Printable Version: Illumination of Conscience - Deep Examination of Conscience
Sins commonly committed but rarely confessed. A Deep Examination of Conscience.
I am the Lord Your God, you shall not have strange gods before me. Superstitious is lack of trust in God’s providence. Even though you say you don’t believe in horoscope or astrology or fortune cookies, if you read them, you are still giving them credence. If you don’t believe them, why read them?
Not Protecting Your Children from movies, videos, games, books: from violence, murder, drugs, sexual activity
Wicca or White Magic or Movies with occult characters, Pokémon, or Baughman or children’s games with casting spells
Ougi board- is a channel for and opens the player up to demonic activity. Kids can now do ougi board on their i-phones. Games like Charlie Charlie are dangerous
Cardinal Ratzinger on Harry Potter Books- Kuby wrote a letter to Cardinal Ratzinger the head of the CDF, “the books corrupt the hearts of the young, preventing them from developing a properly ordered sense of good and evil, thus harming their relationship with God while that relationship is still in its infancy.” The cardinal, future Pope Benedict responded saying, “it is good that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly.”
YOGA- Pope Benedict, Pope Francis, Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Johnette Bankevich condemn yoga– Bishop Carerra, the archbishop of Mexico city in a pastoral letter said, “However much proponents insist that these techniques are valuable as methods, and imply no teaching contrary to Christianity, the techniques in themselves . . . in their own context, the postures and exercises, are designed for their specific religious purpose. Even when they are carried out within a Christian atmosphere, the intrinsic meaning of these gestures remains intact.” So even if you think you’re stretching your back, if you’re using the Sun Stretch to do so, whether you intend to or not, you’re still posing in a position of worship to the Sun god because that’s what this pose was designed to do. It was never designed as a back stretch.
Genuflecting out of habit without thinking why we are doing so. We should intentionally look at the tabernacle and with love and respect to Jesus in the Eucharist say a prayer as we genuflect.
Receiving Holy Communion carelessly by allowing particles of the Sacred Host to fall to the ground when receiving on the hand. The normal way the Church desires everyone to receive Communion is on the tongue. It’s a permission to receive on the hand. It’s an indult. After receiving Communion on the hand we are to pick up the tiny particles on the hand and consume them. Every particle, no matter how small is the whole and entire person of Jesus Christ. And to purposely allow them to fall to the ground is sinful. Due to the pandemic bishops are recommending people receive in the hand. Church law is Communion on the tongue. Therefore we have a right to receive on the tongue.
Parents not helping your children to respect the Sacred Host when they receive Holy Communion. Parents are responsible for particles of the Host that fall to the ground when their child receives on the hand.
Not praying to Jesus or thanking Him after receiving Him in Holy Communion. Did you know according to Canon Law it’s a mortal sin for a priest to not make a thanksgiving after receiving Holy Communion? So what about lay people? What is your obligation? According to saints union with Jesus in Communion lasts 10 to 30 minutes. Leaving Mass early after receiving Jesus in Holy Communion is at least a venial sin. When you return to your pew --are praying to Jesus who just came inside your soul or are you texting someone or looking around in the church?
It is seriously sinful to not fast one hour before receiving Holy Communion such as such as drinking coffee or eating candy or chewing gum (diabetics serious reason can use food or juice to raise blood sugar and so food becomes medicine and so not sinful)
Spiritual Reading and Learning About the Faith.
Not reading the Bible or the Catechism or Spiritual reading. Not encouraging your children to read the bible or help them to know the faith. Not talking to your children about the faith.
Not giving God credit for all the good He does through us.
We are to use the talents and gifts He has given us and not using them wisely for His glory or to help others can be selfish.
Failing to daily pray to God. Adore, Confess, Thanks, Praying for your needs and the needs of others, praying with the heart, asking God for advice
Thou Shall Not Take God’s Name in Vain. Saying “Oh my God” is taking God’s name in vain and disrespectful to God. We can say “Oh God, I love you” out of devotion, but we should not say “O God” in vain manner offends God. Or saying the name of Jesus out of shock or as an expression rather than out of love is sinful. Any sort of cussing using foul language or saying dirty jokes. If we watch a movie or video or listen to the radio taking God’s name in vain, we share in its sinfulness.
