“ Confess therefore your sins one to another,” St. James 5:16. Footnote: [16] “Confess therefore your sins one to another”: That is, to the priests of the church, whom (ver. 14) he had ordered to be called for, and brought in to the sick; moreover, to confess to persons who had no power to forgive sins, would be useless. Hence the precept here means, that we must confess to men whom God hath appointed, and who, by their ordination and jurisdiction, have received the power of remitting sins in his name.
Therefore, let no one tell you, “I confess my sins straight to God.” That is not what the Bible says, plus, it cannot be found in the entire Bible when you do a search!
1 St. John: ”If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.” 1:9.
St. John chapter 20: “21 He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. 23 Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.” Now, let us examine our conscience.
Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins
6 STEPS FOR A GOOD CONFESSION
Examine your conscience – what sins have you committed since your last good confession.
Be sincerely sorry for your sins.
Confess your sins to the priest.
Make certain that you confess all your mortal sins and the number of them.
After your confession, do the penance the priest gives to you.
Pray daily for the strength to avoid the occasion of sin, especially for those sins you were just absolved from.
ACT OF CONTRITION
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
Amen.
FIRST COMMANDMENT
“I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before Me.” (Ex 20:2,3)
Did I doubt or deny that God exists?
Did I refuse to believe what God has revealed to us?
Did I believe in fortune telling, horoscopes, dreams, the occult, good-luck charms, tarot cards, palmistry, Ouija boards, yoga, seances, reincarnation?
Did I deny that I was Catholic? Am I a heretic?
Did I leave the Catholic Faith? Apostatize?
Did I give time to God each day in prayer?
Did I love God with my whole heart?
Did I despair of or presume on God’s mercy?
Did I have false gods in my life that I gave greater attention to than God, like money, sports, profession, drugs, TV, fame, pleasure, property, etc.? Do I give more time to my kid’s sports than to God, practice, games etc., while ignoring their instruction in the faith, frequent confession , Mass and Communion? How well do my children know their faith? How well do I know my faith?
SECOND COMMANDMENT
“You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain.” (Ex 20:7)
Did I blaspheme or insult God? Did I murmur against God?
Did I take God’s name carelessly or uselessly?
Did I curse, or break an oath or vow? Break my vow to my spouse? “For better or for worse…till death do us part? Did I separate our family without just cause? Divorce? Did I find me another man/ Woman? Adultery?
Did I get angry with God?Complain about things i don’t understand or don’t want to offer up?
THIRD COMMANDMENT
“Remember that you keep holy the Sabbath Day.” (Ex 20:8)
Did I miss Mass Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation through my own fault?
Did I come to Mass on time? Leave early, without necessity, walking out on Jesus without even talking to Him? Like Judas?
Did I do work on Sunday that was not necessary? Run a business, or manual labor unnecessarily? Sunday shopping? Mowing the grass? Etc.
Did I set aside Sunday as a day of rest and a family day?
Did I show reverence in the presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament? Sacred silence, Habaccuc 2:20 : Let everyone keep silence in the presence of the Lord. St. Jacinta of Fatima said, “Our Lady does not want us to talk in church.” Do I genuflect properly, with reverence?
FOURTH COMMANDMENT
“Honor your father and your mother.” (Ex 20:12) How do I treat my parents? Do I pray for them, and assist them as I can? Remember them after they’ve died? Masses for them? Rosaries?
Did I disobey or disrespect my parents or legitimate superiors?
Did I neglect my duties to my husband, wife, children or parents? Do I pray with my husband and children, e.g. family rosary etc? My duties to my children consist in most of all, teaching them their faith. Have I done that, or been neglectful? Sins of omission.
Did I neglect to give good religious example to my family? Do I always dress modestly? Do I avoid profanity, especially in front of my children? Do I avoid uncharitable talking of others? What about idle talk? St. Matthew 12: 36. What about idle time, wasting time? “Why stand you here idle all day long?” Watching tv, videos, etc, instead of praying or working. St. Alphonsus says we will have to give an account of how we used our time.
Did I fail to actively take an interest in the religious education and formation of my children? Do I instruct them in the faith? Do I know my faith so as to instruct them? Is their faith a priority before sports? When was the last time I took them to church to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament? When was the last time I took them to practice?
Did I fail to educate myself on the true teachings of the Church?
Did I give scandal by what I said or did, especially to the young?
Did I cause anyone to leave the faith?
Did I cause tension and fights in my family?
Did I care for my aged and infirm relatives?
Did I give a full day’s work for a full day’s pay?
Did I give a fair wage to my employees?
FIFTH COMMANDMENT
“You shall not kill.” (Ex 20:13)
Did I kill or physically injure anyone? Have I injured anyone by reckless driving?
Did I have an abortion, or advise someone else to have an abortion? (One who procures an abortion is automatically excommunicated, as is anyone who is involved in an abortion, Canon 1398. The excommunication will be lifted in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.) ‘’One who procures an abortion should do penance for the rest of their life.’’ – Council of Trent.
Did I use or cause my spouse to use birth control pills (whether or not realizing that birth control pills do abort the fetus if and when conceived? Do I realize that birth control pills are unhealthy, and can lead to breast cancer and other bodily harm? Have I birth controlled my children out of existence? God slew Onan for birth control, Gen. 38:10.
Did I practice Natural Family Planning without grave necessity? Do I realize that the first priority in marriage is the begetting of children? , Casti Connubii, Pope Pius XI.
Avoiding having any children at all. (What would you think of a farmer who planted his seed at a time of year he knew it wouldn’t grow)?
Did I attempt suicide?
