The Ten Commandments

FIRST COMMANDMENT
“I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before Me.” (Ex 20:2,3)

Did I doubt or deny that God exists?

Did I refuse to believe what God as revealed to us?

Did I believe in or was I involved in occult practices such as witchcraft, fortune telling, horoscopes, astrology, dream interpretation, palm reading, hypnotism, good-luck charms, tarot cards, palmistry, Ouija boards, seances, black magic, sorcery, reincarnation?

Was I involved with or adhere to New Age or Eastern philosophies, atheism or agnosticism?

Have I taken part in any non-Catholic worship?

Am I a member of any non-Catholic religious organization, secret society or anti-Catholic group such as the Free Masons?

Have I adhered to a schismatic group?

Have I willfully participated  in illicit (non-emergency) “General Absolution” services?

Am I guilty of Simony (the buying or selling of blessed or religious objects?)

Have I received Holy Communion at least once a year?

Have I desecrated the Consecrated Host in any way?

Have I knowingly read any heretical, blasphemous or anti-Catholic literature?

Have I omitted religious duties or practices through motives of human respect?

Did I deny that I was Catholic?

Did I leave the Catholic Faith?

Did I despair of or presume on God’s mercy?

Did I have false gods in my life that I gave greater attention to than God, like money, profession, drugs, TV, fame, pleasure, property, etc.?

Have I neglected the knowledge of my faith as taught in the catechism, such as the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Seven Sacraments, the Our Father, etc.?

Have I deliberately doubted or denied any of the teachings of the Church?

Have I recommended myself daily to God?

Have I been faithful to my daily prayers?

Have I abused the Sacraments in any way? Received them irreverently, e.g. Communion in the Hand without obeying the principles and the 7 rules promulgated by Paul VI as binding in this matter?

Have I made fun of God, Our Lady, the Saints, the Church, the Sacraments, other holy things?

Have I been guilty of great irreverence in church, e.g., conversation, behavior, or dress?

Have I allowed my children to be a source of distraction to others at Mass?

Have I been indifferent with regard to my Catholic Faith — believing one can be saved in any religion, that all religions are equal?

Have I hated God?

Have I given too much importance to any creature, activity, object or opinion?

 

SECOND COMMANDMENT
“You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain.” (Ex 20:7)

Did I blaspheme or insult God?

Did I take God’s name carelessly or uselessly?

Did I curse, or break an oath or vow?

Did I get angry with God?

Have I sworn by God’s name falsely, rashly or in slight and trivial matters?

Have I murmured or complained against God (blasphemy)?

Have I cursed myself or others, or any creature?

Have I angered others so as to make them swear or blaspheme God?

Have I broken a vow made to God?

 

THIRD COMMANDMENT
“Remember that you keep holy the Sabbath Day.” (Ex 20:8)

Did I miss Mass Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation through my own fault?

Did I do work on Sunday that was not necessary?

Did I set aside Sunday as a day of rest and a family day?

Did I show reverence in the presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament?

Have I been late for Mass on Sundays or Holy Days of obligation or left early through my own fault?

Have I made others miss Mass on Sundays or Holy Days of obligation, leave early or be late for Mass?

Have I been willfully distracted during Mass?

Have I done or commanded unnecessary servile work on Sunday or Holy Days of Obligation?

Have I bought or sold things not of necessity on Sunday and Holy Days of obligation?

 

FOURTH COMMANDMENT
“Honor your father and your mother.” (Ex 20:12)

Did I disobey or disrespect my parents or legitimate superiors?

Did I neglect my duties to my husband, wife, children or parents?

Did I neglect to give good religious example to my family?

Did I fail to actively take an interest in the religious education and formation of my children?

Did I fail to educate myself on the true teachings of the Church?

Did I give scandal by what I said or did, especially to the young?

Did I cause anyone to leave the faith?

Did I cause tension and fights in my family?

Did I care for my aged and infirm relatives?

Did I give a full day’s work for a full day’s pay?

Did I give a fair wage to my employees?

