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Traditional sacramental guide

Prepare for Confession

A careful guide to preparing your heart, examining your conscience, and making a good confession. Drawn from older Catholic prayer books and confession manuals.

This guide draws from older Catholic prayer books and confession manuals. It helps you prepare for sacramental confession, but it does not replace the sacrament, your confessor, or pastoral judgment in the confessional.

Begin preparing

Before you begin

Prepare without anxiety

Use this guide when you need help gathering your heart, examining your conscience, remembering the older formula, or giving thanks after absolution.

The point is not to turn confession into an anxious system. The point is to help you speak plainly, accuse yourself honestly, trust God's mercy, and leave with a real purpose of amendment.

How much time do you have?

Pray first, then examine yourself quietly

Ask for light, ask for sincerity, and then examine yourself without hurry or self-excuse.

Prayer Before Confession

O Jesus, my Saviour, my good Shepherd, I have strayed far from the path that Thou hast marked out for me; I did not follow in Thy footsteps; I wandered into forbidden places.

Repentant and sorrowful, I beg to be admitted again into the fold of Thy faithful followers. I want to confess my sins with the same sincerity as I should wish to do at the moment of my death.

My Jesus, I look to Thee with confidence for the grace to examine my conscience well. O Holy Spirit, come in Thy mercy; enlighten my mind and strengthen my will that I may know my sins, humbly confess them, and sincerely amend my life.

Mary, my Mother, immaculate spouse of the Holy Ghost, refuge of sinners, assist me by thy intercession. Holy angels and saints of God, pray for me. Amen.

Examination of Conscience

Lasance begins with your last confession, then leads you through the commandments, the precepts of the Church, your duties, and the sins that most often pull you back.

Preliminary examination

  • When did you make your last confession?
  • Did you take sufficient pains to awaken contrition?
  • Did you omit to confess a mortal sin, either intentionally or through forgetfulness?
  • Did you intentionally neglect to say the penance which was imposed on you, or were you so careless as to forget it?
  • Have you carried out the resolutions you made at your last confession or have you paid no heed at all to them?

Then examine yourself on

  • The Ten Commandments
  • The Commandments of the Church
  • The Seven Capital Sins
  • The duties of your state of life
  • Your ruling passion

Calmly recall the occasions of sin, the company you kept, the places you frequented, and the circumstances that made the fault graver.

Traditional commandment examination

I. Against faith and reverence

  • Have you doubted in matters of faith?
  • Murmured against God in adversity or at the prosperity of others?
  • Despaired of His mercy or rashly presumed upon it in order to sin?
  • Believed in fortune-tellers, consulted them, or used superstitious practices?
  • Gone to places of worship belonging to other denominations?
  • Neglected morning or night prayers, or omitted religious duties through human respect?
  • Read books, papers, or periodicals of anti-Catholic or atheistic tendency?
  • Spoken with levity or irreverence of priests, Religious, or sacred objects?

II. The holy name and holy days

  • Have you taken the name of God in vain or profaned anything relating to religion?
  • Sworn falsely, rashly, or in slight and trivial matters?
  • Cursed yourself or others, or angered others so as to make them swear or blaspheme?
  • Missed Mass, been wilfully distracted during Mass, or behaved irreverently in church?
  • Profaned Sundays or other holy days by needless buying, selling, servile work, dancing, drinking, gambling, or other disorder?

III. Duties toward others

  • Have you honored parents, superiors, and masters according to your just duty?
  • Deceived them, disobeyed them, or failed in due reverence to the aged?
  • Borne hatred, desired revenge, refused forgiveness, or used provoking language?
  • Injured others, caused enmity, oppressed anyone, or hastened another’s death?

IV. Purity, justice, and truth

  • Have you been guilty of any sin against holy purity in thought, word, or deed?
  • Have you stolen, dealt deceitfully in buying or selling, or damaged another’s goods?
  • Have you borne false witness, disclosed another’s sins, judged rashly, or used injurious names?
  • Have you coveted unjustly anything that belongs to another?

The commandments in detail

Open a slower commandment-by-commandment examination when the shorter examination is not enough to uncover what needs to be confessed.

9 cards

I

First Commandment

Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.

Faith, prayer, reverence, and false spiritual substitutes.

