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Begin with a prayerful reading

Read Exodus 20:1–17 or Deuteronomy 5:6–21 in your Bible. The Catholic numbering used here groups the commandments in the familiar catechetical way. The brief labels below are summaries, not a new translation of Scripture.

Work through the questions with attention to your actual circumstances. They are prompts for conscience, not an automated judgment of guilt. You may need the adult, youth, or children’s examination for language more suited to your age.

A Ten Commandments guide for children

For a child preparing for first Reconciliation or a later confession, use the separate children’s guide. Its twenty questions follow Catholic numbering with age-appropriate examples and help for parents and catechists.

1–3: Love and worship of God

Consider the place God has in your ordinary decisions. Prayer is a relationship to cultivate, and worship belongs within a whole life of faith.

  • First: Have I deliberately made power, money, approval, or pleasure more important than fidelity to God? Have I sought occult practices or treated faith as a tool for controlling events?
  • Second: Have I used God’s name contemptuously, made dishonest religious promises, or used sacred language to manipulate another person?
  • Third: Have I deliberately neglected Sunday Mass or a holy day obligation without a serious reason or dispensation? Have I refused reasonable space for worship and rest?

4–6: Family, life, and faithful love

Reflect on concrete people entrusted to your care. Notice choices you made freely; illness, disability, abuse suffered, and genuine inability require a different kind of pastoral conversation.

  • Fourth: Have I treated family members with contempt, neglected a dependent person, or used parental or other authority unfairly? Have I honored rightful responsibilities while keeping necessary boundaries?
  • Fifth: Have I chosen violence, dangerous recklessness, intimidation, or revenge? Have I disregarded the dignity and safety of another life?
  • Sixth: Have I betrayed marital fidelity or chosen sexual behavior contrary to chastity? Have I used pornography or treated another person as an object?

7–10: Justice, speech, and desire

Consider both what you did and what you knowingly refused to do when a duty was yours.

  • Seventh: Have I stolen, cheated, damaged property, withheld just payment, or kept something I should return?
  • Eighth: Have I lied, falsely accused someone, shared private information without a just reason, or damaged a reputation?
  • Ninth: Have I deliberately cultivated desires that would betray another person’s marriage or my own obligations?
  • Tenth: Have I fed envy, wished loss on another person because of their good fortune, or let greed direct my treatment of people?

Move from questions to an honest confession

Choose the specific matters you recognize. Say what you did rather than simply naming a commandment. “I cheated a client” is more useful than “the seventh commandment.” When a serious sin is involved, explain its kind and frequency as best you can.

The same choice may touch several commandments. You do not need to count it repeatedly merely because it appears in several questions. Finish with a prayer for mercy, a willingness to change, and one practical question for the priest if you need guidance.

Questions for your examination

Begin by asking the Holy Spirit for light. Recall your freely chosen thoughts, words, actions, and omissions since your last confession. These prompts help you remember; they do not decide your guilt. Use only what applies, and ask your priest about uncertainty.

God and the place I give him

The first commandment invites faithful worship and trust. Consider the priorities you have actually chosen.

  • Have I deliberately pushed prayer and my relationship with God out of my life?
  • Have I treated money, approval, success, or political loyalty as more important than faithfulness to God?
  • Have I sought occult powers, divination, or superstition as a source of spiritual control?
  • Have I refused to learn Catholic teaching because I did not want it to challenge a choice?
God’s name and holy things

Reverence concerns the way we speak of God and treat what is sacred.

  • Have I deliberately used God’s name to insult, curse, or mock?
  • Have I made a dishonest oath or invoked God to support something I knew was false?
  • Have I treated the Eucharist, the sacraments, or a sacred place with deliberate contempt?
  • Have I used religious language or authority to frighten or manipulate another person?
Sunday, worship, and rest

Consider Mass obligations in your actual circumstances. Illness, necessary care, a dispensation, or another serious reason can excuse attendance (CCC 2181).

