How many Lenten Seasons have you been through? I won’t admit how many I’ve been though. It’s sort of embarrassing. Why? It is not because of the years or my age. Actually, it’s because each Lent we have an opportunity for growth and I can’t really say that there has always been a distinctive, measurable difference in my spiritual life.

I asked the people of the parish one day, “How many converts do we have here?” A handful of them raised their hands. I looked at them in a very perplexed expression and said, “Gee, how many people here are baptized?” I could see by their expressions that they were thinking, “I get it!” So I asked them again, How many converts to we have here?” They all raised their hands.

The RCIA programs have brought about a new consciousness to conversion, especially during the Lenten season.  We life-long Catholics are challenged as to what type of witness we’ve been giving all along. We’re expecting these people to change and forgetting that we must change too! How can we hope to remove the splinter from the eyes of our brothers and sisters when we have planks in our own?

This is a joyful season. Joyful? Well, that’s what the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer says. It might be expressed in a much more subdued manner, but it’s done joyfully nonetheless. You see, Jesus can’t be separated into parts. He is birth, passion, death, resurrection, and second coming. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We experience him different ways because he joined us in the context of history. We have joy because we know of the total Jesus. We know of his mercy. We know of the journey.

Our lives are all journeys of faith. We have many different experiences. Every human experience is valid for growth. But, did we learn anything from the experience or do we find ourselves in a rut. Well, this season calls us out of the ruts. It calls us to change. Every time we change, we become a new creation and thus can sing a “new song.” God is known a little differently by every grace that He extends to us. We learn about ourselves and learn about God. We experience grace and the accompanying joy.

Lent is a time of fasting. It sounds like such a sacrifice. It is, but it doesn’t have to be painful. We fast every day. Yes, every day! A fast is a time in which we step back for a moment to give thanks. Don’t you fast for a moment every day just before you eat long enough to say Grace? That’s a fast. Sometimes the fast can come from giving up an hour of your own time to spend it in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament for meditation. Sometimes we fast from conversation in prayer in order to hear God speaking rather than ourselves. There are many things from which one can fast.

Rather than looking back on all those years and trying to measure our conversion and change, just look back one year. Are you different? Is there something distinctly different in how you present God and His miracles to others. Don’t worry if it didn’t happen. You have a whole new opportunity.  That’s another gift from God... another grace. Next year at this time you’ll be able to make that distinction... and be just that much closer to God.

Below is an Examination of Conscience to hep you get started. Remember, penance always comes after the absolution, when you’re in a state of grace. Penance is that experience of restitution of the damage of our sins. It’s our Purgatory of joy. But we must be honest about our sins first, confess them, and move on to do God’s work. Jesus is the Truth, the Way, and he Life. We can deny no truth.
 
 
 

 
Rite of Reconciliation General Confession of Sins 

Presider:  My brothers and sisters, let us ask God to forgive our sins and open our hearts to his healing love. 

Assembly:  I confess to almighty God. 

Presider:  God our Father waits for the return of those who are lost and welcomes them back as his children. Let us pray that we may turn back to him and be received with kindness into his house. Lord, do not hold our sins against us. 

Make us a living sign of your love for all to see: people reconciled with you and with each other .  In this sign of your love you forgive us our sins: may it teach us to love others and to forgive their sins against us. Give light to our darkness and lead us by your truth. 
In your mercy free us from the past and enable us to begin a new life of holiness.  When we stray from you, guide us back into the way of holiness, love and peace. 

Presider:  Trusting in God's mercy, let us pray as Jesus taught us. 

Assembly:  Our Father... 

Presider:  Father, our source of life, You know our weaknesses. May we reach out with joy to grasp your hand and walk more readily in your ways. We ask this through Christ our Lord. 

Assembly:  Amen 
 
 

Examination of Conscience 

Reader 1: I am the Lord your God, You shall not have any other god besides me.

Reader 2: What things occupy my mind more than God? Are the sacrifices which I make for myself more than those which I give to God?  Do I tithe to myself more of my talents and treasure than I do God? Do I look for attention from myself and others? 

Reader 3 Do I judge others as if I could know what God knows? Do I attribute all good things with which I have been blessed to God, or worship myself for my own accomplishments? Have I put my own pleasure before the needs of others?

Reader 1: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Reader 2: Do I take the name of Christ in calling myself "Christian" and act otherwise? Do I take the title "body of Christ" as a member and neglect my duty to protect life at all its stages" 

Reader 3: Do I actually say the name of the Most Holy without really wanting His help... even in prayer or liturgy?

Reader 1: Remember to keep holy the Sabbath Day.

Reader 2: Have I always loved God and neighbor through the expression of worship in the Eucharistic celebration? Have I been rude and rejected Jesus present in the whole Mass by arriving late through laziness or sloth? Do I give more attention to being on time for other things? Do I just mark the day as holy by going to mass and neglect the other hours of the day as His? 

Reader 3: Do I prepare for the Eucharistic Celebration by assuring a state of grace by participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Have I received Holy Communion without that Sacrament? Have I taken time to learn about the Eucharistic Celebration and all it's parts?.. or do I merely "follow the program?"