  • Have you doubted in matters of faith or murmured against God in adversity?
  • Have you despaired of His mercy or rashly presumed upon it in order to sin?
  • Have you believed in fortune-tellers, consulted them, or used superstitious practices?
  • Have you neglected morning or night prayers, or omitted religious duties through human respect?
  • Have you read books, papers, or periodicals of anti-Catholic or atheistic tendency?
  • Have you spoken with levity or irreverence of priests, Religious, or sacred things?

II

Second Commandment

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Speech about God, oaths, blasphemy, and stirring others to irreverence.

  • Have you taken the name of God in vain or profaned anything relating to religion?
  • Have you sworn falsely, rashly, or in slight and trivial matters?
  • Have you cursed yourself or others, or made light of sacred things?
  • Have you angered others so as to make them swear or blaspheme God?

III

Third Commandment

Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.

Mass, recollection, and the right use of Sundays and holy days.

  • Have you kept holy the Lord’s Day and the other days commanded to be kept holy?
  • Have you bought or sold things, not of necessity, on that day?
  • Have you done or commanded servile work not of necessity?
  • Have you missed Mass, been wilfully distracted during Mass, or behaved irreverently in church?
  • Have you profaned the day by dancing, drinking, gambling, or other disorder?

IV

Fourth Commandment

Honor thy father and thy mother.

Obedience, gratitude, reverence, and the duties proper to authority and dependence.

  • Have you honored parents, superiors, and masters according to your just duty?
  • Have you deceived or disobeyed them?
  • Have you failed in due reverence to the aged or to those placed over you?

V

Fifth Commandment

Thou shalt not kill.

Hatred, revenge, provoking others, and harming body or soul.

  • Have you procured, desired, or hastened the death of anyone?
  • Have you borne hatred, desired revenge, or refused to forgive injuries?
  • Have you used provoking language, injured others, or caused enmity between them?
  • Have you oppressed anyone or hardened your heart against another’s need?

VI and IX

Sixth and Ninth Commandments

Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.

Purity in thought, word, desire, company, and deed.

  • Have you been guilty of any sin against holy purity in thought, word, or deed?
  • Have you willingly entertained unchaste desires, imaginations, or occasions of sin?
  • Have you spoken, listened, looked, or lingered where purity was endangered?

VII

Seventh Commandment

Thou shalt not steal.

Property, wages, fair dealing, waste, and dishonest gain.

  • Have you been guilty of stealing or of deceit in buying or selling?
  • Have you been dishonest about wares, prices, weights, or measures?
  • Have you wilfully damaged another’s goods or negligently spoiled them?
  • Have you kept back what was owed, including labor, money, or restitution?

VIII

Eighth Commandment

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Truth, reputation, flattery, rash judgment, and harmful speech.

  • Have you borne false witness or deliberately spoken falsehood?
  • Have you called injurious names or disclosed another’s sins without need?
  • Have you flattered others, judged rashly, or darkened another’s reputation?

X

Tenth Commandment

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.

Interior discontent, grasping desire, and unjust longing for another’s possessions.

  • Have you coveted unjustly anything that belongs to another?
  • Have you fed resentment, envy, or greed by dwelling on another’s advantages?
  • Have you allowed inward coveting to guide your speech, plans, or behavior?

Precepts of the Church

  • Have you gone to confession at least once a year?
  • Have you received holy communion during Easter time?
  • Have you violated the fasts of the Church, or eaten flesh meat on prohibited days?
  • Have you sinned against any other commandment of the Church?

Examine yourself also in regard to the Seven Capital Sins, the ways you have been accessory to another's sin, and the duties proper to your state in life.

Stir up contrition

  • Having discovered the sins of which you have been guilty, together with their number and any grave circumstances, endeavor to excite in yourself a heartfelt sorrow and sincere detestation of them.
  • This is the most essential disposition for a good confession, so ask for it with humility, fervor, and perseverance.
  • Consider Who God is, how good and gracious He has been to you, that He made you for Himself, redeemed you by His blood, and has borne with you so long.

Accessory to another's sin

Older manuals ask not only what you did, but how you shared in the wrongdoing of others. Examine whether you helped sin along, excused it, or kept silent when you had a duty to resist it.

By counsel
By command
By consent
By provocation
By praise or flattery
By concealment
By partaking
By silence
By defense of the ill done

When to slow down

  • If one commandment keeps pricking the conscience, stay with it longer.
  • If you still feel vague, ask what habit, company, or occasion usually leads to that fall.
  • If another person was harmed, ask whether restitution, apology, or repair is now owed.

