Examination of Conscience

Yesterday I picked up Kaydence at daycare. As soon as she was strapped in her carseat she announced that she had eaten all her lunch, taken a nap, not had an accident and hadn’t hit any other kids. She was pretty proud. Recently she has had “issues” at day care and I had gotten in the habit of quizzing her at the end of the day on how things had gone. She had gotten the jump on me.

In my youth, the Examination of Conscience was a common spiritual exercise. At the end of the day, one would consider the day, it’s positives and negatives. Spiritual exercises seem “old-fashioned” these days. But they serve a good purpose. If we consider how we are doing on a daily basis, we are less likely to drift too far from the path.

If you google “examination of conscience” you will find several helpful guides for this exercise. I like the simple process of reviewing the ten commandments, keeping in mind Jesus warning about violating these provisions are possible even in our thought life. Then I consider the Great Commission and ask how I’m doing in that regard. Finally I consider Jesus command to love God and our neighbors as ourselves. There is always plenty to improve on after that.

If you follow this procedure for a while, you will discover that the Holy Spirit will work with you. He won’t hit you with every fault all at once, but will move through the areas of your life as you discover and then turn over to Jesus things which are not pleasing to him.

It seems to be working for my KK. It should probably work for the rest of us.

Be blessed.

Nick

 

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