Guide for Examination of Conscience

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.

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 are 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.

EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE

FIRST COMMANDMENT

"I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before Me."

• 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, tarot cards, etc.?
• Did I give time to God each day in prayer?