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Beginning & Advanced · Moral & Spiritual Life

Examination of Conscience

A pastoral synthesis for Confession and growth — twofold on the surface (Commandments & Precepts; Virtues), threefold in undertone (purgative, illuminative, contemplative). Inspired by Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., especially themes from Christian Perfection and Contemplation.

Study / prayer time: 20–40 minutes · Use before Confession · CCC 1454, 1776–1802, 1803–1829

A good examination of conscience is not a mood journal and not a legal trap. It is a truthful look at the soul under God’s light, so that Confession, conversion, and growth in charity become possible. This page is a pastoral synthesis inspired by the Dominican theologian Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. (especially themes from Christian Perfection and Contemplation). It is twofold on the surface and threefold in undertone — not a verbatim reprint of his text.

The shape of the method

• Surface 1: Examine by the Commandments and Precepts — the objective law of God and the Church’s minimums.
• Surface 2: Examine by the Virtues — the habits of a soul being healed and elevated by grace.
• Undertone: Hear both lists at the depth where you actually live — purgative, illuminative, or contemplative.

Law without virtue becomes bare minimalism. Virtue without law becomes vague spirituality. Stage without honesty becomes self-flattery or scruple.

Before you begin

1. Place yourself in God’s presence. Pray: “Come, Holy Spirit.”
2. Ask for light without curiosity and for sorrow without despair.
3. If you are conscious of mortal sin, go first to the Commandments (purgative). Do not decorate the soul before you clean the wound.
4. Write briefly if it helps; then take the fruit to sacramental Confession.

The threefold undertone

These are not three religions. They are three depths of the same Christian life (the classical “three ages” of the interior life, spoken here in pastoral language inspired by Garrigou-Lagrange).

• Purgative Beginners in the spiritual combat. Primary question: Where did I consent to sin? What must be cut, confessed, fled?
• Illuminative Souls keeping the essentials, learning generosity. Primary question: Where am I imperfect, mixed in motive, half-yes to God?
• Contemplative Souls drawn into deeper prayer and pure love. Primary question: Where did I refuse God’s invitations to recollection, fidelity, and charity without self-seeking?

Use the undertone as a dial, not a trophy. A professor in mortal sin is still in the purgative need. A humble beginner may already taste illuminative lights. Contemplative depth is measured by God’s gift and fidelity — not by reading difficult books.

Part I — Examen by the Commandments and Precepts

This is the first surface. It protects the soul from inventing a private morality.

1. First Commandment — God first

P Have I denied God, practiced superstition or the occult, received Communion in mortal sin, or deliberately skipped what faith requires?

I Have I treated prayer as optional, kept God at the edge of my plans, or loved comfort more than fidelity?

C Have I refused interior recollection when grace invited it, or performed religious acts for my own image?

2. Second Commandment — Holy Name

P Blasphemy, irreverent use of the holy Name, false or unnecessary oaths?

I Careless speech about holy things; jokes that cheapen reverence?

C Failure to bless God in trial; complaining that accuses Providence?

3. Third Commandment — Lord’s Day

P Missed Mass through my own fault on Sunday/Holy Day? Unnecessary servile work that erased the day’s rest for the Lord?

I Body present, heart absent; made Sunday like any other day of commerce and noise?

C Refused the gift of worshipful leisure; filled the day so God could not speak?

4. Fourth Commandment — Honor parents / rightful authority

P Serious disrespect, neglect of parents, rebellion that harms family or just authority?

I Impatience, coldness, failure to anticipate needs; parenting without presence?

C Resented the hidden obedience God asked; refused to honor authority as His permission?

5. Fifth Commandment — Life

P Violence, hatred willed, abortion advocacy/participation, drunkenness, reckless endangerment, despair sought?

I Anger nursed; words that wounded; neglect of health that burdens others?

C Failed to protect peace in my heart; entertained contempt under a spiritual mask?

6th & 9th — Chastity of body and heart

P Sexual sin in act; pornography; adultery; unchaste touch; grave impurity willed?

I Custody of eyes neglected; flirtation; immodesty; laziness about occasions of sin?