The Seven Capital Sins

Open the older root-fault examination when you need to look beneath repeated falls and name the habits that keep feeding them.

4 groups

Pride and vainglory

  • Have you preferred your own will to what was right, lawful, or charitable?
  • Sought praise, resented correction, or nourished contempt for others?
  • Refused to admit fault, or excused yourself when you should have humbled yourself?

Covetousness and envy

  • Have you been grasping, hard, or dishonest about money, possessions, or advantage?
  • Envied another’s gifts, success, reputation, or blessings?
  • Been saddened by another’s good or secretly pleased by another’s fall?

Anger and sloth

  • Have you indulged resentment, harsh speech, impatience, or a refusal to forgive?
  • Neglected duties through laziness, delay, or spiritual carelessness?
  • Grown careless about prayer, penance, or the work God gave you to do?

Lust and gluttony

  • Have you consented to unchaste thoughts, speech, entertainment, company, or deeds?
  • Failed in modesty, custody of the senses, or purity in private?
  • Been excessive in eating, drinking, comfort, or bodily indulgence?

Duties of your state in life

Older catechisms press this point hard: you are not judged only by private faults, but also by the duties attached to the place God has actually given you. Examine the obligations of your home, your work, and your present vocation as they truly stand.

Children and those under authority

  • Have you honored, loved, and obeyed parents or lawful superiors in all that was not sinful?
  • Have you been stubborn, deceitful, ungrateful, or contemptuous toward those placed over you?
  • Have you despised correction, resisted lawful discipline, or given scandal by bad example to younger brothers, sisters, or companions?

Parents, guardians, and those with souls in their care

  • Have you cared for those under your charge not only in body but also in soul, prayer, discipline, and example?
  • Have you neglected correction when duty required it, or corrected in anger, harshness, or favoritism?
  • Have you made it harder for children, servants, or those under your care to hear Mass, keep holy days, or live faithfully as Catholics?
  • Have you pushed anyone toward a state of life for selfish or worldly reasons, or resisted God’s call in the life of one entrusted to you?

Husbands and wives

  • Have you guarded the sanctity of marriage with fidelity, honesty, patience, and reverence?
  • Have you failed to bear with one another’s weaknesses in charity, or allowed bitterness, contempt, or coldness to harden the home?
  • Have you neglected to help one another toward God, or failed in the duty of bringing up children in the fear and love of God?

Work, wages, and daily labor

  • Have you worked honestly, kept your word, and given a fair day’s labor instead of idleness, waste, or deceit?
  • Have you obeyed lawful directions in your work, or been false, careless, or slothful in what was entrusted to you?
  • If you employ others, have you dealt justly about wages, debts, burdens, and promises?
  • Have you made gain from another’s need, delayed what was owed, or excused unfairness under the name of business?

Teachers, masters, employers, and superiors

  • Have you used authority as a stewardship from God rather than as a license for pride, hardness, or neglect?
  • Have you failed to give those under you the guidance, correction, protection, or example they reasonably needed?
  • Have you made work, school, or household demands in a way that needlessly harmed prayer, Mass, or family duty?

Your actual vocation and state of life

  • Have you neglected the duties proper to the state of life God has presently given you while dreaming only of another life?
  • Have you asked God for light about your vocation, or have you chosen chiefly by vanity, fear, comfort, or human respect?
  • Have you ignored the means God gives for amendment in your state of life: prayer, confession, counsel, sacrifice, and watchfulness?

Go to confession

How to make your confession

Local custom can vary, but the traditional manuals are plain and direct. They teach you how to begin, accuse yourself honestly, and conclude without ornament.

  1. Approach the confessional with recollectedness and reverence, remembering that the priest hears you in the person of Christ.

  2. When you kneel down say: “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned,” and begin the Confiteor, proceeding as far as “through my fault.”

  3. Tell when you made your last confession and then confess your sins with a contrite and humble heart.

  4. Conclude in the traditional manner: “For these and all the sins of my past life, especially my sins of [name them], I am heartily sorry, beg pardon of God, and absolution of you, my Father.” Then finish the Confiteor.

  5. Listen humbly to the counsel of your confessor, accept the penance imposed, and during absolution make an act of sincere contrition.

