Examination of Conscience for Adults: By the Ten Commandments

How to Make an Examination of Conscience

To make an examination of conscience, pray to the Holy Spirit, go back to your last good confession, read the questions slowly, note the sins that apply with roughly how often, and then ask God for sorrow. Fifteen minutes is enough for most people. If it has been years, give it an hour.

1. Pray first. "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any wicked way in me" (Psalm 139:23-24). Ask the Holy Spirit to show you your sins as God sees them, without excuses and without despair.
2. Start from your last good confession, the last time you confessed honestly and completely.
3. Go through the commandments below. Skip questions that do not fit your life. Do not skip the ones that sting.
4. For serious sins, note the kind and roughly how often: "about once a week", "three times". You do not need to tell the whole story or name anyone else.
5. Write it down if it helps, on paper or your phone, and destroy the list after confession.
6. Ask for sorrow. Look at a crucifix. Then pray an Act of Contrition.

Mortal or venial?

A sin is mortal when three conditions are all met: the matter is grave, you knew it was seriously wrong, and you chose it freely (CCC 1857 to 1859). Grave matter is spelled out by the Ten Commandments. Fear, compulsion, addiction or ignorance you could not help can reduce your guilt (CCC 1860, 2352). Mortal sins must be confessed in kind and number. Venial sins need not be, though confessing them is strongly encouraged (CCC 1458). If you honestly do not know whether something was mortal, confess it and say you are unsure.

The Examination by the Ten Commandments

1. I am the Lord your God: you shall have no other gods before me

• Have I neglected daily prayer, or prayed only when I wanted something?
• Have I deliberately doubted or denied a truth of the faith, or been ashamed to be known as a Catholic?
• Have I consulted horoscopes, fortune tellers, tarot, psychics or spiritualism, or taken part in the occult (CCC 2116)?
• Have I trusted in lucky charms or superstitions (CCC 2111)?
• Have I put money, work, pleasure, a relationship, sport or my phone ahead of God?
• Have I received Communion in a state of mortal sin, or deliberately hidden a mortal sin in confession (CCC 2120)?
• Have I despaired of God's mercy, or presumed on it by sinning because "God will forgive me anyway"?

2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

• Have I used the name of God or of Jesus carelessly, in anger or as a curse word?
• Have I blasphemed, or mocked God, the saints or holy things?
• Have I sworn a false oath, or broken a vow or serious promise made to God (CCC 2152)?

3. Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day

• Have I deliberately missed Mass on a Sunday or holy day of obligation without a serious reason such as illness or caring for a child (CCC 2181)? See our guide to missing Sunday Mass.
• Have I arrived late or left early without reason, or let myself be deliberately distracted at Mass?
• Have I kept the Lord's Day as a day of rest, or filled it with unnecessary work and shopping, or made others work needlessly?

4. Honour your father and your mother

• Have I disrespected, disobeyed or neglected my parents, or abandoned them in old age or illness?
• Have I been unkind to my spouse, children, brothers or sisters?
• Have I failed in my duties at work, to my employer or employees, or as a citizen, including voting and paying just taxes?

5. You shall not kill

• Have I physically harmed anyone, or wished someone dead or seriously harmed?
• Have I nursed hatred, refused to forgive, or plotted revenge? See our guide to anger and wrath.
• Have I had, encouraged, paid for or helped with an abortion (CCC 2270 to 2272)? Every priest can absolve this sin, and God's mercy is waiting for you.
• Have I abused alcohol or drugs, driven drunk or dangerously, or deliberately harmed my health (CCC 2290 to 2291)?
• Have I led someone else into sin by my words or example (CCC 2284)?
• Have I bullied, humiliated or emotionally abused anyone, in person or online?

6. You shall not commit adultery

• Have I been unfaithful to my spouse in act, or in an emotional affair?
• Have I had sexual relations outside marriage (CCC 2353)? See our guide to sex before marriage.
• Have I looked at pornography, or masturbated (CCC 2352, 2354)? See overcoming pornography.
• Have I sent or asked for sexual images or messages?
• Have I dressed, spoken or acted in order to arouse lust in others?

7. You shall not steal

• Have I stolen anything, or kept what belongs to someone else? Have I made restitution, or do I intend to (CCC 2412)?
• Have I cheated in business, on taxes, on expenses or in school, or wasted my employer's time while being paid for it?
• Have I pirated software, films or music, or not paid debts I could pay?
• Have I gambled away money my family needed? See gambling and how to stop.
• Have I been stingy with the poor, or failed to support the Church according to my means?

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour

• Have I lied, or deceived someone in a way that harmed them? See lying.
• Have I gossiped, or revealed someone's real faults without need (detraction), or spread lies about them (calumny) (CCC 2477)? See gossip and detraction.
• Have I judged others rashly, or tried to repair a reputation I damaged?
• Have I shared private information I was trusted with?

9. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife

• Have I deliberately entertained lustful thoughts or fantasies about someone who is not my spouse?
• Have I willingly put myself in situations, online or in person, that I knew would lead to impure thoughts?

