"My daughter, just as you prepare in My presence, so also you make your confession before Me. The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never analyse what sort of a priest it is that I am making use of; open your soul in confession as you would to Me, and I will fill it with My light."
The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul.
Before confession—indeed, each day we spend on earth—we should measure our lives against the Ten Commandments and the example of Christ. Only through sincere examination can we identify our faults and weaknesses, and know what we must confess and where we must strive. Consider the following:
1. I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before me.
- Do I give God time every day in prayer?
- Do I seek to love Him with my whole heart?
- Have I been involved with superstitious practices or the occult?
- Do I seek to surrender myself to God's Word as taught by the Church?
- Have I ever received Communion in a state of mortal sin?
- Have I ever deliberately told a lie or withheld a mortal sin in confession?
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
- Have I used God's name in vain, lightly or carelessly?
- Have I been angry with God?
- Have I wished evil upon another person?
- Have I insulted a sacred person or abused a sacred object?
3. Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day.
- Have I deliberately missed Mass on Sundays or Holy Days of Obligation?
- Have I tried to observe Sunday as a family day and a day of rest?
- Do I do needless work on Sunday?
4. Honour your father and your mother.
- Do I honour and obey my parents?
- Have I neglected my duties to my spouse and children?
- Have I given my family good religious example?
- Do I try to bring peace into my home life?
- Do I care for my aged and infirm relatives?
5. You shall not kill.
- Have I had an abortion or encouraged anyone to have an abortion?
- Have I physically harmed anyone?
- Have I abused alcohol or drugs?
- Did I give scandal to anyone, thereby leading them into sin?
- Have I been angry or resentful?
- Have I harboured hatred in my heart?
- Have I mutilated myself through any form of sterilisation?
- Have I encouraged or condoned sterilisation?
6. You shall not commit adultery.
- Have I been faithful to my marriage vows in thought and action?
- Have I engaged in any sexual activity outside of marriage?
- Have I used any method of contraception or artificial birth control in my marriage?
- Have I been guilty of masturbation?
- Have I sought to control my thoughts?
- Have I respected all members of the opposite sex, or have I thought of other people as objects?
- Have I been engaged in any homosexual activity?
- Do I seek to be chaste in my thoughts, words and actions?
- Am I careful to dress modestly?
7. You shall not steal.
- Have I taken what is not mine?
- Have I returned or made restitution for what I have stolen?
- Do I waste time at work, school or at home?
- Do I gamble excessively, wasting money needed to pay my debts or fulfil my responsibilities?
- Do I pay my debts promptly?
- Do I seek to share what I have with the poor?
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
- Have I lied to another person?
- Have I gossiped?
- Have I spoken behind someone's back?
- Am I sincere in my dealings with others?
- Am I critical, negative or uncharitable in my thoughts of others?
- Do I keep secret what should be kept confidential?
9. You shall not desire your neighbour's wife.
- Have I consented to impure thoughts?
- Have I encouraged impure thoughts by indecent reading, movies, conversations or curiosity?
- Do I seek to control my imagination?
- Do I immediately pray or distract myself to banish impure thoughts and temptations?
10. You shall not desire your neighbour's goods.
- Am I jealous of what others have?
- Do I envy the possessions of others?
- Am I greedy or selfish?
- Are material possessions the goal of my life?
- Do I trust that God will care for all my material and spiritual needs?