How to say it plainly

  • Name the sin plainly, without dressing it up or hiding behind vagueness.
  • Say the number as best you can, or at least whether it was frequent, occasional, or once.
  • Mention only the circumstances that change the seriousness of the sin or are needed for the priest to understand it.
  • Do not retell the whole story unless it truly helps the confession be honest and complete.

After absolution

  • Do not torment yourself by returning again and again to the same confession once it has been honestly made.
  • If a sin was forgotten after a serious examination, trust that it was included under God’s mercy and mention it next time simply and without distress.
  • Do your penance promptly and faithfully, or tell your confessor at once if you foresee a real obstacle to completing it.
  • Leave the confessional resolved to amend your life rather than merely relieved that the moment is over.

The Confiteor

I confess to Almighty God, to blessed Mary, ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy apostles Peter and Paul, to all the saints, and to you, Father, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.

Therefore, I beseech the blessed Mary, ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, all the saints, and you, Father, to pray to the Lord our God for me.

Act of Contrition for Confession

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they have offended Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love.

I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

Give thanks

Do not leave mercy behind in the confessional

Older manuals give real space to thanksgiving after confession. They assume that pardon should be answered with gratitude, vigilance, and fresh dependence on grace.

Thanksgiving After Confession

Eternal Father, I thank Thee, I bless Thee, for Thy goodness and mercy. Thou hast had compassion on me, although in my folly I had wandered far away from Thee and offended Thee most grievously.

With fatherly love Thou hast received me anew after so many relapses into sin and forgiven me my offenses through the holy sacrament of penance. Blessed forever, O my God, be Thy loving kindness, Thy infinite mercy.

Never again will I grieve Thee by ingratitude, by disobedience to Thy holy will; henceforth my watchword shall be: All for the greater glory of God.

O divine Spirit, penetrate my soul with true horror and loathing of sin. Grant that I may be more exact in the fulfilment of all my duties, and strengthen me by Thy grace, that I may not again yield to temptation. Amen.

If you forgot a sin

If you examined yourself with reasonable care and forgot a mortal sin, trust that it was forgiven with the rest. Do not run back into needless distress.

Tell it simply at your next confession before your usual confession begins: that you forgot it last time. Only a sin concealed on purpose wounds the confession itself.

Do your penance well

Listen carefully for the penance given, and if no time is named, do it as soon as you reasonably can. Promptness helps keep the soul grateful and obedient.

The small penance given may not equal the whole debt of sin, but by accepting it humbly you show your willingness to make satisfaction and begin again seriously.

Guard against the same fall today

The older manuals insist that a firm purpose of amendment includes avoiding the occasion of sin. Do not walk back toward the very danger you just renounced.

If you know the company, place, hour, device, habit, or conversation that usually drags you down, step away from it today while the grace of confession is still warm upon the soul.

Psalm verses after confession

Lasance closes the section by sending the penitent into the Psalms. These verses are good to pray slowly after confession, on the way home, or later that same day when the soul wants to keep company with mercy.

Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
I cried with my whole heart, hear me, O Lord: I will seek Thy justifications.
I will praise Thee, because Thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.
O praise the Lord, for He is good and His mercy endureth forever.
I have acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity I have not concealed.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all He hath done for thee.
Who forgiveth all thy iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our iniquities from us.

A same-day resolution prayer

This short Lasance prayer works well the same day after confession, especially when you want to keep one resolution plain and close at hand.

O my God, I beseech Thee most earnestly to bless me, that I may serve Thee faithfully this day by a perfect devotedness to all my duties and a steadfast adherence to all my promises and good resolutions.

Amend your life

Carry one concrete amendment out with you

A purpose of amendment should be simple enough to remember and concrete enough to obey. Take one resolve with you instead of vague good intentions.

Repair

If your sin harmed another person, a promise, a reputation, or something that was owed, resolve to make that right as soon as you can.

Avoid

Name the near occasion that usually leads you back into the same fall, and decide how you will step away from it this week.

Begin

Choose one contrary good: a prayer, an act of honesty, a work of mercy, or a concrete act of obedience that turns your heart back toward God.

Avoid the near occasion

A firm purpose of amendment does not mean only, “I hope I do better.” It means stepping away from what usually leads you back into the same sin.

Name the danger plainly: a place, device, hour, companionship, habit, or conversation. Remove it, limit it, or refuse it while the grace of confession is still fresh.

Know the fault beneath the fall

Older catechisms tell you to notice not only the sin you hate most, but the one you commit most often. That repeated fault usually points toward the ruling passion underneath it.

