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Examination of Conscience
based on the Ten Commandments

Winding Roads

The First Commandment

  • Have I performed my duties toward God reluctantly or grudgingly?

  • Did I neglect my prayer life? Did I recite my usual prayers?

  • Did I fail to mention some grave sin in a previous confession?

  • Did I seriously believe in something superstitious or engage in a superstitious practice (palm-reading or fortune telling, for instance)?

  • Did I seriously doubt a matter of Faith?

  • Did I recklessly endanger my faith by reading a book, website, pamphlet, or magazine that contains material contrary to Catholic Faith or morals?

  • Have I committed the sin of sacrilege (profanation of a sacred person, place, or thing)?

Winding Roads
Dry Flowers

The Second Commandment

  • Have I tried my best to fulfill the promises and resolutions that I made to God?

  • Did I take the name of God in vain? Did I make use of God's name mockingly, jokingly, angrily, or in any other irreverent manner? 

  • Did I make use of the Blessed Virgin Mary's name or another saint's name mockingly, jokingly, angrily, or in any other irreverent manner?

  • Have I received communion in a non-Catholic ecclesial community?

Afternoon Light

  • Did I miss Mass on a Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation?

  • Did I fail to dress appropriately for Mass?

  • Have I, without sufficient reason, arrived at Mass late? Did I arrive so late that I failed to fulfill the obligation to attend Mass on a Sunday or Holy Day of Obligation?

  • Did I receive Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin or without the necessary preparation?

  • Did I violate the one-hour Eucharistic fast?

  • Did I allow myself to be distracted during Mass by not paying attention, looking around out of curiosity, etc.?

  • Did I cause another person to be distracted at Mass?

  • Have I performed any activity that would inhibit the worship due to God, the joy proper to the Lord's Day, or the appropriate relaxation of mind and body, on a Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation?

  • Did I fail to help generously the Church in her necessities to the extent that I am able?

  • Did I fail to fast or abstain on a day prescribed by the Church?

The Third
Commandment

The Fourth 
Commandment

  • Did I disobey my parents?

  • Did I neglect to help my parents when my help was needed?

  • Did I treat my parents with little affection or respect?

  • Did I react proudly when I was corrected by my parents?

  • Did I have an excessive desire for independence?

  • Did I do my chores?

Sunrise on Nature

The Fifth 
Commandment

  • Did I easily become angry or lose my temper?

  • Did I purposefully or carelessly injure anyone? Did I drive recklessly?

  • Was I an occasion of sin for others by way of conversation, telling offensive jokes, dressing immodestly, sharing harmful books or magazines, helping someone to steal, etc.? Did I try to repair the scandal done?

  • How many people did I lead to sin? What sin or sins were involved?

  • Did I neglect my health?

  • Did I attempt to take my life?

  • Did I get drunk or use prohibited drugs?

  • Did I eat or drink more than a sufficient amount, allowing myself to get carried away by and commit gluttony?

  • Did I participate in any form of malicious, physical violence?

  • Did I consent to, advise, or actively take part in an abortion?

  • Did I cause harm to anyone with my words or actions?

  • Did I desire revenge or harbour enmity, hatred, or ill-feelings against someone who offended me?

  • Did I ask pardon whenever I offended anyone? 

  • Did I insult or offensively tease others?

  • Did I quarrel with one of my brothers or sisters?

River

The Sixth & Ninth 
Commandments

  • Did I willfully entertain impure thoughts?

  • Did I consent to evil desires against the virtue of purity, even thought I may not have carried them out?

  • Did I look at pornography on the internet, in magazines, or in other formats?

  • Did I engage in impure conversations? Did I start them?

  • Did I look for fun in forms of entertainment that placed me in proximate occasions of sin, such as certain dances, movies, shows, or books with immoral content? Did I frequent houses of ill-repute or keep bad company?

  • ​Did I fail to take care of those details of modesty and decency that are the safeguards of purity?

  • Did I realize that I might already have been committing a sin by placing myself in a proximate occasion of sin, such as sharing a room with a person I find sexually attractive, or being alone with such a person in circumstances that could lead to sin?

  • Did I willfully look at an indecent picture or cast an immodest look upon myself or another? Did I willfully desire to commit such a sin?

  • Did I lead others to sins of impurity or immodesty? What sins?

  • Did I commit an impure act? By myself, through masturbation (objectively a mortal sin)? With someone else?

  • Do I have friendships that are habitual occasions of sexual sins? Am I prepared to end them?

  • Did I engage in acts such as "petting," "necking," passionate kisses, or prolonged embrace?

  • Have I engaged in premarital sex?

Leaves

The Seventh & Tenth 
Commandments

  • Did I steal? How much money? Or how much was the object worth? Did I give it back, or at least have the intention of doing so?

  • Have I done or caused damage to another person's property? To what extent?

  • Did I unnecessarily spend beyond my means? Do I spend too much money because of vanity or caprice?

  • Do I give alms according to my capacity?

  • Was I envious of my neighbour's goods?

  • Did I neglect to pay my debts?

  • Did I knowingly accept stolen goods?

  • Did I desire to steal?

  • Did I give in to laziness or love of comfort rather than diligently work or study?

  • Was I greedy? Do I have an excessively materialistic view of life?

Hiking Trail

The Eighth 
Commandment

  • Did I lie? Did I repair any damage that may have resulted as  a consequence of lying?

  • Have I unjustly or rashly accused others?

  • Did I sin by detraction, that is, by revealing the faults of another person without necessity?

  • Did I sin by calumny, that is, by telling derogatory lies about another person?

  • Did I engage in gossip, backbiting, or tale-telling?

  • Did I reveal a secret without cause? 

  • Did I lie or provide misleading information in any official document or testimony?

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