I found a copied booklet of an old Examination of Conscience in the things I save for later use. If anyone can identify the author, please let me know. The help given to examine one's conscience with regards to loving our neighbor is invaluable, as you can see:
- Have I been unkind towards others?
- Have I hurt others by my flare-ups of anger or impatience?
- Have I made cutting, sarcastic remarks to others?
- Have I permitted uncharitable talk to go on in my presence without an effort to change the subject?
- Have I insisted upon my own opinion, to the offense of others?
- Was I bent on "getting even" and taking petty revenge?
- Have I been inclined to throw the blame on others?
- Have I told my friends the unkind remarks others made about the, thus fomenting ill-will?
- Have I allowed myself to give in to uncharitable thoughts and suggestions?
- Have I attributed bad motives to others when I could not be certain of their intentions?
- Have I harbored suspicions of others for a long time?
- Have I nursed resentment against others, even though I did make an effort at forgiveness?
- Have I allowed my sensitive towards to others around me?
- Have I failed to try to make others happy and comfortable by giving in to morose, gloomy, selfish moods?
- Have I contributed to the venial sins of others by unreasonably teasing or annoying them?
- Have I lessened the fear of sin in others by thoughtlessly making light of some sin?
- Have I always shielded the good name of others?
- Have I led others into venial sin by suggestion or bad example?
- Because I did not like others, did I refuse to cooperate with them in work we were given to do?
Sufficient matter for mortal sin:
- Have I persistently refused in my heart to forgive a person who has injured me?
- Have I, over a considerable period of time, refused to talk to or acknowledge someone who has wronged me?
- Do I live in enmity and hatred of someone?
- Have I grievously slandered others, i.e., attributed serious sins to them which they did not commit, or of which I had no evidence?
Meekness:
- Have I taken part in petty quarrels and bitter arguments?
- Have I given in to sudden spurts of anger by harsh words, by calling names, by abusive language?
- Have I shown dislike or antipathy for others by snubbing them, by being sarcastic toward them, or by unkindness?
- Have I given in to moods of sullenness and moroseness towards others?
- Have I shown sensitiveness and hurt feelings over trifling matters?
- Have I talked back peevishly when justly corrected?
- Have I teased others until I made them angry?
- Have I, through jealousy of others, deliberately tried to destroy a good work that they were doing or to hamper it seriously?
Humility:
- Have I been guilty of the form of pride called vanity, by considering myself more intelligent, more learned, more handsome, even more charitable than others? Have I thought highly of my own "humility"?
- Have I bragged about my accomplishments, my virtues, my abilities?
- Have I given in to anger against others because I thought myself better than they and that they should show better than to cross me?
- Have I shown my pride in the form of sensitiveness, resentment, pouting, peevishness? Have I been envious of others?
- Have I shown my pride in constant disobedience in small things or by stubbornness and disrespectful language to those who had a right to my obedience?
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ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this, sister Esther. In the next few weeks, the RCIA class will be learning about the Sacraments. It will help me to show the catechumens and candidates how beautiful and important this great sacrament is.
ReplyDeleteWe talked about misperceptions of the Church this past Monday and this subject came up. I pray that God will use me to show the students not to be afraid of this Sacrament. I couldn't go into too much depth because of the lesson plan, but I told them to think of it like this:
Imagine if there were no mirrors in the world. You couldn't look yourself in the eye and with the grace of God see your pain and suffering. I asked them to imagine how the world would be like. Then I went on to say that an examination of conscience is like looking into a mirror where we face ourselves, see our wounds, and go to the Doctor for His infinite mercies.
I hope that sufficed for the class until we hit the lesson on Sacraments.
Carl, what a great way of explaining it to your students! Thanks for sharing.
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