Opera Omnia

INSTRUCTION IV
THE EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE
A Note on the Sisters Pious Disciples

The Pious Disciples of the Divine Master are a precious gift of God in the houses of the Pious Society of Saint Paul.
Their contribution is not only their assistance and domestic service; above all it is their adoration which is for vocations, for their training, for the apostolate of the Pious Society of Saint Paul, for their own ministry to priests, help in case of sickness and suffrages after death.
When it comes to building new houses see that separate quarters are set aside for the Sisters, and that they have a certain freedom of movement for their apostolate, cloister, health and religious observance.
We should be generous in ministering to their religious needs; they are to have sufficient time for rest and prayers; they are to be respected.
Matters which are to be settled together (expenses, timetable, and so on) are to be agreed upon between superior and superior; not by others.
The Sisters depend on their superior for their religious life (government and administration); they depend on the Pauline superior for their service to the apostolate. There is to be a correct separation and a wise understanding.
Foster their vocations so that their members and works may increase.
They are the best cooperators the Pious Society of Saint Paul has.

* * *
Art. 113. By the vow of chastity, the Religious obliges himself to a life of celibacy, and, furthermore, by a new title - the virtue of Religion - to abstain from every internal and external act opposed to the virtue of chastity.
Art. 114. By the virtue of chastity, the vow having been established as a means of its safeguard and perfection, the Religious is bound not only to be well disposed toward the object of chastity, but also carefully to avoid whatever may soil in the smallest degree that angelic virtue. He must make use of all those means which are efficacious in preserving it.
Art. 115. Consequently, in their mutual relations members shall avoid excessive familiarity and manifestations of merely natural affection. This rule is all the more imperative when, by reason of an office assigned or of the exercise of the sacred ministry, one is compelled to deal with externs.

Examination and objectives

The examination of conscience is a taking stock of, or an inquest into, the state of our spiritual life. It is also defined as a questioning of our conscience in order to establish the good and the bad that is in us, or done by us; it is above all to discover basically where our soul stands vis-à-vis God and our sanctification.

The person who does not know himself is in the moral impossibility of sanctifying himself. Only the person who makes the examination of conscience knows himself.
It is to recognize our benefits and thus be able to say: Thanks be to God! because everything comes from him. It is to recognize our faults and be able to say: With the help of God's grace I want to remove this or that from my heart. It is to recognize what remains to be done in order to keep on working and to make progress.
Everyone has obligations which stem from the quality and quantity of their talents. Some have received five, others two, others again, one. So there is an obligation to administer them in an upright and proportionate manner. The final judgement is: Cui multum datum est multum quaeritur ab eo.¹
Consequently, to come to a complete knowledge of self:
a) We have sincerely to reflect on all the gifts that the Lord has given us. There is to be no false humility. We do so, not to glory in them but to express our gratitude to their Author and to cultivate them diligently. These are talents which God has entrusted to us and of which he will demand an account. The ground to be covered is therefore quite extensive, for it embraces natural gifts and supernatural gifts - gifts we had directly from God, gifts we received from our parents and from learning, gifts we owe to our own efforts supported by grace.
b) But we need also to be brave enough to recognize our wretchedness and our faults. We come from nothing and we tend continually towards nothing; we cannot exist or act without God's unceasing concurrence. Drawn, as we are, to evil by a threefold concupiscence, this tendency increases

through our actual sins and the habits that result therefrom. We need humbly to recognize this without being disheartened, and with God's help, to reawaken all our faculties, in order to heal our wounds, to practise virtue and to aim decisively for the perfection of our heavenly Father.
We need to examine ourselves on both our natural gifts and our supernatural gifts:
a) the qualities of our mind and the gift of faith;
b) the qualities of our feelings and the graces received;
c) the qualities of our will, our character, the particular contribution of the Holy Spirit;
d) our physical qualities and deficiencies.

The general examination and the particular examination

Reflecting on how we comply or fail to comply with the requirements of the gifts given to us by the Lord, either directly or indirectly, our general examination will be on the following:
a) how we have sanctified our mind, or not;
b) how we have sanctified our feelings, and our heart, or not;
c) how we have sanctified our will, and how to reinforce it;
d) how we have sanctified our body with its senses.
Among the virtues there is one we desire the most; likewise there is a defect which holds sway. Such a virtue or such a defect will be the object of the particular examination.