Remember to Keep the Sabbath Holy. Missing Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. Why is about only 1/3 of Catholics or less come to Mass on Holy Days of obligation? And if that’s the case, why is it that only a handful come to confession before receiving Holy Communion? To purposely miss Mass without a serious reason on a Sunday or Holy day is mortally sinful (except during the pandemic)
If we fail to go to Mass, we fail to bring our children to Mass, preventing them from receiving Jesus in Holy Communion and being present at the Holy Sacrifice and hearing the Word of God. So if we miss Sunday Mass 5 times in a year, that’s 5 times we failed to allow our children to be present at the Holy Sacrifice, to the hear the Word of God and to receive Holy Communion.
Working on Sunday un-necessarily such as painting the house, mowing the yard, doing laundry or shopping. Going to youth sporting events instead of attending Mass.
Honor Your Father and Mother. Dishonor our parents by speaking negatively about them, by revealing their faults or sins to others. By not visiting them or calling them. Not taking care of them when they are no longer able to care for themselves.
Failing to teach children to pray or teach them about God or to live a moral life.
Men failing to be the spiritual head of the family and failing to lead the family in prayer. They are to protect the children from pornography, bad movies and videos, bad friendships, failing to be involved in the lives of our children. Fathers help their daughters to wear modest clothing and teach their sons to respect women.
Divorced fathers can fail to communicate with or spend time with their children.
Workaholics who spend unnecessary time working when they could be at home.
Failing to discipline children and let them do what they want can cause them to have behavior problems and not learn self-discipline.
Thou shall not Kill.
Abortion. While in seminary Bernard Nathanson, an abortionist, came to the seminary to give a talk. He admitted to killing over 60,000 babies and God forgave all his sins and the punishment due to his sins when he was baptized in into the Catholic faith. If God can forgive an abortionist who killed thousands of unborn children, He can forgive a young unwed mother who was confused and pushed into it by her boyfriend or parents and was told a lie, that it was just a blog of tissue, when in fact it was a baby. But God is infinitely merciful. He will forgive. After Confession, we can still feel guilty, which is called false guilt because confession washes away the sin and the guilt. The organization Project Rachel can help heal the after effects of abortion.
Voting for a pro-abortion candidate, while the candidate is pro-life is a serious sin, requiring confession before receiving Holy Communion. Failing to pray for an end to abortion and failing to help end abortion is sinful.
Husbands and wives who argue and fight --scandalize their children by fighting in their presence. Slamming doors, throwing things.
Verbally Abusive. Employers can be verbally abusive to employees or spouses to each other or to their children. Putting each other down, calling each other names.
Losing one’s temper, physically hitting a child or a spouse is seriously sinful. Spanking may not sinful, when it’s done without anger and if the child was warned in advance and if would not cause bruising.
It’s good to confess impatience, but be specific as to what you mean. Are you impatient by thoughts only or by being impatient with your words and so snap or yell at others (which should also be confessed).
Parents who scream at their children, rather than using self-control and discipline.
Lack of Thanksgiving- Not being grateful, complaining- negative attitude.
Gluttony- over eating food to gain so much weight to the point of causing serious health problems such as diabetes or high blood pressure is sinful. Eating foods that are not good for one’s health can be sinful.
Smoking,- harms your lungs and high risk of getting cancer.
Getting drunk or drinking in excess or driving while intoxicated.
Taking marijuana and drugs causes one to lose the ability to reason properly, which is sinful.
Driving Excessive Speeds in your vehicle places your life and others at risk. Road Rage.
To be selfish in conversation – Not Listening to other person speaking and talking excessively about yourself.
Vanity- Spending hours putting on makeup, doing fingernails, working one one’s hair. Excessive concern for one’s appearance. There was a hospital staff member who was hospitalized. When I entered her room, I didn’t recognize her because she had no makeup on. She honestly looked better without makeup.
It’s sinful to not accept our personal appearance. Some want to be taller, others shorter, others skinnier, others physically bigger. Some wish they had a different color of hair, or some don’t want to lose their hair etc… wearing toupees or wigs.
Did you know some cosmetics in European countries are made from aborted fetuses? As far as to whether or not these are sold in the USA, I don’t know. Wasting money on expensive hair styles, face lifts and cosmetic surgeries or implants is not God’s will and the money could be used to help those who have no food and the poor.
