Thoughts on the examination of conscience

 3rd Sunday of Lent 

Today’s Gospel, the Cleansing of the Temple, is a good Lenten reminder of what we all need to do.  Jesus tells the Jews, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” St. John comments, “But He was speaking about the temple of His body.”  Similarly, St. Paul has taught us that we are “temples of the Holy Spirit.” (1 Cor. 3: 16)  We need to consider what cleansing we need to do in the weeks of Lent remaining. 

Lent is meant to be a type of “spiritual spring cleaning,” and spring begins in slightly more than two weeks.  To “cleanse our temples” we need to begin with a thorough examination of conscience and a good Confession, which is still part of our Easter Duty, if we find that we are conscious of serious sin.  Often we confess the same sins; perhaps this is necessary. However, perhaps there are many sins of which we are unaware.  How might we discover those sins? 

The Internet is both a blessing and a curse. But there are many very good Catholic examinations of conscience guides available on the Internet.  Recently I Googled "Catholic examination of conscience" and received 4,640,000 results in 0.60 seconds!  The first on the list was from the US Bishops’ Conference; the second from EWTN. Both good.  I was very impressed by the third listed; it was excellent, orthodox, and thorough, from a website called www.beginning catholic.com. Quite a number of questions followed each of the Ten Commandments. 

One of the traditional ways of examining our conscience to prepare for Confession is to consider the Commandments (as we hear in the First Reading of this Sunday, Exodus 20): 

1. I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before Me. (prayer; performance of religious duties; idols of pleasure and materialism?) 

2. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. (including promises and resolutions made to God, and blaming God for my failures) 

3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day. (Other than Mass, how do I keep Sunday “holy”?) 

4. Honor your father and your mother. (This concerns parents’ duty to children as well as children’s duty to parents) 

5. You shall not kill. (which includes hatred, anger, jealousy, being an occasion of sin for others) 

6. and 9. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. (all sins of impurity) 

7. and 10. You shall not steal. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods. (any envy, dishonesty, deception, fraud) 

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (lies, gossip, slander, detraction) 

Another way of examining our conscience is to consider the Seven Deadly (or Capital) Sins, the basic roots of all sin:  Wrath (anger); Avarice (greed); Sloth (laziness); Pride; Lust; Envy; Gluttony (anything in excess that can cause harm) 

This Lent may Our Lord give us the graces necessary to continue, or to begin, the "spiritual spring cleaning" of our temple, our immortal soul. 



May He give us the graces necessary to make a good Confession. 

Don Saunders, S.J.