Examination of conscience

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St. Pope Pius X: "The excellence of the examination of conscience is established by the teaching of the great masters of the spiritual life."

Examination of conscience is a review of one's past thoughts, words and actions for the purpose of ascertaining their conformity with, or difformity from, the moral law. Among Christians, this is generally a private review; secular intellectuals have, on occasion, published autocritiques for public consumption.

"The excellence of this practice and its fruitfulness for christian virtue," preached Pope St. Pius X, "are clearly established by the teaching of the great masters of the spiritual life." St. Ignatius of Loyola considered the examination of conscience as the single most important spiritual exercise.

[edit] Philosophy

Some of the ancient philosophers -- the Stoics in particular -- studied to be blameless in their own sight, and for this they made frequent use of self-inspection. They professed the doctrine that the happiness and dignity of man consist in virtue, or compliance with the law of reason, or with conscience; and thus examinations of conscience were a regular practice in the schools of the Stoics and of their later followers, such Eclectics as Quintus Sextius and Seneca.

[edit] Christianity

Examination of conscience was commanded by the Apostle St. Paul to be performed by the faithful each time they received Holy Communion: "Let a man prove" -- that is examine -- "himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice; for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment to himself . . . if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged" (1 Corinthians 11:28-31). And, as the early Christians received Holy communion very frequently, examination of conscience became a familiar exercise of their spiritual life. Thus we read of the great hermit St. Anthony, that he examined his conscience every night, while St. Basil of Caesarea, St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and founders of religious orders generally made the examination of conscience a regular daily exercise of their followers. What was thus enjoined on religious by rule was inculcated upon the faithful at large by the masters of the spiritual life as a most effectual means to advance in virtue.

St. Bernard taught: "As a searching investigator of the integrity of your own conduct, submit your life to a daily examination. Consider carefully what progress you have made or what ground you have lost. Strive to know yourself. Place all your faults before your eyes. Come face to face with yourself, as though you were another person, and then weep for your faults."

Distinct from this is the examination required as a proximate preparation for sacramental confession. As discretion is to be used in remitting or retaining sins, the confession of the sinner is necessary and to confess his faults he must examine his conscience with proper diligence.

As to the daily examination of conscience, two species must be distinguished, the general and the particular. The former aims at the correction of all kinds of faults, the latter at the avoidance of some particular fault or the acquisition of some particular virtue.

As to the importance of this practice, St. Pius X taught in Haerent Animo:

Ignatius Loyola: Examination of conscience is the single most important spiritual exercise

The excellence of this practice and its fruitfulness for christian virtue are clearly established by the teaching of the great masters of the spiritual life.

Experience shows that the man who frequently subjects his thoughts, words and actions to a strict examination, gains new strength of soul both to detest and fly from evil and to desire and strive for the good.

[edit] Autocritique

Among secular intellectuals, particularly Marxists, the term autocritique, borrowed from the French, is used. This is particularly applied to a public, "methodological attempt to step away from themselves through a process of self-objectification", and was popular in France following the Algerian War^[1]. Edgar Morin's questioning of his own motives as a defender of Algeria popularised the term; other well-known examples include Jawaharlal Nehru's anonymous dissection of his own personality and drive in the Modern Review.

[edit] References

• Catholic Encyclopedia "Examination of Conscience"