For men and women they can view physical appearance as an excessive desire to have attention, to feel loved and use their appearance to get attention. To gloat in the mirror or to be envious of the appearance of others is sinful. Wasting money on excessive clothes or taking protein supplements, for what purpose?
Not exercising or doing excessive exorcise. Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and as St. Paul says does not belong to us, but to God. We are stewards of our body and our health. Some men and boys go to the gym to build muscles (rather than for exercise) for the sake of girls looking at them is vanity.
Un-forgiveness. Failing to forgive. Resentfulness.
Wishing bad things will happen to others.
Trying to control others, willfulness. Perfectionism. Some people think everything must done in a perfect way, which is prideful.
Pride manifests itself in so many ways, such as arrogance, self-righteousness, thinking oneself is better than others. Failing to forgive the bad behavior of others can be the result of pride too.
Self-hate. Putting oneself down.
Self-mutilation by excessive piercings or piercings of tongue and nose. Tattoos, (injecting ink into skin).
Self-pity, no one loves me, no one calls me, no pays attention to me
Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery, being unfaithful to spouse by texting or calling another person secretly, or being unfaithful to your marital vow by viewing pornography or looking with lust at anyone including your spouse. Unhealthy emotional attachment to another person, whom one is not married.
Cohabitation and sex before marriage is seriously sinful and also scandalous behavior because it can give young people the idea its okay.
Homosexual fantasies is sinful when one willfully embraces them. Homosexual actions or having a homosexual partner.
Selfishly using your spouse for your own sexual pleasure, rather than giving yourself to your spouse with the marital embrace so the experience is most pleasing to them. Birth Control causes men to use women for their own pleasure.
Watching movies with sexual activity.
Women who wear immodest clothing revealing cleavage, or tight clothing or short dresses or skirts and it is even more sinful to do so while at Church because the church is the house of God and because it can distract others from worshiping God and cause them to sin in their mind.
Men can wear inappropriate clothing -Tight shirts so ladies can see their muscles.
Men and Women Wearing shorts to Mass or Eucharistic adoration is inappropriate because it shows a lack respect and reverence towards Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and can distract others.
Watching soap operas and reading romance novels, can lead to lustful thoughts and fantasies.
Vasectomy or a tubal ligation. Tells no to God if He wants to bring a child into the world. It seriously harms healthy organs. The use of birth control and sterilization is a lack of trust in God and His plan for marriage.
Birth Control-- 98% of all Catholic women have used contraception sometime in their life. CDC says 65% of all women 15 to 49 currently use birth control. So if that’s the case, how is it nearly every woman from age 15 to 49, who attends Mass receives Holy Communion? Does that mean all women who use birth control do not attend Mass? Or does it mean all those who are using contraception are also receiving Communion. These are two grievous sins rarely confessed. If one is using Birth Control and fails to confess it in confession, then one is receiving Holy Communion sacrilegiously. If a woman is using contraception and attending Mass she should not receive Holy Communion until she discontinues using it.
Did you know the IUD, the patch and the pill can all cause the death of a baby? It takes about 5 days for a newly conceived child to move down the fallopian tube and into the womb. While using these forms of birth control, the tiny child will die because it is unable to attach to the womb due to irritation from the device or the chemical. So the mother conceives a child without even knowing it and has caused them to die by using birth control. If you have used birth control, you most likely unknowingly caused the death of some of your children. Even though we may not have known this was the case, we consented to all the effects of taking birth control when we began to use it. And we were knowingly doing something we know was against Church teaching. However, God is infinitely merciful and does not want to condemn us, rather He wants us to come to Him in confession and get that sin off our soul and give us peace. He desires we follow His plan of marriage for us by spacing children using Natural Family Planning, which is 99% effective and so more effective than birth control.
If you committed a mortal sin such as using birth control or missing Mass on Sunday or Holy days (outside of the pandemic), willfully watching pornography or masturbating or committing adultery or having sex before marriage, etc.. and did not confess the serious sin before you received Holy Communion, you committed a sacrilegious communion and did not receive any grace whatsoever from Communion. But rather deeply offend and hurt Jesus in the Eucharist.
Purposely withholding a serious sin in confession, none of your sins are forgiven and all confessions after that until that one sin is finally confessed and then one should confess all serious sins since that first invalid confession.
Thou shall not steal. Gambling in itself is not sinful, but when one wastes money that could be used for a better purpose such as helping the poor, it can become sinful.