Ask whether pride, anger, impurity, vanity, sloth, greed, or self-will keeps furnishing the same occasions. Fight the root, not only the branch.

Tonight after confession

Before sleep, make one short return to the grace you received. This is not a second confession. It is a quiet way of guarding the mercy of the day.

  • Did I keep away from the near occasion I meant to avoid today?
  • When the first temptation came, did I pray and use God’s help, or did I drift toward the old habit again?
  • What one mercy from today should I thank God for before sleep, and what one resolution must I carry into tomorrow?

Related confession guides

Choose the next step

Keep the preparation concrete: examine, pray, then make one real amendment.

Start here

Examination of Conscience

A shorter commandment-by-commandment starting point for confession preparation.

Open the examination

Full guide

Full traditional examination

More detailed prompts by commandments, capital sins, duties of state, and accessory to sin.

Open the full examination

Prayer

Act of Contrition

Move from examination into sorrow, amendment, and trust in grace.

Pray the act

Amendment

Ruling passion guide

A steadier look at the root fault behind repeated falls.

Open the guide

Older counsel

Counsel from older masters

These short counsels do not replace the examination. They help steady the spirit in which confession is made: honest, humble, concrete, and confident in God’s mercy.

St. Francis de Sales · Introduction to the Devout Life

Do not let the soul remain long in sin when so sure a remedy has been given. Go humbly and devoutly, and make use of confession not only for pardon, but for light, strength, and amendment.

St. Francis de Sales · The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales

Bring frankness, candor, and simplicity into confession. A hurried sorrow often passes quickly; a humble sorrow is more likely to lead to a steadier amendment.

St. Ignatius of Loyola · The Spiritual Exercises

Ask for light before you begin, look at your actual sins concretely, and seek a real sorrow that prepares the soul to receive grace more fruitfully. End by asking for one grace you need now.

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Source note

This page draws chiefly from Francis Xavier Lasance, With God: A Book of Prayers and Reflections (1911), especially the confession pages 383 through 397, with supplementary state-of-life material from older catechetical manuals and a brief counsel layer from older Catholic spiritual writers.

The headings and transitions are added to make the older material easier to read on a phone. The prayers, examination lines, and confession formula here follow the older traditional material rather than later simplified rewrites.

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Novena Regina

PrepareforConfession

A traditional Catholic confession aid drawn from older prayer books and confession manuals.

A quiet guide for recollection, examination of conscience, a plain confession, thanksgiving, and one real amendment of life.

Contents

What Is Included

  1. Before You Begin
  2. Prayer Before Confession
  3. A Simpler Examination
  4. State of Life
  5. How to Make Your Confession
  6. Traditional Prayers
  7. After Confession
  8. Source Note
  9. Useful Pages

Preparation

Before You Begin

Begin by asking for light, sincerity, and a quiet willingness to be shown the truth. This guide is meant to help you gather your heart, examine your conscience honestly, and go to confession with humility and trust. It does not replace the sacrament, your confessor, or pastoral judgment in the confessional.

If you have only a minute or two, pray first, recall the worst sin and the one most often repeated, and stir up sorrow before God. If you have a few minutes more, use the preliminary questions and the simpler examination, then review the older formula so you can speak plainly and without wandering.

If you have more time, move through the whole guide in order without hurry. Stay longer wherever the conscience is truly accused, end with the Act of Contrition, and return afterward for thanksgiving and one real amendment of life.

Prayer before confession

Prayer Before Confession

Prayer Before Confession

O Jesus, my Saviour, my good Shepherd, I have strayed far from the path that Thou hast marked out for me; I did not follow in Thy footsteps; I wandered into forbidden places.

Repentant and sorrowful, I beg to be admitted again into the fold of Thy faithful followers. I want to confess my sins with the same sincerity as I should wish to do at the moment of my death.

My Jesus, I look to Thee with confidence for the grace to examine my conscience well. O Holy Spirit, come in Thy mercy; enlighten my mind and strengthen my will that I may know my sins, humbly confess them, and sincerely amend my life.

Mary, my Mother, immaculate spouse of the Holy Ghost, refuge of sinners, assist me by thy intercession. Holy angels and saints of God, pray for me. Amen.

Examination

A Simpler Examination

Do not try to answer everything at once. Ask first where you have resisted grace most plainly, whom you have harmed most really, and which sins have returned most often.