10. You shall not covet your neighbour's goods

• Have I been envious of other people's money, success, looks or relationships (CCC 2539)? See envy.
• Have I let greed or the love of money drive my decisions? See greed.
• Have I been resentful at God for what he has given others?

The Precepts of the Church

The precepts of the Church are the minimum the Church asks of every Catholic so that you keep growing in love of God and neighbour (CCC 2041 to 2043). Examine yourself on them too.

• Have I attended Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, and rested from unnecessary work?
• Have I gone to confession at least once a year if I am conscious of grave sin?
• Have I received Holy Communion at least once during the Easter season?
• Have I kept the days of fasting and abstinence, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and the Fridays of Lent?
• Have I helped to provide for the needs of the Church according to my means?

An Examination of Conscience for Married People and Parents

Married people and parents should add questions about the vows they made and the children entrusted to them. Marriage is your path to holiness, so most of your sins and most of your graces will be found there.

For husbands and wives

• Have I put my spouse first after God, ahead of work, friends, parents and hobbies?
• Have I been harsh, contemptuous, sarcastic or cold to my spouse, or given them the silent treatment as a weapon?
• Have I refused reasonable affection or intimacy out of spite, or demanded it selfishly?
• Have I used contraception or acted against the openness to life of marriage (CCC 2370)? See our guide to contraception.
• Have I hidden money, debts, accounts, messages or a habit from my spouse?
• Have I flirted with someone else, kept a secret friendship, or looked at pornography?
• Have I prayed with and for my spouse? Have I forgiven them for the same things I want forgiven?

For parents

• Have I taught my children to pray and brought them to Sunday Mass and the sacraments?
• Have I given my children time, attention and correction, or handed them to screens to keep the peace?
• Have I lost my temper with my children, humiliated them, or played favourites?
• Have I set a bad example in my language, drinking, spending or treatment of their other parent?
• Have I protected my children from pornography and dangerous content online?

For more on the vocation itself, see our guide to Catholic marriage.

An Examination of Conscience for Teens and Young Adults

Teens and young adults face the same commandments in a different setting: phones, school, friends, parents and dating. Use these questions alongside the main examination.

• Have I prayed every day, or only in a crisis? Have I skipped Sunday Mass when I could have gone?
• Have I lied to my parents, disobeyed them in serious things, or treated them with contempt?
• Have I cheated on tests or homework, or copied work and passed it off as mine?
• Have I bullied, excluded or mocked someone, in person, in a group chat or online?
• Have I looked at pornography, sent or asked for sexual images, or gone further physically than I should with a boyfriend or girlfriend?
• Have I drunk underage, vaped, or used drugs?
• Have I wasted hours on my phone or games that I owed to sleep, study, family or God?
• Have I gossiped, shared screenshots to humiliate someone, or spread rumours?
• Have I been jealous of other people's lives online, or let likes and followers decide my worth?

Look at the Roots: The Seven Deadly Sins

The commandments show you what you did. The seven deadly sins show you why. Once you have examined yourself by the commandments, ask which root keeps producing the fruit: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath or sloth. A man who keeps lying at work may find the root is pride. A woman who keeps snapping at her family may find the root is sloth, a spiritual exhaustion she has never named.

Our guide to the seven deadly sins has a full examination built on the capital sins, and the deep guides to lust, sloth and acedia and gluttony go further on each one. Naming the root tells you what to work on between confessions.

If the Examination Makes You Anxious

If examining your conscience leaves you anxious, convinced every thought was a mortal sin, or unable to believe you are forgiven, you may be struggling with scrupulosity. It is common, it is painful, and it is treatable. St. Alphonsus Liguori, the Church's great moral theologian, suffered from it.

• Choose one regular confessor, tell him you struggle with scruples, and follow his guidance even when it feels wrong.
• Use a short examination, once, and do not repeat it.
• Confess only what you are sure was serious, and trust the absolution. God is not waiting for you to find a loophole.
• Consider a counsellor. Scrupulosity often overlaps with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and good care helps.

Our guide to scrupulosity has more help.

The Daily Examen: Two Minutes Every Night

The daily examen is a short nightly review of your day, taught by St. Ignatius of Loyola, that keeps your conscience awake between confessions. It has five simple steps.

1. Thank God for one specific gift from today.
2. Ask for light to see the day as he sees it.
3. Review the day hour by hour: where did you love, and where did you sin or fail to act?
4. Ask forgiveness with an Act of Contrition.
5. Resolve one thing for tomorrow.

If you make the examen every night, the full examination before confession gets much easier, because you already know your patterns. Our Catholic night prayer page sets it inside a short bedtime routine.

After Your Examination: Go to Confession

An examination of conscience is preparation for confession, so finish it by finding a time and going. Most parishes hear confessions on Saturday afternoons or before Mass. Check the website tonight, or ring the parish office and ask for an appointment.

If you are nervous, our step-by-step guide on how to go to confession tells you exactly what to say and what the priest will say back. Put the date in your calendar now. The longer the list sits in your drawer, the heavier it gets, and no one knows the day or the hour (Mark 13:32). Christ is waiting to lift it.