C Refused the purification of memory and imagination; withheld my heart from God’s jealous love?

7th & 10th — Property and desire

P Theft, fraud, unjust wages withheld, serious cheating, refusal to make restitution?

I Waste, stinginess, envy of others’ goods, shopping as anesthesia?

C Attachment to comfort that blocks generosity; sadness at another’s good?

8. Eighth Commandment — Truth

P Lying that harms; calumny; detraction that destroys reputation; perjury?

I Gossip, exaggeration, silence when truth was owed?

C Used speech to appear holy; hid behind half-truths in spiritual matters?

Precepts of the Church

P Mass on Sundays/Holy Days; Confession at least as required; Communion in Easter season; fasting/abstinence; support of the Church — where have I failed in a serious way?

I Kept the letter, neglected the spirit (minimum Catholic, maximum self)?

C Treated precepts as mere external badges rather than doors into love?

Part II — Examen by the Virtues

This is the second surface. After the law has spoken, ask how grace is forming (or not forming) stable excellence in the soul. Pair with the Virtues lesson.

Faith

P Deliberate doubt willed against known teaching; shame that hid the faith?

I Neglect of study and Sunday formation; faith without seeking understanding?

C Resisted deeper assent when God asked trust in darkness?

Hope

P Despair; presumption that I may sin and “fixily repent later”?

I Anxiety that refuses to hand outcomes to God; optimism without prayer?

C Sought consolations more than God; quit prayer because sweetness lessened?

Charity

P Hatred; refusal to forgive; grave omission of love owed?

I Charity only when convenient; selective kindness; neglected the difficult neighbor?

C Mixed love of God with self-love; prayed to feel holy rather than to love?

Prudence

P Reckless choices with grave harm; counsel ignored in serious matters?

I Impulsiveness; over-caution that hides laziness; failure to seek advice?

C Spiritual indiscretion — taking on practices God did not ask?

Justice

P Grave injustice in family, work, speech, or religion toward God?

I Small dishonesties; delayed duties; unfair judgments of others?

C Failed to give God the time and reverence due; religion without justice to neighbor?

Fortitude

P Cowardice in moral duty; abandoned the faith under pressure?

I Softness; quitting prayer at the first dryness; fear of human opinion?

C Refused the cross hidden in perseverance; sought only comfortable devotion?

Temperance

P Grave excess in drink, food, lust, or rage?

I Comfort-worship; media gluttony; lack of modest custody?

C Used lawful goods without thanksgiving; refused little mortifications grace prompted?

How to use both surfaces together

1. Returning after serious sin: Part I, purgative prompts → Confession soon → only then light Part II.
2. Regular monthly Confession: Part I quickly for clarity; Part II more slowly for growth.
3. Under spiritual direction / deeper prayer: Keep Part I honest (never outgrow the Decalogue); let Part II and contemplative undertones refine purity of intention.

Against two diseases

Laxity skips the Commandments and talks only about “growth.” Scrupulosity invents sins in the contemplative column to avoid the real one God is naming. If you are scrupulous, use a short fixed list, obey your confessor, and do not re-chew forgiven sins.

Close the examen

1. Thank God for the light given.
2. Make an act of contrition.
3. Choose one concrete resolution (not ten).
4. Bring grave matter to Confession; for the rest, begin again with peace.

Inspired by Garrigou-Lagrange’s teaching on the interior life in Christian Perfection and Contemplation: moral law and the virtues held together, read through the ages of the spiritual life. This is a lay pastoral tool for Confession and conversion — not a critical edition of his work, and not a substitute for your confessor’s judgment.

Study Questions

1. Why is the examen twofold (Commandments/Precepts and Virtues) rather than only one list?
2. Explain purgative, illuminative, and contemplative undertones in one sentence each.
3. Which surface should you emphasize if you suspect mortal sin — and why?
4. How can the same Commandment prompt different questions at different depths?
5. Name one resolution this examen is asking of you this week.

Continue your formation: Beginning: Commandments & Precepts · The Virtues (draft companion) · How to Study the Faith · Diabolical Influence · Interior Life Map (to write next)