Begin where the older manuals begin: with faith, prayer, reverence, and the right use of the Lord’s Day. Have you neglected prayer, doubted willingly, or grown careless toward God? Have you spoken irreverently of God, sacred things, priests, or religion? Have you missed Mass or treated Sundays and holy days carelessly?

Now turn your conscience toward how you have treated others. This is not only about great harms. Have you carried resentment, harsh speech, or a refusal to forgive? Have you wounded another in peace, reputation, truth, or gratitude? Have you failed in obedience or reverence where it was truly owed?

Then ask how you have stood in purity, truth, and justice. Have you consented to impurity in thought, speech, company, entertainment, or deed? Have you lied, judged rashly, exposed another’s faults, or darkened a reputation? Have you been dishonest in money, work, property, wages, or restitution?

Finally, look beneath the isolated falls. Where were you weakest in habit? Was pride, anger, sloth, vanity, greed, envy, or self-will feeding the same sins again? Did you return willingly to the near occasion that usually leads you back down? Did you help along another’s sin by counsel, consent, silence, excuse, or bad example?

Before you finish, stir up contrition. Ask not only what you did, but how you have offended God Who has been patient, gracious, and merciful to you. Let the conscience accuse you simply, and stay a little longer wherever it truly pierces.

  • Have I prayed and kept God before me, or have I lived as if He were far away?
  • Have I spoken irreverently of God, holy things, priests, or religion?
  • Have I missed Mass, neglected holy days, or treated Sunday carelessly?
  • Have I carried resentment, refused forgiveness, or wounded another by harsh speech?
  • Have I sinned against purity in thought, word, company, entertainment, or deed?
  • Have I lied, judged rashly, exposed another fault, or damaged a reputation?
  • Have I been dishonest in money, work, property, wages, or restitution?
  • Have I returned willingly to the near occasion that usually leads me into sin?
  • What one sin do I commit most often, and what root fault seems to feed it?
  • Have I stirred up true sorrow because I have offended God?

Particular duties

State of Life

You are judged not only by private faults, but also by the duties attached to the life God has actually given you. Read this part simply and apply only what is really yours.

Parents and guardians should ask whether they cared for those under them not only in body but in soul. Have you corrected with charity, given good example, and helped rather than hindered prayer, Mass, and obedience to God?

Those whose daily life is work, wages, service, or promises owed should ask whether they worked honestly, kept their word, and dealt fairly. If others depend on you, ask whether you have been just in burdens, pay, expectations, and the use of another’s need.

Those who have authority over others should ask whether they used it as a stewardship from God or as a license for pride, hardness, neglect, or selfish control. Have you guided, protected, and corrected as duty required?

Parents, guardians, and those with souls in their care

  • Have you cared for those under your charge not only in body but also in soul, prayer, discipline, and example?
  • Have you neglected correction when duty required it, or corrected in anger, harshness, or favoritism?
  • Have you made it harder for children, servants, or those under your care to hear Mass, keep holy days, or live faithfully as Catholics?

Husbands and wives

  • Have you guarded the sanctity of marriage with fidelity, honesty, patience, and reverence?
  • Have you failed to bear with one another’s weaknesses in charity, or allowed bitterness, contempt, or coldness to harden the home?
  • Have you neglected to help one another toward God, or failed in the duty of bringing up children in the fear and love of God?

Work, wages, and daily labor

  • Have you worked honestly, kept your word, and given a fair day’s labor instead of idleness, waste, or deceit?
  • Have you obeyed lawful directions in your work, or been false, careless, or slothful in what was entrusted to you?
  • If you employ others, have you dealt justly about wages, debts, burdens, and promises?

Teachers, masters, employers, and superiors

  • Have you used authority as a stewardship from God rather than as a license for pride, hardness, or neglect?
  • Have you failed to give those under you the guidance, correction, protection, or example they reasonably needed?
  • Have you made work, school, or household demands in a way that needlessly harmed prayer, Mass, or family duty?

Your actual vocation and state of life

  • Have you neglected the duties proper to the state of life God has presently given you while dreaming only of another life?
  • Have you asked God for light about your vocation, or have you chosen chiefly by vanity, fear, comfort, or human respect?
  • Have you ignored the means God gives for amendment in your state of life: prayer, confession, counsel, sacrifice, and watchfulness?

