CONFESSION

PRAYERS BEFORE CONFESSION

     Come, Holy Ghost, enlighten my understanding that I may rightly discern the sins of which I have been guilty; touch my heart and move it to sincere contrition; strengthen my will that I may make a firm resolution of amendment; grant me Thy grace that in the Sacrament of Penance I may confess my faults to the priest with sincerity and humility, and give me such assistance as may enable me to produce worthy fruits of penance.

     Mary, Mother of Mercy, refuge of sinners, pray for me that I may make a good confession and be reconciled to thy divine Son.  Pray for my confessor also, that he may speak to my heart, and that his words may conduce to the health of my soul.  Ave, Maria.

EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE FOR YOUNG WOMEN

PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION ON YOUR LAST CONFESSION

1.  How long is it since I last went to confession? 

2.  Did I omit to confess a mortal sin, either intentionally or through forgetfulness?

3.  Did I take sufficient pains to awaken contrition?

4.  Did I intentionally neglect to say the penance which was imposed on me, or was I so careless as to forget it?

5.  Have I carried out the resolution I then made, or have I paid no heed at all to them?

EXAMINATION ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT

On our conduct in regard to God and divine things.

SINS AGAINST FAITH:


1. Have I entertained and yielded to doubts against the faith?


2. Have I allowed myself to listen to those who spoke with contempt or derision of our holy faith?


3. Have I ever willingly omitted my morning or night prayers?


4. Have I spoken irreverently of holy things?

5. Have I taken pleasure in hearing sacred things spoken of with disrespect?


6. How often have I read books, newspapers or periodicals of an anti-Catholic tendency?




 SINS AGAINST HOPE:


1. Have I deliberately despaired of God's mercy?


2. Have I rashly presumed upon His forbearance in order to commit sin?


3. Have I given way to pusillanimity with full consent?


4. How often have I allowed myself to commit a venial sin under the plea that it did not amount to
anything?

SINS AGAINST CHARITY:


1. Have I willingly entertained feelings of repugnance toward religious practices, such as prayer, attendance at divine service, etc.


2. Have I murmured against the ordinances of divine providence, the trials and sufferings sent upon me, etc.?


SINS AGAINST THE REFERENCE DUE TO GOD:


1. Have I made use of superstitious practices or consulted fortune-tellers?


2. Have I omitted prayers, genuflections, the sign of the cross or other religious duties through motives of human respect?


3. Have I been guilty of voluntary distraction at my prayers?


4. Have I wilfully caused disturbance during public worship?


5. Have I spoken with levity of sacred objects and places?


6. How often have I done what is good more from a desire to please than from any better motive?

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT OF GOD

1. Have I in any important matter taken God to witness in what was untrue, or have I sworn falsely?


2. Have I voluntarily broken an oath, or failed to fulfil a vow?

3. Have I taken God's name in vain, or uttered it without respect?

4. Have I sworn rashly, or used God's holy name as an imprecation?

5. Have I called God to witness without sufficient reason?

6. Have I postponed the fulfilment of a promise without any necessity?

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT OF GOD

On the observance of Sundays and holidays

  

1. Have I omitted hearing Mass on any Sunday or holiday of obligation without a good reason? How often?



2. Have I on Sundays or holidays indulged voluntary distractions during Mass?

3. Have I done any servile work without necessity on Sundays or holidays?

THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT OF GOD

On our duty toward parents and superiors.

IN REGARD TO THE RESPECT THAT IS DUE PARENTS AND SUPERIORS:

1. Have I been disrespectful in my behavior toward my parents, toward priests or other superiors?

2. Have I imagined them guilty of grievous sins, or exaggerated their faults?

3. Have I offended against them by using comtemptuous or injurious language toward them?

4. Have I been wanting in my duty to my parents, and judged their actions unlovingly or uncharitably?

5. Have I shown them disrespect by word or act?

6. Have I been ashamed of my parents on account of their poverty or their infirmities?

IN REGARD TO THE LOVE DUE TO PARENTS AND SUPERIORS:

