{"id":449,"date":"2011-07-25T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-25T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience\/"},"modified":"2017-01-26T22:32:18","modified_gmt":"2017-01-27T03:32:18","slug":"an-examination-of-conscience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html","title":{"rendered":"an examination of conscience…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u2026 harder than the act of making a confession is the examination of conscience that precedes it. It\u2019s all that introspection and recalling of sins. I suppose a good examination of conscience is what prevents most people from making a regular habit of reconciliation. <\/p>\n

It might be something as simple as thinking they don\u2019t need to confess anything. No one has broken any commandants, so no harm no foul. <\/p>\n

I suspect most people probably think they are good people. Personally, I think most people are good intentioned. But \u201cgood intentioned\u201d and \u201cgoodness\u201d aren\u2019t the same thing, especially since one paves the road to hell. <\/p>\n

Quite a few people I know and love think they are good people. They don\u2019t break civil laws, cheat on their spouses and kick puppies. They\u2019ve done no serious ill will against another so what do they have to confess? I can understand that thinking. It is the same thought process that kept me out of the confessional for over eight months. Oh, and there was the fact that I had no real intention of quitting the sin I would be confessing anyway, but we\u2019ll save that lovely revelation for some other post. <\/p>\n

So back to the examination. I have always hated exams. Exams at school, physicals at the doctor\u2019s office. No one wants to find out they\u2019re really stupid or are in failing health\u2026 because then we have to fix that. We have to study harder and start eating leafy greens and other horrible things like fiber; maybe even start exercising! *gasp* All that work and self improvement sucks. Its hard for us to imagine the end result of a degree or not dropping dead of a heart attack at 45. It\u2019s all so abstract. Kind of like the idea of Heaven. <\/p>\n

My Unfortunate Lutheran Friend doesn\u2019t see the point in it all if we can live like self indulgent heathens our whole lives and confess once on our death bed and be in the clear. Never mind the Good Thief in the Bible. I just think people look for any justification to not have to look within themselves and realize that maybe, just maybe, they aren\u2019t such good people after all. <\/p>\n

With a proper examination of conscience we have to recall and confess every ugly thought, derogatory comment, uncharitable reaction, piece of useless gossip we spread, and every time we silently cursed the jack hole that cut us off in our morning commute. Yes, I now these are venial sins. However, left unchecked and accounted for, these venial sins begin to morph into uglier things. Bigger things. <\/p>\n

These unexamined and unconfessed venial sins make it easier for us to slop around in the muckier mortal stuff.<\/p>\n

One of the hardest things for me to come to grips with was the fact that I wasn\u2019t as good a person as I initially thought. And I honestly believe had it not been for The Church or the sacrament of confession I would die thinking I was indeed a good person\u2026 only to find out too late I was just good intentioned.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026 harder than the act of making a confession is the examination of conscience that precedes it. It\u2019s all that introspection and recalling of sins. I suppose a good examination of conscience is what prevents most people from making a regular habit of reconciliation. It might be something as simple as thinking they don\u2019t need […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nan examination of conscience...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"... harder than the act of making a confession is the examination of conscience that precedes it. It's all that introspection and recalling of sins. I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"an examination of conscience...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"... harder than the act of making a confession is the examination of conscience that precedes it. It's all that introspection and recalling of sins. I\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Crescat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-25T22:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-27T03:32:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/18613340-3741633353930535920?l=thecrescat.blogspot.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katrina Fernandez\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katrina Fernandez\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html\",\"name\":\"an examination of conscience...\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-25T22:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-27T03:32:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#\/schema\/person\/c9dc4618a6b6ed3f289501dad3a031b2\"},\"description\":\"... harder than the act of making a confession is the examination of conscience that precedes it. It's all that introspection and recalling of sins. I\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"an examination of conscience…\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/\",\"name\":\"The Crescat\",\"description\":\"Fortified with vitamin BXVI. Not a substitute for regular mass attendance. Side effects may include mackerel snapping.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#\/schema\/person\/c9dc4618a6b6ed3f289501dad3a031b2\",\"name\":\"Katrina Fernandez\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63fb79a49cad186031168f8db7e7abe1?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63fb79a49cad186031168f8db7e7abe1?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katrina Fernandez\"},\"description\":\"Mackerel Snapping Papist\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/author\/thecrescat\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"an examination of conscience...","description":"... harder than the act of making a confession is the examination of conscience that precedes it. It's all that introspection and recalling of sins. I","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"an examination of conscience...","og_description":"... harder than the act of making a confession is the examination of conscience that precedes it. It's all that introspection and recalling of sins. I","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html","og_site_name":"The Crescat","article_published_time":"2011-07-25T22:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-27T03:32:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/18613340-3741633353930535920?l=thecrescat.blogspot.com"}],"author":"Katrina Fernandez","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Katrina Fernandez","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html","name":"an examination of conscience...","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-07-25T22:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-27T03:32:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#\/schema\/person\/c9dc4618a6b6ed3f289501dad3a031b2"},"description":"... harder than the act of making a confession is the examination of conscience that precedes it. It's all that introspection and recalling of sins. I","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2011\/07\/an-examination-of-conscience.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"an examination of conscience…"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/","name":"The Crescat","description":"Fortified with vitamin BXVI. Not a substitute for regular mass attendance. Side effects may include mackerel snapping.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#\/schema\/person\/c9dc4618a6b6ed3f289501dad3a031b2","name":"Katrina Fernandez","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63fb79a49cad186031168f8db7e7abe1?s=96&d=retro&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63fb79a49cad186031168f8db7e7abe1?s=96&d=retro&r=g","caption":"Katrina Fernandez"},"description":"Mackerel Snapping Papist","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/author\/thecrescat"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}