Did I take part in or approve of “mercy killing” (euthanasia)?
Did I get angry, impatient, envious, unkind, proud, revengeful, jealous, hateful toward another, lazy?
Did I give bad example by drug abuse, drinking alcohol to excess, fighting, quarreling?
Did I abuse my children? Has my discipline been severe? Has my discipline been too lenient, pampering them?
SIXTH COMMANDMENT
“You shall not commit adultery.” (Ex 20:14) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.” (Ex 20:17)
Note: In the area of deliberate sexual sins listed below, all are mortal sins if there is sufficient reflection and full consent of the will. “No fornicators, idolaters, or adulterers, no sodomites,… will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor 6:9-10) “Anyone who looks lustfully at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his thoughts.” (Mt 5:28). Have I always dressed modestly, so as not to be an occasion of sin for others. This applies especially to women and girls, but also to men, clothing to tight or not sufficiently covered.
Did I willfully entertain impure thoughts or desires?
Did I use impure or suggestive words? Tell impure stories? Listen to them?
Did I deliberately look at impure TV, videos, plays, pictures or movies? Or deliberately read impure materials?
Did I commit impure acts by myself (masturbation)?
Did I commit impure acts with another – fornication (premarital sex), adultery (sex with a married person)?
Did I practice artificial birth control (by pills, device, withdrawal)?
Did I marry or advise anyone to marry outside the Church?
Did I avoid the occasions of impurity? Have I dressed immodestly, too tight clothing, or too revealing? * See footnote.
Am I fully covered? “The immodest shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Gal. 5:19-21. See THE PAPAL DECREE ON MODESTY, Pope Pius XI, 1930: tinyurl.com/tdakwyaj or MotherofGodlibrary.org, Aug. 2021 post.
Did I try to control my thoughts?
Did I engage in homosexual activity?
Did I respect all members of the opposite sex, or have I thought of other people as objects? Have I strived to look at them as a temple of the Holy Ghost, or have I lusted after them?
Did I or my spouse have sterilization done? Forbidden by the Church.
Did I abuse my marriage rights?
SEVENTH & TENTH COMMANDMENTS
“You shall not steal.” (Ex 20:15) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.” (Ex 20:17).
Did I steal, cheat, help or encourage others to steal or keep stolen goods? Have I made restitution for stolen goods?
Did I fulfill my contracts; give or accept bribes; pay my bills; rashly gamble or speculate; drink too much and deprive my family of the necessities of life? Did I run around on my wife, or husband? Have I flirted with others behind their back?
Did I waste time at work, school or at home? Idle talk, idle time. Did i kill time on the phone?
Did I envy other people’s families or possessions?
Did I make material possessions the purpose of my life?
Do I make sports a number one priority in my life for me and my children, getting them to practice and games, rather than church and adoration for the salvation of their souls?
EIGHTH COMMANDMENT
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Ex 20:16). Detraction and calumny.
Did I lie?
Did I deliberately deceive others, or injure others by lies? Calumny. Have I detracted others by speaking ill of them unnecessarily, or detraction, revealing faults that should not be made known.? Have I harbored ill-will to those who have corrected me? Run them down behind their back? Am I proud, refusing to be corrected?
Did I commit perjury? Lying under oath. Have I sworn, using God’s Name uselessly, or without necessity?
Did I gossip or reveal others’ faults or sins? Detraction. Have I excused my own sins while blaming others? Pride.
Did I fail to keep secret what should be confidential? Talebearer.
OTHER SINS
Did I fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday?
Did I eat meat on the Fridays of Lent or Ash Wednesday? Am I a glutton, eating what I want and as much as I want?
Did I fail to receive Holy Communion during Eastertime?
Did I go to Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin?* Without fasting (water and medicine permitted) for one hour from food and drink?
Did I make a bad confession?
Did I fail to contribute to the support of the Church?
*”Whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily sins against the Body and Blood of the Lord. … He who eats and drinks without recognizing the Body eats and drinks judgement on himself.” (1 Cor 11:27-29)
So, to receive Holy Communion while in the state of mortal sin (having committed a mortal sin which has not been confessed and forgiven in the Sacrament of Confession) is itself a mortal sin – a mortal sin of sacrilege.
- A priest said one time that if an immodest woman tempts men to lust a 100 times in one day, she would be guilty of a 100 mortal sins. “The immodest shall not inherit the kingdom of God,’’ Gal 5:19-21, drbo.org, unless these sins are confessed. Many women do not walk out of the house each day without being immodest in some way. How many sins of lust will they have caused in 10, 20, 30, 40 years!? See the article, WOMAN DAMNED TO HELL FOR IMMODESTY https://tinyurl.com/udnymr7p OR https://motherofGodlibrary.org/2019/12/20/
- For the clergy in the realm of modesty. Have I done my duty in upholding the Decree on Modesty ordered by Pope Pius XI? Have I been silent in the face of this most grave evil in God’s own House? Have I given sacrilegious Communions to women manifestly immodest? Have I taught men and women about the proper dress in church, no shorts, no tee shirts, no jeans on women, etc? Deut. 22:5 forbids men and women to dress alike, and says it’s an abomination to God when they do so. Decree on Modesty, Pius XI: https://tinyurl.com/2ardncx4
“O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” (Lk 18:13)
“Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven…” (Jn 20:23)
“Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall become white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall become white as wool.” (Is 1:18)
“If we confess our sins, He who is upright can be depended upon to forgive sins, and to cleanse us from every wrong.” (1 Jn 1:9)
“Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.” (Lk 23:24)
“Forgive us our sins, for we too forgive all who do us wrong.” (Lk 11:4)