The particular examination, in the judgement of Saint Ignatius, is of greater moment than the general one, and of even more importance than meditation itself, because it enables us to run down, one by one, our defects and thus overcome them more easily. Besides, if we examine ourselves thoroughly on some important virtue, we not only acquire that virtue, but all the others related to it. Thus, whilst we advance in the practice of obedience, we perform at the same time acts of humility, of mortification, and exercise ourselves in the spirit of faith. Likewise, to acquire the virtue of humility, means that we are perfecting ourselves in the practice of obedience, of the love of God and of charity, since pride is their chief obstacle. We need, however, to follow certain rules for the choice of subject. [Cf. A. Tanquerey, op. cit., n. 468.]
At times it is useful, especially for beginners, to make this examination in writing so as to concentrate attention better and to be able to compare the results obtained each day and each week. Over the long term, however, we can ordinarily do without this and just examine ourselves quite openly.
The preventive examination of conscience is made:
- in the morning for the day, anticipating and making provision for what awaits us during the day;
- on the day of our weekly confession;
- during the day of recollection for the new month;
- during the spiritual exercises for the new spirituality year.
The general examination of the day is, in the main, made during the daily hour of adoration. Then, more

briefly, in the evening. Instead, the particular examination is generally made at about midday.
Both examinations are made each week for confession; likewise for the monthly confession and the annual [general] confession.

Plumbing the depths of our heart

In any case, and above all, the question has to be asked: Where is my heart? Or, What is my heart looking for today and in my life? Is my mind wandering? Is my will steadfast?
That which is habitual in our thoughts and our feelings, in our good or bad actions, in our tendencies and our expressions, forms the foundation of our spirit; instead our acts are fleeting and can be casual.
Such questioning has us scrutinize our heart in a rapid, positive and active way; thus what surfaces is the substance of our spiritual being; it is our habitual attitude, that which springs immediately into action, unless some external or psychological circumstance stops it.
To discover this foundation, this state, this overriding disposition is even more necessary than to sum up victories and defeats.
Then we can move on to the secondary dispositions.
One person's dominant thought is to conserve his baptismal innocence; another feels dutybound to make reparation, to weep tears, another again is devoutly eucharistic, marian, pauline, sensitive to his priestly responsibilities, full of faith, a burning zeal for God…
There are people who are dominated by pride, envy, or avarice, people who are sensual, prone to anger, mistrustful…

All these are souls, people, whose foundation is clear; it is on this foundation that they can count for doing good or be wary of any occasion; perhaps there will be a day when they have no falls or make any virtuous acts, but their heart, their soul, their state is fixed.
Glimpsing our soul in this way can be repeated, over and over, during the day; it is always a very useful thing to do.
It is, of itself, however, not sufficient; once we have plumbed the depth of our spirit or heart we must follow it up with three but quite different acts:
a) if our heart is in union with the Lord, we thank him, we acknowledge this and, with a brief invocation, stir up the fire of the love of God;
b) if, instead, our heart is not in union with the Lord, we are to make a short act of sorrow, renew our resolution, and say a short prayer to the Lord. The outcome will be to avoid lots of defects, and to strengthen our spirit in view of continued progress in the virtue.
c) Sorrow corrects the wrong and our resolution strengthens us to do good; contrition looks back over the road travelled, our resolve looks to the road ahead. The driving force of contrition has to inspire us to perfect love, love of God for his own sake and for his glory.
d) My resolution must lead me also to the one thing that is essential: to the knowledge of God, to submission to his will, to conformity with the movement of his grace. It can, it has to be, a specific resolution which gets to the heart of things; if the tendency is to move away from God I have to bring it back on course; if the inclination is to draw closer to God, I have to consolidate it, and so direct my whole being to the glory of God, in the will of God, in the grace of God. There must always be a return to this point.