Traditional formula

How to Make Your Confession

When you enter, kneel with recollection and begin in the older plain way: "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been..." Then accuse yourself simply, naming the sins that weigh upon the conscience most truly, and state anything serious in kind and number as honestly as you can.

Do not tell a long story if a plain accusation will do. Speak honestly, briefly, and with sorrow. If shame rises, let it help your humility rather than drive you into confusion. Better a poor confession made sincerely than a polished one made without contrition.

Listen carefully to the counsel and penance given. When told to make your act of contrition, do so with attention. Receive absolution gratefully, then withdraw without hurry and begin your thanksgiving while the grace is still fresh upon the soul.

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been...

Confession prayers

Traditional Prayers

The Confiteor

I confess to Almighty God, to blessed Mary, ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy apostles Peter and Paul, to all the saints, and to you, Father, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.

Therefore, I beseech the blessed Mary, ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, all the saints, and you, Father, to pray to the Lord our God for me.

Act of Contrition for Confession

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they have offended Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love.

I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

Thanksgiving and amendment

After Confession

Thanksgiving After Confession

Eternal Father, I thank Thee, I bless Thee, for Thy goodness and mercy. Thou hast had compassion on me, although in my folly I had wandered far away from Thee and offended Thee most grievously.

With fatherly love Thou hast received me anew after so many relapses into sin and forgiven me my offenses through the holy sacrament of penance. Blessed forever, O my God, be Thy loving kindness, Thy infinite mercy.

Never again will I grieve Thee by ingratitude, by disobedience to Thy holy will; henceforth my watchword shall be: All for the greater glory of God.

O divine Spirit, penetrate my soul with true horror and loathing of sin. Grant that I may be more exact in the fulfilment of all my duties, and strengthen me by Thy grace, that I may not again yield to temptation. Amen.

Listen carefully for the penance that was given, and if no time is named, do it as soon as you reasonably can. Promptness helps keep the soul grateful and obedient, and keeps pardon from becoming a merely passing relief.

Should a forgotten sin return to mind after a reasonable examination, trust that it was included under God’s mercy and mention it simply next time. Only a sin concealed on purpose wounds the confession itself; a forgotten sin need not send you into needless distress.

Then guard against the same fall by naming the danger plainly. The older manuals insist that a firm purpose of amendment includes avoiding the occasion of sin. If a place, device, companionship, hour, or habit usually drags you down, step away from it while the grace of confession is still warm upon the soul.

Do not fight only the outward act. Ask what fault keeps feeding it underneath. Pride, anger, sloth, vanity, greed, envy, impurity, or self-will often keep furnishing the same falls. Fight the root, not only the branch.

Act of Supplication

O my God, I beseech Thee most earnestly to bless me, that I may serve Thee faithfully this day by a perfect devotedness to all my duties and a steadfast adherence to all my promises and good resolutions.

Useful pages

Near Occasions and Root Faults

Near Occasions to Avoid

  • A device, app, or website that weakens purity, prayer, honesty, or peace.
  • A conversation or companionship that usually leads toward sin.
  • An hour of the day when tiredness, idleness, or secrecy becomes dangerous.
  • A place where I repeatedly abandon the resolution made in confession.
  • A habit of delay that keeps me from prayer, Mass, duty, or restitution.
  • A resentment I keep revisiting until charity grows cold.

Root Faults to Watch

  • Pride: refusing correction, needing to win, or hiding fault.
  • Anger: rehearsing injuries, speaking sharply, or refusing peace.
  • Sloth: delaying prayer, duty, penance, or the hard good God asks.
  • Impurity: consenting inwardly, seeking occasions, or neglecting custody of the senses.
  • Greed: grasping at money, comfort, praise, or advantage unjustly.
  • Envy: grieving over another good or being pleased by another fall.
  • Self-will: choosing my preference over duty, charity, or obedience.

Prayers

Prayers to the Holy Ghost and Our Lady

Prayer to the Holy Ghost

Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.

V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created. R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. O God, Who hast taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that by the gift of the same Spirit we may be always truly wise, and ever rejoice in His consolations, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To thee I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

Traditional sources

Source Note

This confession aid draws chiefly from Francis Xavier Lasance, With God: A Book of Prayers and Reflections (1911), especially the confession pages, together with older catechetical manuals on duties of state and amendment of life.

The headings and transitions are editorial helps for reading and print. The prayers, examination lines, and confession formula follow older traditional material rather than later simplified rewrites.

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