By Jiminy Cricket, time to examine my conscience

When I was five, my favorite movie was Disney's Pinocchio, with the Blue Fairy and Jiminy Cricket. I doubt the movie figured much in my First Confession, but that squeaky-voiced cricket could have been a good guide in the examination of conscience that came before my confession.

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As we prepare to enter Lent and our diocese focuses on the Stewardship of Prayer, we might wonder what is actually involved in an "examination of conscience."

There are really two forms of examination. Both involve a prayerful look at our actions in light of how we are called to live as Christians. Each is a matter of self-awareness, of understanding what we have done and why we do it.

The first examination of conscience prepares us to receive the sacraments, especially the sacrament of reconciliation (confession). The examination is part of what we call contrition, "by which we consider, judge and arrange our life according to the holiness and love of God ... The genuineness of penance depends on this heartfelt contrition. For conversion should affect a person from within toward a progressively deeper enlightenment and an ever-closer likeness to Christ" (Rite of Penance, 6a).

Some of us learned to examine our conscience like a grocery list -- I missed Mass 10 times, I lied 13 times. Correspondingly, many priests had another checklist, from which they assigned appropriate penances based on each type and number of offense.

When Vatican II decreed a renewal of the sacrament in 1963, this changed. Reconciliation is now better understood as a sacrament of healing, by which we receive God's loving mercy and our relationships with God and others are healed (see, Lumen Gentium, 11).

However, in examining one's conscience before confession, looking at how one measures up can be very helpful. The Rite of Penance recommends comparing one's "life with the example and commandments of Christ" (15). One good way is to reflect upon the great commandments to love God and one another (Mt 19:16-19). These, in turn, sum up the Ten Commandments, which can also be a good guide to use.

Another good point of reference can be the Beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-12), which "shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1716).

The Greek philosopher Plato is credited with saying, "the unexamined life is not worth living." And this philosophy lies behind the second form of examination of conscience, one that we can do daily, apart from participating in the sacraments. Indeed, this examination -- more a reflection upon our day -- is often used as a form of meditative prayer.

This meditative practice dates to at least the 14th century and was common in monasteries. One of its most famous advocates was St. Ignatius of Loyola, who made an examination of conscience one of his Spiritual Exercises.

There are two ways to use this examination of conscience:

• The particular examination focuses a specific flaw we would like to change. Say I want to stop cursing. In the morning, I resolve to avoid certain language. Then, throughout the day, I would pause to reflect on how well I've done and why I may have failed, and pray to do better.

• The general examination usually takes place at night and consists of five parts, all of which involve prayer and reflection:

1) Begin by praising and thanking God

2) Pray to be able to recognize and correct the ways in which we turn from God and from love of neighbor

3) Review your day, honestly looking at the times you acted wrongly or even failed to act.

4) Pray for God's forgiveness and loving guidance.

5) Resolve to do better and reflect on concrete ways to change your life -- conversion.

Pope John Paul, in proclaiming the Holy Year that opened the Third Millennium, said that such prayerful reflection opens us to the strength of God's love poured freely into our hearts.

"Examination of conscience," he said, "is therefore one of the most decisive moments of life. It places each individual before the truth of his own life."

And that truth, based on the loving reflection of God, will direct our lives more surely than any cricket in a top hat ever could.