Some instructions

1. The examination of conscience is made first of all on our interior acts:
On our thoughts: the virtue of faith and interior recollection; thinking in a supernatural way; mastery over our imagination, our memory, the struggle against thoughts contrary to the virtues.
On our feelings: our love of God, our love of neighbor, our attachment to honors, riches, pleasure; thoughts of selfishness, or thoughts contrary to purity, justice and the virtues in general.
On our will: docility to God's will, readiness to obey, fidelity to our duties of state, observance of justice, good and bad habits, natural inclinations.
On our character: this is of capital importance in what concerns our relations with our neighbor. A good disposition, being able to get along with others, is a powerful asset for the apostolate; a bad disposition is one of the greatest obstacles for doing good. A man of character is one who, having the courage of his convictions, strives resolutely and perseveringly to live up to them. A good character is that combination of kindness and firmness, of meekness and strength, of frankness and tact that elicits the esteem and the love of those with whom it comes in contact. A bad character is one which is lacking in frankness, in kindness, in tact or in firmness, or which, by allowing egoism to hold sway, is rude in its manner and makes itself repulsive, at times hateful to others. [Cf. A. Tanquerey, op. cit., n. 456.]

Some people have more to fear from their sins of omission than from their sins of commission. Talents, time, offices, works of zeal, practices of piety… omitted, abilities buried, virtues neglected… souls abandoned…
2. Seek out the causes of evil. Our faults against charity can stem from pride, from our character, and so on; frequent falls can be the result of lukewarmness. In general such causes could be occasions, giving rein to our senses, laziness, and so on.
Grounds for progress: keeping the same spiritual director, greater piety, the use of meditations, and so on.
3. Examine the degree of will and the spirit of prayer. The harnessing of will and grace will guarantee success in our spiritual work. If one is missing progress will be halted: Non ego autem sed gratia Dei mecum.²
4. At times it helps to make a spiritual confession, similar to a spiritual communion. It can be made in more or less the same way: a prayer that we can correctly interpret the book of our conscience, which is not easy reading; a sifting through our victories and defeats, not losing sight of our interior dispositions; sorrow for our faults; accusing ourselves before the crucified Lord; listening to his inspirations and experiencing his absolving us; imposing on ourselves an immediate short penance.
5. Most helpful is the weekly or at least monthly report we make to our confessor or spiritual director of the work undertaken.

6. Nosce teipsum,³ and not the multitude of things that are of little or no use, even though they are harmless. We gather so much useless information, or are concerned for things that do not regard us, while we fail to know ourselves; even less do we interest ourselves with what is our eternal concern! our one business.
The one who judges himself will not be judged [cf. Lk 6:37]; if we judge ourselves we condemn our evil and we will be forgiven.
Attende tibi.⁴ Of what use is it to give advice, pass judgement on the work of others, satisfy useless curiosity… if we fail to take into account the unum necessarium?⁵
Spend more time on reading the book of our conscience and a little less on idle reading, pointless shows and films.

Conclusions

The examination of conscience will, at first, be at determined times; then it will become more frequent when we ask: Where is my heart directed?; lastly, it will become practised routine, giving rise to a continual reflection on what we do and how we do it. We become more and more conscious of who we are, we enjoy a serene and continual mastery over our faculties and our interior and exterior acts.
Our resolutions and our spiritual work of correcting our faults and acquiring virtues will find greater fulfilment day by day.
What this means is that we live our religious life and our life of perfection in a real sense.
An examination that becomes a habit links up everything: piety,

study, apostolate, ministry, social relations and recreation.
The final act of virtue and of piety that we shall make will be our examination of conscience. (This will prove necessary in our final moments to check our interior dispositions of trust and love.)
The examen is neglected at first perhaps because of fickleness; then it is made more and more rarely; finally the soul finds itself, as it were, in a dark forest, completely confused, lacking any sense of direction; the consequences are inevitable, because the soul cannot find its way back to safety.
Lord, give me light so that I may know myself, as you will make me know myself at your judgement. I want to present myself before you already judged and absolved.
May I know you, O Lord, that I may love you; may I know myself, that I may despise myself.
Knowledge of God and of self means to empty this vessel (us), which has a lot of rubbish mixed in with the good, and to refill it with all the goodness of God, indisputably our greatest good and our eternal happiness. Then we shall indeed be filled with that fullness spoken of in scripture: de plenitudine ejus omnes nos accepimus.⁶ The more we empty this vessel of the rubbish it contains, the more room we make for infinite goodness, truth, grace, holiness and happiness. Sated with happiness, truth and love we shall find everything in God, the source of that living water which rises to eternal life.