.
Have I denied my religion in word or deed, or played the coward by not defended it when under attack?	How often?

Those against Hope:

Have I deferred confession, penance and amendment of life?	How long have I been in the way?
Have I despaired of salvation or God's mercy; have I lacked confidence in the power of His Grace to support us in trouble or temptation?	How often?
Have I presumed on God's mercy, or on the supposed efficacy of certain pious practices, in order to continue in sin?	How long have I been in this way?
Have I murmured against God's providence?	How often?
Have I been unwilling to accept the will of God and believe firmly in His providence in the sorrows of my life?	How often?
Have I been overanxious in regard to my health?	How often?
Have I permitted myself to worry excessively over material setbacks and external difficulties, as if God did not know them and could not help me?	How often?
Have I permitted discouragement to take possession of my heart because of my frequent faults or my lack of progress in virtue?	How often?
Have I brooded over my past sins giving in half-voluntarily to the fear that they might not be forgiven?	How often?

Those against Charity:

Have I entertained at heart or shown by outward actions contempt for God, His Church and her teaching, or anger at His Fatherly judgements?	How often?
Have I boasted of sin and thus been a source of scandal to others?	How often?
Have I sinned openly or persisted obstinately in public sins (such as concubinage, adultery and fornication) to the scandal of others?	The gravity of scandal is increased by the number as well as the innocence of those scandalized--example children?
Have I failed to repair the injury thus inflicted by scandal to all involved?	For how long?
Have I violated God's law, or omitted good works, through human respect?	How often?

**The circumstances of scandal is generally found in all sins that are known to others by reason of the force of ill-example, which encourages others to sin.

Index

1st Commandments	2nd Commandments	3rd Commandments	4th Commandments
5th Commandments	6th & 9th Commandments	7th and 10th Commandments	8th Commandments

The Seven Deadly Sins etc.

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