  • Have I deliberately missed Sunday Mass or a holy day of obligation without a serious reason or dispensation?
  • Have I knowingly received Holy Communion while conscious of unconfessed mortal sin?
  • Have I needlessly made it harder for people in my care to worship or have proper rest?
  • Have I neglected the Church’s penitential practices that apply to my age, health, and circumstances?
Family and responsibilities

Consider your responsibilities as a spouse, relative, parent, caregiver, or member of a household.

  • Have I used intimidation, humiliation, or controlling behavior at home?
  • Have I neglected a responsibility to someone who reasonably depends on me?
  • Have I withheld affection or communication to punish someone or force my own way?
  • Have I refused a fair apology or avoided admitting a wrong to someone in my family?
Life, dignity, and peace

Every human life deserves care. Name your own chosen conduct without taking responsibility for harm done to you.

  • Have I deliberately harmed, threatened, or encouraged violence against another person?
  • Have I procured, paid for, pressured someone into, or intentionally assisted an abortion or the direct killing of a sick person?Speak honestly with a priest about your own actions and circumstances. God’s mercy is available; this question is not a verdict about your personal culpability.
  • Have I endangered others through reckless driving, intoxication, or a deliberate disregard for their safety?
  • Have I nurtured a desire for revenge or treated a person as less worthy because of race, disability, age, or background?
Chastity, fidelity, and love

The Church calls each person to chastity in their state of life (CCC 2348–2350). Attraction, an unwanted thought, and a chosen act are different.

  • Have I freely chosen sexual activity outside a valid marriage or been unfaithful to my spouse?
  • Have I deliberately used pornography, masturbation, or sexual fantasies to seek sexual pleasure?
  • Have I pressured someone sexually, ignored their boundaries, or shared intimate material without permission?
  • If married, have I deliberately acted against the Church’s teaching on the openness of marital intercourse to life?Consider CCC 2366–2370. Ask a priest about moral questions and a qualified clinician about medical treatment; do not change prescribed treatment because of a checklist.
Money, work, and other people’s property

Honesty applies to transactions, wages, shared resources, and the work entrusted to us.

  • Have I stolen, cheated, committed fraud, or knowingly kept something that should be returned?
  • Have I withheld a just wage, misused work time, or taken credit for another person’s work?
  • Have I broken a fair agreement, concealed a debt, or deceived someone about a financial matter?
  • Have I damaged common property or wasted resources through deliberate carelessness?
Truth and reputation

Consider how your words affected real people, including people discussed online.

  • Have I knowingly lied or misled someone who was entitled to the truth?
  • Have I passed on an accusation as fact without reasonable grounds?
  • Have I revealed another person’s faults or private information without a proportionate reason?
  • Have I failed to correct a falsehood or damaging impression that I caused?
Envy, resentment, and the heart

Look at what you freely encouraged in yourself. The arrival of a thought is not the same as choosing to dwell on it.

  • Have I deliberately entertained a desire to take another person’s spouse or damage their marriage?
  • Have I resented another person’s good fortune and tried to diminish their joy?
  • Have I let a desire for possessions lead me to neglect an obligation or exploit someone?
  • Have I chosen to feed contempt by repeatedly seeking material that makes me despise other people?
Mercy and the good left undone

The Christian life includes practical love for a neighbor. Consider opportunities within your real abilities and responsibilities.

  • Have I knowingly ignored someone in serious need when I could reasonably help?
  • Have I refused a fair share of service while expecting others to carry the burden?
  • Have I used influence or a position of authority for my advantage at the expense of vulnerable people?
  • Have I avoided a reasonable step to repair harm I caused, such as restitution, a correction, or an apology?
Use these prompts privately

Common questions

Is this an official examination published by the Church?

The prompts are original editorial material. The linked Scripture and Church resources provide their doctrinal foundation; no ecclesiastical approval is claimed.

Does every yes answer mean mortal sin?

No. The gravity of an act and the person’s knowledge and consent require careful consideration. Ask a priest about uncertainty.

Do I need to use all ten sections every time?

Use a reasonable examination suited to your circumstances. If repeated review feeds scrupulosity, follow your regular confessor’s guidance.

Sources

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