My Dear Friends,
As we begin Passiontide and are two weeks away from Easter, I urge all of you to make a good Lenten confession, if you have not already done so, before Holy Thursday. Elsewhere in this bulletin, you will find the Holy Week Schedule plus a specialized schedule with all the times we have for confessions these last two weeks of Lent. Our goal is to have all our parishioners confessed by the time the Holy Triduum begins on Holy Thursday so we can enter in the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord with hearts made pure. Herein is a good Examination of Conscience to aid you in making that good Lenten confession.
God bless you all,
Examination of Conscience
1) I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before me.
Do I give God time every day in prayer? Do I seek to love Him with my whole heart? Have I been involved with superstitious practices, or have I been involved with the occult? Do I seek to surrender myself to God´s word as taught by the Church? Have I ever received communion in the state of mortal sin? Have I ever deliberately told a lie in Confession, or have I withheld a mortal sin from the priest in Confession? Are there other “gods” in my life? Money, Security, Power, People, etc.?
2) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Have I used God´s name in vain: lightly or carelessly? Have I been angry with God? Have I wished evil upon any other person? Have I insulted a sacred person or abused a sacred object?
3) Remember to keep holy the Lord´s Day.
Have I deliberately missed Mass on Sundays or Holy Days of Obligation? Have I tried to observe Sunday as a family day and a day of rest? Do I do needless work on Sunday? Do I make Mass the center of my day and of my family’s activities on Sunday?
4) Honor your father and your mother.
Do I honor and obey my parents? Have I neglected my duties to my spouse and children? Have I given my family a good religious example? Do I try to bring peace into my home life? Do I care for my aged and infirm relatives?
5) You shall not kill.
Have I had an abortion or encouraged or helped anyone to have an abortion? Have I physically harmed anyone? Have I abused alcohol or drugs? Did I give scandal to anyone, thereby leading him or her into sin? Have I been angry or resentful? Have I harbored hatred in my heart? Have I mutilated myself through any form of sterilization? Have I encouraged or condoned sterilization? Have I engaged, in any way, in sins against human life such as artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization? Have I participated in or approved of euthanasia?
6) You shall not commit adultery.
Have I been faithful to my marriage vows in thought and action? Have I engaged in any pre-marital or extra-marital sexual activity? Have I used any method of contraception or artificial birth control in my marriage? Has each sexual act in my marriage been open to the transmission of new life? Have I been guilty of masturbation? Have I viewed pornography? Have I been guilty of any homosexual
activity? Do I seek to be chaste in my thoughts, words, actions? Am I careful to dress modestly? Have I married or advised someone to marry outside the Catholic Church?
7) You shall not steal.
Have I stolen what is not mine? Have I returned or made restitution for what I have stolen? Do I waste time at work, school, and home? Do I gamble excessively, thereby denying my family of their needs? Do I pay my debts promptly? Do I seek to share what I have with the poor? Have I cheated anyone out of what is justly theirs, for example creditors, insurance companies, big corporations?
8) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Have I lied? Have I gossiped? Do I speak badly of others behind their back? Am I sincere in my dealings with others? Am I critical, negative or uncharitable in my thoughts of others? Do I keep secret what should be kept confidential? Have I injured the reputation of others by slanders?
9) You shall not desire your neighbor´s wife.
Have I consented to impure thoughts? Have I caused them by impure reading, movies, television, conversation or curiosity? Do I pray at once to banish impure thoughts and temptations? Have I behaved in an inappropriate way with members of the opposite sex: flirting, being superficial, etc.?
10) You shall not desire your neighbor´s goods.
Am I jealous of what other people have? Do I envy the families or possessions of others? Am I greedy or selfish? Are material possessions the purpose of my life?