Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy

Women and Men Seeking Holiness as the Answer to Abortion

  • Welcome
  • Seeking Holiness
  • Membership
    • Directors
    • Special Prayer Partners
  • Sacraments
    • Holy Mass
    • Eucharistic Adoration
    • Frequent Confession
  • Prayer
    • Morning Offering
    • Devotion to Mary
    • The Holy Rosary
    • Lectio Divina
    • Chaplet of Divine Mercy
    • Examination of Conscience
    • Annual Retreat
  • Mercy
  • Patron Saints
    • Our Lady of Mercy
    • St. Augustine
    • St. Margaret of Cortona
  • Resources
    • Articles from other websites
      • Horror of Sin & the Mercy of God
    • Recommended Books
    • Brief Quotes from Saints
  • Contact
  • Prayer Requests
You are here: Home / Spiritual Teaching / Daily Examination of Conscience

Daily Examination of Conscience

June 6, 2017 by Fr. Ben Cameron Leave a Comment

One of the most basic truths of the spiritual life is the importance of making a daily examination of conscience.  As members of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy, we strive to do this each night before going to bed.  Why is the examination so important?  It is for the sake of self-knowledge — we are told in one of the spiritual classics to “know thyself,” and this is impossible if we do not have a regular practice of looking over our day, reviewing what we have said and done, and asking Almighty God for forgiveness for our sins and failings of the day.

How should we do the examination of conscience?  There are a number of good ways, and it can be helpful to vary how we do it from one day or one week to another:

  1. We can make the examination using the Ten Commandments:  go through the commandments one by one, asking “have I obeyed this commandment today?”
  2. We can go through a list of questions on an examination of conscience brochure, such as the one published by the Fathers of Mercy.
  3. We can also use the Beatitudes (Matthew 5: 1-12):  have I lived in accordance with these 9 ways that Our Lord said are “Blessed”?
  4. We can examine ourselves using the Seven Capital sins and their opposite virtues (“Capital Virtues”):  the capital sins are the “root sins” that underlie our other sins.  It can be very beneficial to see not only what our outward sins are, but what are the root sins that are underlying those sins in our lives.  Once we see the patterns of sins, and their roots, we can begin to work on growing the opposite virtues.  [I have a CD series, titled “Seven Capital Virtues:  Overcoming the Seven Capital Sins,” available on http://fathersofmercy.com/store/category/cds/ that explains these matters in depth.]
  5. We could vary things even more by doing our nightly examination based on the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit.

So there are multiple valid and helpful ways for us to look over our day, to place ourselves in the presence of our loving and merciful God, and to come to know ourselves in true self-knowledge.  This self-knowledge helps us to not only know our weakness, but also to depend more and more on the grace of Almighty God, won for us on the Blessed Cross by Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To Him be the glory as we seek to grow more and more in holiness!

For a good summary of all of these, and for help in examining your conscience, feel free to download a copy of the Fathers of Mercy “Examination of Conscience for Adults and Teens” by following this link:  http://fathersofmercy.com/store/examination-of-conscience-for-adults-and-teens/

 

Filed Under: Spiritual Teaching

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

Can God forgive our gravest sins?

Sometimes people ask if God can really forgive our most grievous sins — He not only can, but He actually does, if we ask for forgiveness. In this video, I share some stories of people who were notorious sinners — some would say “monsters” — who experienced the grace of forgiveness from the Infinite Mercy […]

One Soul at a Time

Over the past year, we have seen a several signs of hope regarding the sanctity of every human life, and suffered a few setbacks as well. On the positive side, the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the infamous Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey decisions, rejecting the notion that there is a federal […]

November – Month of the Poor Souls

One of the spiritual works of mercy is to “pray for the living and the dead.” We usually remember that we should pray for the living, because they are around us, seen by us, and their needs are often apparent to our eyes. But do we remember to pray for the dead, for the souls […]

Our Lady, Terror of Demons

We are in a war, a spiritual war. The Christian life is a constant war against the world, the flesh, and the devil. But what does that mean? We are at war with “the world” in its fallen state, in which the world around us, fallen and prone-to-evil human society, attempts to lead us away […]

Blogroll

  • Testimony from a Woman Healed from Abortion
  • The Power of God's Mercy to Heal even the Deepest Wounds
  • Women of Grace: Part one of interview with Fr. Ben Cameron

Devotional Links

  • Chaplet of Divine Mercy
  • How to Pray the Rosary
  • Miraculous Medal
  • The Green Scapular

Post-abortion healing

  • Entering Canaan Retreats
  • Hope After Abortion – Project Rachel
  • Rachel's Vineyard – International Site
  • Rachel's Vineyard Kentucky
  • Rachel's Vineyard Kentucky Facebook page

Religious

  • Fathers of Mercy

Posts: Listed by Topics

  • Art in Honor of the Unborn (2)
  • Latest News (30)
  • Liturgical Prayers (3)
  • Prayer requests (1)
  • Radio/TV interviews (3)
  • Reflections from Saints and Holy Persons (34)
  • Spiritual Teaching (82)
  • Testimonies (4)
  • Uncategorized (5)
  • Works of Mercy (18)

Post Archives: By Month

Copyright © 2023 Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy · All Rights Reserved · Website built by Spears Marketing · Admin