Reader 1: Honor your father and mother.

Reader 2: Do I show respect to my parents, even knowing their faults? Have I forgiven them for their weaknesses as I want to be forgiven by God? Do I honor them by being the best I can be, thus showing how I developed what they have given me in cooperation with the Lord? 

Reader 2: Do I neglect the real needs of my parents? Have I allowed fear to dominate a relationship with my parents? Have I neglected to share what I have learned from the Lord with them?

Reader 1: You shall not kill.

Reader 2: Have I gossiped about others and killed part of their reputation? Have I sought to harm anyone in any way? Have I become vengeful? Do I look to get even? Do I reject the truth that comes from others because I don't particularly like their personality. Have I used birth control pills? (80% of all birth control pills do not prevent conception... they actually cause a hostile environment in the womb and "abort" the new life.) 

Reader 3: Do I listen to what others have to say rather than what they say? Have I aided in the mutilation of my body or that of another's? Do I have an unconfessed abortion in my past? Did I assist in helping anyone procure an abortion in any way? Have I participated in bringing about abortion by putting issues that serve me before protection life during election time?

Reader 1: You shall not commit adultery.

Reader 2: Have I looked at others as objects of pleasure, pleasures that don't align properly with my status as one who is baptized? Have I taken the form of a human being even in my thoughts and used it for perverse pleasure, devaluing it of the integrity that God has given the human person in the totality of mind, spirit, and soul? Have I entertained thoughts for carnal pleasure? 

Reader 3: Have I practiced the conjugal union with my spouse while thinking of another? Have I moved beyond chastity in any other way? Perhaps I have by using artificial birth control and reducing my spouse to a "thing" for pleasure. Have I tempted my spouse to look for another by not being available to share love? Have I married outside of my baptism?

Reader 1: You shall not steal.

Reader 2: Have I used what should be given to God for things that are not holy? Have I taken things that did not belong to me? Have I purposely taken things from work that my employer paid for to have for my own personal use without permission? Have I taken advantage of mistakes that might have been made by a cashier when I knew a price was different? 

Reader 3: Have I assumed consent to use other people's things at my own convenience? Have I used other's material possessions without asking? Have I damaged other people's material possessions without offering to compensate? Have I rationalized cheating on my income tax placing my burden on others?

Reader 1: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Reader 2: Have I made myself judge over another's heart when they have erred and talked about them? Have I practiced complaining about another other than what is prescribed in Matthew 15? Have I deliberately let a lie live on about another, even though I knew better because I didn't like the other person? 

Reader 3: Have I ever had the attitude of "They deserved that!" Have I talked about another's sins, especially when they might have been forgiven by God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation?

Reader 1: You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.

Reader 2: Have I reduced my spouse through humiliation by comparing to another's? Have I not looked at my own marriage and put it first as a Sacrament as Holy as any other? 

Reader 3: Have I wished for the talents of another's spouse to be in my own?

Reader 1: You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.

Reader 2: Am I jealous of what others might have? Have I judged others who have as more fortunate than I? Have I been jealous of their home life and neglected my responsibility in my own? 

Reader 2: Have I looked at another's things as better or beautiful than what God has given me?

Reader 1: Jesus said: "You have heard the commandment, 'You shall love your countryman and hate your enemy.' My command to you is: love your enemies, pray for your persecutors. This will prove that you are sons of your heavenly Father, for His sun rises on the bad and the good, he rains on the just and the unjust." 

Reader 2: Do I try to love the bad and the good alike? Do I pray for my enemies and persecutors? Does pride stand in the way of my living this teaching? Do I feel that the bad and the good should be treated with equality and justice in my eyes? 

Reader 3: Do I love others as I wish to be loved? Do I prove that I am a true son my heavenly Father by my attitude, actions, and deeds? Do I seek to surrender to the will of God humbly or do I seek to lead God by my will? Am I truly worthy of my Lord's sacrifice for me by the way I live? 

Quiet Reflection

Prayer of Thanksgiving 

Presider:  Lord God, Creator and ruler of your kingdom of light, In your great love for this world. You gave up your only Son for our salvation. His cross has redeemed us, His death has given us life, His resurrection has raised us to glory . Through him we ask you to be always present among your family. Teach us to be reverent in the presence of your glory; fill our hearts with faith, our days with good works, our lives with your love; may your truth be on our lips and your wisdom in all our actions, that we may receive the reward of everlasting life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Presider:  May the Lord guide your hearts in the way of his love and fill you with Christ-like patience. 

Assembly:  Amen 

Presider:  May he give you strength to walk in newness of life and to please him in all things. 

Assembly:  Amen 

Presider:  May almighty God bless you, in the name of the Father, and the Son, +and of the Holy Spirit. 

Assembly:  Amen 

Assembly:  The Lord has given you the gift of forgiveness. 

TIME FOR INDIVIDUAL CONFESSIONS 

 

1 Corinthians 11:27

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.

A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup.
For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying.

If we discerned ourselves, we would not be under judgment;
but since we are judged by (the) Lord, we are being disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.