Stealing objects of inheritance, money, furniture etc..
Cheating on taxes.
Laziness-- wasting time watching TV or the internet and phone when we could be spending more time in prayer or with others.
Failing to Help the Poor- especially own family and community
Thou shall not bare false witness. When we commit a white lie, we can do it because we don’t want to hurt another’s feelings, or the truth may make us look bad. But we forget, when we lie, we hurt the feelings of Jesus, and deny Him, who is the Truth.
Giving the silent treatment to spouse or relative can be grievous. Refusing to talk to someone for years.
Covet your neighbor’s wife. Wishing you were married to someone who is married already.
Covet your neighbors’ goods. Envying others rather than being grateful for their gifts or being jealous of others to their detriment.
Materialism. Wasting money on unnecessary items. Not helping the poor. Not donating to the Church and charitable organizations. Not using one’s time, talent and treasure for the glory and honor of God and for love of our neighbor.
God is infinitely merciful. The ordinary way God want us to forgive us-- is through the sacrament of Confession. We are required to confess all mortal sins at least once a year.
Some priests tell people they only need to confess mortal sins and this can cause some to think they don’t need to ever confess venial sins. But, the Catechism #1458 states, “Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church. Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins will help form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father's mercy, we are spurred to be merciful as He is merciful:”
To commit a mortal sin, three things must be present. It must be grave matter, we know its grave matter and we must give full consent. So if one of the three is lacking, then we don’t commit a mortal sin. But we still commit a venial sin.
Every sin hurts God, hurts our neighbor (the mystical body of Christ) and our own soul. We must see sin in light of our relationship with Jesus. When we sin, we hurt Jesus and so we should never willfully commit any sin, because we love Jesus and don’t want to hurt our relationship with Him. But if we do sin, we immediately tell Jesus we are sorry and will do better because we love Him.
God’s Mercy
“The greater the sinner, the greater one has right to God’s mercy” is what Jesus told St. Faustina. Jesus wants us to have confidence in His Mercy. We are to trust Him and pray for mercy for our self and the whole world. Once we confessed our sins, we should not repeat them again in confession because by doing so is a lack of trust in God’s mercy.
Divine Mercy Sunday
We can be confident, that if we make a good confession during Lent and receive Holy Communion, while in the state of grace on the Sunday after Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday), not only will God forgive all our sins, but the punishment due to all our sins. This past year, most could not receive Holy Communion on Divine Mercy Sunday.
We can also receive a plenary indulgence anytime during the year. But to gain a plenary indulgence, we must be detached from all sin, must go to confession and receive Holy Communion while in the state of grace and also perform a deed (as approved by the Church), such as making the Stations of the Cross, or praying the Rosary before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament or praying the Rosary as a group.
Regular Monthly Confession- God is infinitely merciful and wants to forgive our sins. We should go to confession at least monthly and if we commit a mortal sin to go to confession right away. By delaying confession after committing a serious sin, are we truly sorry we seriously offended Jesus?
Finally, I would like to encourage you to get “Fire Insurance” by wearing the Scapular. Because Our Lady promised, those who wear the scapular will not suffer eternal fire. We must also live a faithful Christian life of chastity, and daily pray the Rosary and be enrolled in the scapular. Our Lady promises those who die wearing the scapular the first Saturday after they die, will go to heaven.
And if we are dying or might die due to a serious illness or serious surgery, we should ask for the Apostolic Pardon which is part of anointing of the sick. It too washes away all punishment due to sin.
Daily Examine of Conscience
Daily examine your conscience, perhaps at the end of the day and then make an Act of Contrition.
A good way to prepare for confession is ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten you of our sins.
Regularly meditate on the Passion of Jesus, which will help you to be truly sorry for your sins and you will begin to understand how your sins hurt Jesus.
And if any time you realize you have sinned, tell Jesus right away, you are sorry, and this well help you to grow in your love and personal relationship with Him.
May we entrust our self, our temptations, the source of our sins and all our future confessions to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, because Simeon prophesied to Mary at the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, “a sword will pierce your own soul—so that the secret thoughts of many, will be laid bare.” And She will prepare us for our confessions and especially for the moment of our judgment when all will be revealed in the light of truth. She can and also will prepare us for an “Illumination of Conscience” if that would occur in our life.
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