1. Have I in earnest and deliberately wished evil to my parents, my pastor, or others in authority over me?

2. Have I ever intentionally grieved them?

3. Have I neglected to succor my parents in their necessities, although it was in my power to do so?

4. Have I injured them in any manner through my own fault?

5. Have I shown impatience at the rules made by my parents and superiors, or irritabilty at their failings?

6. Have I neglected to pray for my parents and my pastor?

IN REGARD TO THE OBEDIENCE DUE TO PARENTS AND SUPERIORS:

1. Have I been disobedient to my parents, my confessor, or my superiors, in any important matter?

2. Have I obeyed their directions or admonitions grudgingly, or neglected them altogether, in minor matters?

3. Have I shown annoyance at their advice and paid little heed to it?

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT OF GOD

1. Have I been guilty of injuring any one's health through culpable negligence, through quarrels or unkind treatment?

2. Have I shown enmity or rancor toward my neighbor, as, for instance, by refusing to return his greeting?

3. Have I uttered imprecations and evil wishes against my neighbor?

4. Have I taken little or no pains to suppress feelings of hatred and hostility?

5. Have I been guilty of quarrelling with my neighbor,and how often?

6. Have I punished children when I was angry?

7. Have I rejoiced in my neighbor's adversity?

8. Have I neglected to give alms through avarice, or through indolence omitted any work of mercy that I ought to have performed?

9. Have I done anything in word or deed which I foresaw would cause my neighbor to sin, such as speaking improperly in the presence of children, dressing indecorously, etc.?

10. Have I actually tempted another to commit a deadly sin, and if so, what sin?

11. How often have I led my neighbor to commit a venial sin?

12. Have I ever intentionally led him to do wrong?

SINS AGAINST ONE'S LIFE

1. Have I injured my health by indulging to an excess in amusements, by intemperance or outbursts of anger?

2. Have I when vexed and impatient desired my own death?

3. Have I eaten or drunk immoderately, or studied my palate too carefully?

4. Have I not sometimes injured my health through want of ordinary prudence and precaution?

5. Have I given way to anger and impatience?

6. Have I often yielded to dejection and sadness?

THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENT OF GOD
On our conduct and regard to purity

IMPURE THOUGHTS:

1. Have I with pleasure allowed my thoughts to dwell on impure subjects?

2. Have I consented to unchaste suggestions and temptations instead of banishing them instantly from my mind?

3. Have I wished to look at unchaste objects, or to take improper liberties?

IMPURE WORDS:

1. Have I talked in an unchaste manner?

2. Have I taken pleasure in listening to unclean conversation?

IMPURE ACTIONS:

1. Have I willingly, and with a sinful pleasure looked at immodest things?  Committed an immodest act?

2. Have I read books of an immoral tendency?

3. Have I dressed immodestly or with excessive finery simply to attract admiration?

4. Have I sinned through undue familiarity with persons of the other sex, or allowing improper liberties to be taken with me?

5. Have I been careful to avoid persons and places which may be, or have been, occasions of sin for me?

6. Have I been to dances and plays of a dangerous nature, and how often?

THE SEVENTH AND TENTH COMMANDMENTS OF GOD
On our conduct in regard to the property of others

1. Have I been guilty of causing any considerable damage to my neighbor in his house or property?

2. For how long have I willfully delayed to make due satisfaction and restitution?

3.  Have I when at home pilfered triffling sums or things to eat?

4. Have I disposed of things belonging to my employers without their knowledge?  And if
money, to what amount?

5. Have I desired my neighbor's goods, not caring whether I acquired them justly or unjustly?

6. Have I wasted my money in prodigal expenditure, as, for instance, on dress and finery?

7. Have I through my negligence, indifference, or indolence caused loss, even to a slight extent, to my employers or relatives?

THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT OF GOD

On our conduct in regard to truth.

1. Have I borne false witness in a court of law?


2. Have I told falsehood in any matter of consequence?


3. Have I entertained without sufficient ground a bad opinion of my neighbor and taken his
wrongdoings for granted through rash judgment?


