Lex Credendi
Your comprehensive hub for Catholic prayers, apologetics, reference, and spiritual resources.
"The law of prayer is the law of belief."
Prayers
Apologetics
Reference
Confession
Examination of Conscience
Responsibilities to God
- •Have I prayed every day?
- •Have I prayed my morning prayers and night prayers?
- •Have I prayed with my parents and family?
- •Have I been moody and rebellious about praying and going to church on Sunday?
- •Have I asked the Holy Spirit to help me whenever I have been tempted to sin?
- •Have I asked the Holy Spirit to help me do what is right?
Responsibilities to Others
- •Have I been obedient and respectful to my parents?
- •Have I lied or been deceitful to them or to others?
- •Have I been arrogant, stubborn or rebellious?
- •Have I talked back to parents, teachers or other adults?
- •Have I pouted and been moody?
- •Have I been selfish toward my parents, brothers, and sisters, teachers, or my friends and schoolmates?
- •Have I gotten angry at them? Have I hit anyone?
- •Have I held grudges or not forgiven others?
- •Have I treated other children with respect or have I made fun of them and called them names?
- •Have I used bad language?
- •Have I stolen anything? Have I returned it?
- •Have I performed my responsibilities, such as homework and household chores?
- •Have I been helpful and affectionate toward my family?
- •Have I been kind and generous with my friends?
- •Did I deny or doubt God's existence?
- •Did I refuse to believe God's revelation?
- •Did I believe in (or use) horoscopes, fortune telling, good luck charms, tarot cards, Ouija boards or reincarnation?
- •Did I deny that I was a Catholic?
- •Did I abandon the Catholic Faith for any period of time?
- •Did I despair of or presume on God's mercy?
- •Did I neglect prayer for a long time?
- •Did I fail to pray daily?
- •Did I blaspheme God or take God's Name in vain, curse or break an oath or vow?
- •Did I miss Mass on a Sunday or on a Holy Day of Obligation through my own fault?
- •Am I always reverent in the presence of the Most Blessed Sacrament?
- •Was I voluntarily inattentive at Mass?
- •Did I arrive at Mass late through my own fault?
- •Did I leave Mass early?
- •Did I do unnecessary servile work on Sunday?
- •Did I disobey or disrespect my parents or legitimate superiors?
- •Did I neglect my duties to my husband, wife, children or parents?
- •Did I fail to actively take an interest in the religious education and formation of my children?
- •Have I failed to educate myself concerning the teachings of the Church?
- •Did I give a full day's work in return for a full day's pay?
- •Did I give a fair wage to my employee(s)?
- •Did I give scandal by what I said or did, especially to the young?
- •Did I contribute to anyone's abandoning of the Catholic Faith?
- •Was I impatient, angry, envious, unkind, proud, jealous, revengeful, hateful toward others or lazy?
- •Did I give bad example, abuse drugs, drink alcohol to excess, fight or quarrel?
- •Did I physically injure or kill anyone?
- •Have I had an abortion, or advised or supported an abortion?
- •Did I participate in or approve of the grave evil known as “mercy killing,” euthanasia or doctor assisted suicide?
- •Did I attempt suicide or physically harm myself?
- •Did I willfully entertain impure thoughts and desires?
- •Did I dress immodestly or provocatively?
- •Did I use impure or suggestive words?
- •Did I tell impure stories or listen to them?
- •Did I deliberately look at impure television, internet, plays, pictures or movies?
- •Did I deliberately read or send impure material?
- •Did I perform impure acts by myself (masturbation) or with another (adultery, fornication or sodomy)?
- •Did I marry or advise another to marry outside of the Church?
- •Did I abuse my marriage rights?
- •Was I unfaithful to my marriage vows?
- •Have I kept company with someone else's spouse?
- •Did I practice artificial birth control or was I or my spouse permanently sterilized (tubal ligation or vasectomy)?
- •Did I steal, cheat, help or encourage others to steal, cheat, or keep stolen goods?
- •Have I made restitution for stolen goods?
- •Did I deliberately fail to fulfill my contracts or to pay my bills? Did I give or accept bribes?
- •Did I rashly gamble or speculate or deprive my family of the necessities of life?
- •Did I tell lies? Deliberately in order to deceive or injure others? (slander or calumny)
- •Did I commit perjury?
- •Did I vote in accordance with a properly informed conscience, in a way consistent with the teachings of the Church, in regard to the sanctity of marriage and of human life issues?
- •Was I uncharitable in thought, word or deed?
- •Did I gossip or reveal the faults or sins of others? (detraction)
- •Did I fail to keep secrets that I should have kept?
- •Did I eat meat knowingly on the Fridays during Lent or on Ash Wednesday? (Ages 14+)
- •Did I fast as required on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday? (Ages 18-59)
- •Did I fail to receive Holy Communion during the Easter Season?
- •Did I fail to confess my sins at least once a year?
- •Did I receive Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin?
- •Did I receive Holy Communion without fasting for one hour or more from food and drink? (water and medicine are permitted)
- •Did I make a bad Confession by deliberately not telling all the mortal sins I had committed?
- •Did I fail to contribute to the support of the Church?
- •Have I forgiven those who have hurt or harmed me or my loved ones?
How to go to Confession
- 1. The priest will greet you.
- 2. The penitent says: “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.” You then say how long it has been since your last Confession.
- 3. The penitent tells the priest his sins simply and forthrightly (if mortal sin, give kind and approximate number).
- 4. The priest will give you some advice and will assign you a penance.
- 5. The penitent will next pray the Act of Contrition.
- 6. The priest then gives the penitent absolution.
- 7. The priest will then say: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.”
- 8. The penitent responds: “His mercy endures forever.” The priest will then dismiss you.
- 9. The penitent carries out the assigned penance.
Reading Plan
Bible in a Year
Today's Scripture Passages
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Catechism in a Year
Today's Paragraphs
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Meditation
Ready
The Jesus Prayer