Conscience Examen

Gratitude: Begin, with a moment of gratitude...

Light: Ask for the light by which to see your life as God wants you to see it.

Accounting: Make an account of all your actions and attitudes since you last celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The standard by which to judge what we have done will always remain the Ten Commandments, especially when recast by Jesus as the two great commandments about love of God and love of neighbor.

Charting the course: Whether it be to continue the course you are already on, or to correct your course when you have strayed. If your account of your actions and attitudes has alerted you to anything of sin, you have the opportunity to make amends to God, yourself, and/or others.

Entreaty: Ask God for the energy and enthusiasm to help you. In all honesty, we cannot save ourselves, no matter how hard we try. But we cannot fail if we take the help God is to eager to offer.

This method for the examination of conscience is easy to remember by the letters in the word "GRACE":

Gratitude

Request for God's light

Account of Actions and Attitudes

Chart your course, whether by continuing on course or correcting it, and

Entreat God for energy and enthusiasm