For an Examination of Conscience
From a Pastoral Letter of Archbishop Bruno Forte
CHIETI, Italy, FEB. 21, 2006 (Zenit.org).- In an appendix to a pastoral letter on the sacrament of reconciliation, Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto outlines questions that could be used for examining one's conscience before going to confess.
The last part of the pastoral letter appears in today's dispatch.
* * *
For the Examination of Conscience
If possible, prepare yourself for confession with regularity, not allowing too much time to pass. Prepare your confession in a climate of prayer, responding to these questions under the gaze of God, seeing him as the one you can go to for help to progress more quickly along the path of the Lord.
1. "You shall not have other gods besides me" (Deuteronomy 5:7). "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37).
Do I love God like this? Do I give him the first place in my life? Do I eagerly reject all idols that could get between him and me, be it money, pleasure, superstition, or power? Do I listen with faith to his Word? Do I persevere in prayer?
2. "You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain" (Deuteronomy 5:11).
Do I respect the holy name of God? Do I abuse him in my references to him, offending him, or making use of him, instead of serving him? Do I bless God in each one of my actions? Do I surrender myself without reserve to his will for me, trusting entirely in him? Do I entrust myself with humility and confidence to the guidance and teaching of the pastors which the Lord has given to his Church? Do I make an effort to go deeper in and strengthen my life of faith?
3. "Take care to keep holy the Sabbath day as the Lord, your God, commanded you" (Deuteronomy 5: 12-15).
Do I make Sunday the center of my week, beginning with the most important moment, the celebration of the Eucharist? Do I use it, and the other days consecrated to the Lord, to praise and give thanks to God, to entrust myself to him and take rest in him? Do I participate faithfully and actively in the liturgy, preparing myself beforehand with prayer, and making the effort to obtain its fruits during the entire week? Do I sanctify the holy day with some act of love toward the needy?
4. "Honor your father and your mother" (Deuteronomy 5:16).
Do I love and respect those who have given me life? Do I make the effort to understand and help them, above all in their weaknesses and limits?
5. "Thou shalt not kill" (Deuteronomy 5:17).
Do I make the effort to respect and promote life in all of its stages and aspects? Do I do everything in my power to promote the good of the others? Have I done evil to someone with the explicit intention of doing it?
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39).
How do I live charity toward my neighbor? Am I attentive and available, above all with the poorest and weakest? Do I love myself, knowing how to accept my limits under the gaze of God?
6. "You shall not commit impure acts" (cf. Deuteronomy 5:18). "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife" (Deuteronomy 5:21).
Am I chaste in thoughts and actions? Do I make the effort to love with gratitude, free of the temptation to possess or be jealous? Do I always respect the dignity of the human person? Do I treat my body and the bodies of others as a temple of the Holy Spirit?
7. "You shall not steal" (Deuteronomy 5:19). "You shall not desire your neighbor's goods" (Deuteronomy 5:21).
Do I respect the goods of creation? Am I honest in my work and in my relations with my neighbor? Do I respect the fruit of others' labor? Am I envious of the goods of the others? Do I make an effort to make others happy, or do I only think of myself?
8. "You shall not bear dishonest witness against your neighbor" (Deuteronomy 5:20).
Am I sincere and loyal in each word and action? Do I always speak only the truth? Do I try to give confidence and act in a way that inspires confidence in the others?
9. Do I make an effort to follow the example of Christ in my life of surrender to God and my neighbor? Do I try to be like him: humble, poor and chaste?
10. Do I faithfully find the Lord in the sacraments, in fellowship, and in service to the poor? Do I live with hope in eternal life, seeing each thing under the light of God, always trusting in his promises?
[Translation by ZENIT]
ZE06022105
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Monday, February 20, 2006
Song of the Sinful Woman
Click here then scroll down to download a free mp3 of Khouriye Joyce Black singing "The Song of the Sinful Woman" by Kassiani the Nun. It was recorded in a service during Great Week at St. Philip's Antiochian Orthodox Church (Souderton, PA). It is simply beautiful!
Below I've transcribed the lyrics as best as I can make them out.
---
O Lord God,
the woman who hath fallen into many sins,
having perceived thy divinity,
receive a rank of ointment bearer
offering these spices before thy burial.
Wailing and crying:
Woe is me! for the love of adultery and sin
hath given me a dark and lightless night.
Accept the fountains of my tears,
O thou who draweth the waters of the sea by the clouds.
Incline, O incline thou to the sighing of my heart,
O thou who didst bend the heavens,
by thine incomprehensible condescension.
I will kiss thy pure feet
And I will wipe them with my tresses.
I will kiss thy feet, those that tread
when it fell on the ears of Eve
in paradise, dismayed her,
so that she defiled herself because of fear.
Who then shall examine the multitude of my sins
And the depth of thy judgement?
Wherefore, O My Savior and the deliverer of my soul,
turn not away from thy handmaiden.
O thou of countless mercies.
Below I've transcribed the lyrics as best as I can make them out.
---
O Lord God,
the woman who hath fallen into many sins,
having perceived thy divinity,
receive a rank of ointment bearer
offering these spices before thy burial.
Wailing and crying:
Woe is me! for the love of adultery and sin
hath given me a dark and lightless night.
Accept the fountains of my tears,
O thou who draweth the waters of the sea by the clouds.
Incline, O incline thou to the sighing of my heart,
O thou who didst bend the heavens,
by thine incomprehensible condescension.
I will kiss thy pure feet
And I will wipe them with my tresses.
I will kiss thy feet, those that tread
when it fell on the ears of Eve
in paradise, dismayed her,
so that she defiled herself because of fear.