4. Have I calumniated myneighbor, accusing him of wrongdoing of which I did not know him to be guilty?


5. Have I injured my neighbor's good name and lessened his reputation in any great measure by detraction?


6. Have I for any length of time voluntarily neglected to make good the injury done him, to the best of my ability?


7. Have I written anonymous letters in abuse of any one, or to cause misunderstanding and quarrels?


8. Have I repeated to my neighbor the ill that I heard said of him?


9. How often have I said what was not quite true to save myself from blame, or in a joke?


10. Have I entertained unfounded suspicions of my neighbor?


11. Have I judged uncharitably of the actions of others?


12. Have I published the faults and misdeeds of others without necessity?


13. Have I been guilty of deceit, insincerity, flattery, or hypocrisy? How often?

THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE CHURCH

1. Have I deliberately and without sufficient reason eaten meat on abstinence days?


2. Have I, being at least twenty-one years of age, eaten more than one full meal on the fast of the Church?


3. Have I listened to the address of a non-Catholic with a view of marriage?

ACT OF CONTRITITION

O my dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, behold Thy poor sinful child prostrate at Thy feet.  Alas!  I have indeed reason to blush with shame in Thy presence.  Thou hast conferred upon me innumerable benefits; Thou came down Thyself from heaven to earth, and didst suffer so many and so great pains for my sake, finally laying down Thy life for me; and I have been so ungrateful; I have done so much that is evil in Thy sight.  If Thou hadst punished me, O just God, as Thou didst the wicked angels after the first sin, how wretched would be my lot now and to all eternity.  But Thou were ever and still art full of loving-kindness and compassion toward me, Thy ungrateful child.  I am truly sorry, O dearest Jesus, for having offended Thee so often and so grievously.  How earnestly I now desire that I had always loved Thee with my whole heart, O supreme and adorable God!  I love Thee above all things.

RESOLUTION OF AMENDMENT

I humbly beseech Thee, my Lord and Saviour, mercifully to forgive me, and to receive me once more into Thy favor.  I detest and abhor all my sins, and I promise Thee, my God, to do better for the time to come.  Henceforth I will love Thee above all things and will avoid all occasions of sin, so that I may not have the misfortune to fall again into my old transgressions.  Jesus, mercy!  Jesus, my Lord, my God, and my all!

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PRAYERS AFTER CONFESSION

AN ACT OF THANKSGIVING AND RENEWAL OF GOOD RESOLUTIONS

Eternal thanks and praise be to Thee, O God of goodness and mercy!  Thou willest not the death of a sinner.  Thou has not despised my repentance, but with fatherly love Thou hast received me anew and forgiven me my sins, through the holy Sacrament of Penance.  Thou art once more my Father, and I am once more Thy child, united again unto Thee.  And now I make a firm resolution:  Never again will I commit sin, never again will I grieve Thee, O my God.  For the future all that I am, all that I have, all that I do shall be consecrated to Thy service and to Thy glory.

PRAYER FOR THE GRACE TO PERSEVERE

Lord, Thou knowest my fraility and weakness; my resolution is indeed firm and heartfelt, yet Thou must fortify me if I am to carry it into practice.  O Thou Who hast inspired me with the determinatin to cast off the yoke of sin, strengthen my will, that I may perform that which I purpose.  In Thee, O God of might, I can do all things.  Manifest in me therefore, omnipotent God, the abundance of Thy mercy, and arm me with the power necessary to preserve me from falling into sin.  Succor me in danger, protect me from the snares of the spirits of evil, and awaken within me an implacable hatred of every kind of wickedness.

PRAYER TO OUR LADY AND THE SAINTS

O MARY, the refuge of all who seriously purpose to turn to God and amend their ways, look down, I beseech thee, on me in mercy.  I now firmly purpose to make a sincere change and no longer to offend Thy beloved Son, Jesus.  Graciously vouchsafe to intercede for me with Him, that I may not prove false to the resolution I have taken.  Pray for me, that I may ever strive valiantly against all temptations, and part with life itself rather than lose the friendship of God, which is above all price.  O my guardian angel!  O blessed saints of heaven!  pray for me, that I may continue in the grace of God, and persevere in it unto my life's end.  Amen.




taken from

CATHOLIC GIRL'S GUIDE

COUNSELS AND DEVOTIONS FOR GIRLS IN THE ORDINARY WALKS OF LIFE

Edited by the Rev. Francis X. Lasance

New York, Cincinnati, Chicago:  Benziger Brothers, Printers to the Holy Apostolic See.