Who then shall examine the multitude of my sins
And the depth of thy judgement?
Wherefore, O My Savior and the deliverer of my soul,
turn not away from thy handmaiden.
O thou of countless mercies.
St. Raphael, pray for us.
A beautiful prayer to St. Raphael, my patron saint, sent to me by a dear friend.
O Raphael,
lead us towards those we are waiting for,
those who are waiting for us!
Raphael, Angel of Happy Meetings,
lead us by the hand towards those we are looking for!
May all our movements,
all their movements,
be guided by your Light and transfigured by your Joy.
Angel Guide of Tobias,
lay the request we now address to you at the feet of Him
on whose unveiled Face you are privileged to gaze.
Lonely and tired,
crushed by the separations and sorrows of earth,
we feel the need of calling to you
and of pleading for the protection of your wings,
so that we may not be as strangers in the Province of Joy,
all ignorant of the concerns of our country.
Remember the weak, you who are strong--
you whose home lies beyond the region of thunder,
in a land that is always peaceful,
always serene,
and bright with the resplendent glory of God.
Amen.
O Raphael,
lead us towards those we are waiting for,
those who are waiting for us!
Raphael, Angel of Happy Meetings,
lead us by the hand towards those we are looking for!
May all our movements,
all their movements,
be guided by your Light and transfigured by your Joy.
Angel Guide of Tobias,
lay the request we now address to you at the feet of Him
on whose unveiled Face you are privileged to gaze.
Lonely and tired,
crushed by the separations and sorrows of earth,
we feel the need of calling to you
and of pleading for the protection of your wings,
so that we may not be as strangers in the Province of Joy,
all ignorant of the concerns of our country.
Remember the weak, you who are strong--
you whose home lies beyond the region of thunder,
in a land that is always peaceful,
always serene,
and bright with the resplendent glory of God.
Amen.
desert trials
Desert spirituality is not for everyone. On this subject, St. Francis de Sales remarked thusly:
"Lot, who was so chaste in the city, defiled himself in the desert"
~ Introduction to the Devout Life, pt.1, ch.3
"Lot, who was so chaste in the city, defiled himself in the desert"
~ Introduction to the Devout Life, pt.1, ch.3
Theology and Sanity
Recommended by a friend for converts from Mormonism:
Theology and Sanity by FJ Sheed, c1946
first 3 paragraphs:
"MY concern in this book is not with the will but with the intellect, not with sanctity but with sanity. The difference is too often overlooked in the practice of religion. The soul has two faculties and they should be clearly distinguished. There is the will: its work is to love—and so to choose, to decide, to act. There is the intellect: its work is TO KNOW, TO UNDERSTAND, TO SEE: to see what? TO SEE WHAT'S THERE.
I have said that my concern is with the intellect rather than with the will: this not because the intellect matters more in religion than the will, but because it does matter and tends to be neglected, and the neglect is bad. I realize that salvation depends directly upon the will. We are saved or damned according to what we love. If we love God, we shall ultimately get God: we shall be saved. If we love self in preference to God then we shall get self apart from God: we shall be damned. But though in our relation to God the intellect does not matter as much as the will (and indeed depends for its health upon the will) it does matter, and as I have said, it is too much neglected—to the great misfortune of the will, for we can never attain a maximum love of God with only a minimum knowledge of God.
For the soul's full functioning, we need a Catholic intellect as well as a Catholic will. We have a Catholic will when we love God and obey God, love the Church and obey the Church. We have a Catholic intellect when we live consciously in the presence of the realities that God through His Church has revealed. A good working test of a Catholic will is that we should do what the Church says. But for a Catholic intellect, we must also see what the Church sees. This means that when we look out upon the universe we see the same universe that the Church sees; and the enormous advantage of this is that the universe the Church sees is the real universe, because She is the Church of God. Seeing what She sees means seeing what is there. And just as loving what is good is SANCTITY, or the health of the will,
so seeing what is there is SANITY, or the health of the intellect."
Theology and Sanity by FJ Sheed, c1946
first 3 paragraphs:
"MY concern in this book is not with the will but with the intellect, not with sanctity but with sanity. The difference is too often overlooked in the practice of religion. The soul has two faculties and they should be clearly distinguished. There is the will: its work is to love—and so to choose, to decide, to act. There is the intellect: its work is TO KNOW, TO UNDERSTAND, TO SEE: to see what? TO SEE WHAT'S THERE.
I have said that my concern is with the intellect rather than with the will: this not because the intellect matters more in religion than the will, but because it does matter and tends to be neglected, and the neglect is bad. I realize that salvation depends directly upon the will. We are saved or damned according to what we love. If we love God, we shall ultimately get God: we shall be saved. If we love self in preference to God then we shall get self apart from God: we shall be damned. But though in our relation to God the intellect does not matter as much as the will (and indeed depends for its health upon the will) it does matter, and as I have said, it is too much neglected—to the great misfortune of the will, for we can never attain a maximum love of God with only a minimum knowledge of God.
For the soul's full functioning, we need a Catholic intellect as well as a Catholic will. We have a Catholic will when we love God and obey God, love the Church and obey the Church. We have a Catholic intellect when we live consciously in the presence of the realities that God through His Church has revealed. A good working test of a Catholic will is that we should do what the Church says. But for a Catholic intellect, we must also see what the Church sees. This means that when we look out upon the universe we see the same universe that the Church sees; and the enormous advantage of this is that the universe the Church sees is the real universe, because She is the Church of God. Seeing what She sees means seeing what is there. And just as loving what is good is SANCTITY, or the health of the will,
so seeing what is there is SANITY, or the health of the intellect."
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