Have I been disobedient or disrespectful to my parents, or have I neglected or refused to aid them in their wants or to do their last will?

Have I shown irreverence to others in positions of authority?

Have I maligned or insulted priests or others consecrated to God?

Have I failed in due reverence to aged persons?

Have I mistreated my spouse or my children?

Have I been disobedient or disrespectful to my husband?

Regarding my children (For Parents)

Have I neglected their material needs?
Have I failed to care for their early baptism?
Have I failed to care for their proper religious education?
Have I allowed them to neglect their religious duties?
Have I allowed them to date/go steady without the prospect of marriage within the near future? (St. Alphonsus says 1 year maximum.)
Have I failed to supervise the company they keep?
Have I failed to discipline them when they need it?
Have I given them a bad example?
Have I scandalized them by arguing with my spouse in front of my children?
Have I scandalized them by cursing or swearing in front of them?
Have I guarded modesty in the home?
Have I permitted them to wear immodest clothing (mini skirts; tight pants, dresses, or sweaters; see-through blouses, short-shorts, revealing swim suits, etc.)?

Have I denied their freedom to marry or follow a religious vocation?

 

FIFTH COMMANDMENT
“You shall not kill.” (Ex 20:13)

Have I procured, desired, or hastened the death or bodily injury of anyone?

Did I have an abortion, or advise someone else to have an abortion?

(One who procures an abortion is automatically excommunicated, as is anyone who is involved in an abortion, Canon 1398. The excommunication will be lifted in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.)

Have I knowingly voted for someone who is pro-abortion or pro-euthanasia?

Did I use or cause my spouse to use the birth control pill?

(whether or not realizing that birth control pills do abort the baby if and when conceived)?

Have I entertained thoughts of suicide, desired to commit suicide or attempted suicide?

Did I take part in or approve of “mercy killing” (euthanasia)?

Am I guilty of “Selective Reduction” of babies in the womb?

Have I been involved in or do I support human cloning?

Did I get angry, impatient, envious, unkind, proud, revengeful, jealous, hateful toward another?

Was I lazy?

Did I give bad example by drug abuse, drinking alcohol to excess, fighting, quarreling?

Did I abuse my children?

Have I borne hatred?

Have I oppressed anyone?

Have I desired revenge?

Have I caused enmity between others?

Have I quarreled or fought with anyone?

Have I wished evil on anyone?

Have I intended or attempted to injure or mistreat others?

Is there anyone with whom I refuse to speak, or against whom I bear a grudge?

Have I willfully engaged in unjust lawsuits?

Have I intentionally placed temptations before the weak?

Am I guilty of bigotry – the hatred of those of another race?

Have I taken pleasure in anyone’s misfortunes?

Have I willfully failed to bury the body or ashes of the dead?

Have I been jealous or envious of anyone?

Have I mutilated my body unnecessarily in any way; excessive piercing or tattoos?

Have I pierced my sexual organs?

Have I driven in a reckless way?

Have I overeaten or do I neglect to eat properly, i.e., nutritious foods?

Have I failed to correct in charity?

Have I harmed anyone’s soul, especially children, by giving scandal through bad example?

Have I harmed my own soul by intentionally and without necessity by exposing it to temptations, e.g.: bad TV, bad music, beaches, etc.

 

SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS
“You shall not commit adultery.” (Ex 20:14) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.” (Ex 20:17)

Note: In the area of deliberate sexual sins listed below, all are mortal sins if there is sufficient reflection and full consent of the will. “No fornicators, idolaters, or adulterers, no sodomites,… will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor 6:9-10) “Anyone who looks lustfully at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his thoughts.” (Mt 5:28)

Did I willfully entertain impure thoughts or desires?

Did I avoid the occasions of impurity?

Have I neglected to control my imagination?

Have I prayed at once to banish such bad thoughts and temptations?

Did I use impure or suggestive words? Tell impure stories? Listen to them?

Did I deliberately look at impure TV, videos, plays, pictures or movies? Or deliberately read impure materials?

Did I commit impure acts by myself (masturbation)?

Did I commit impure acts with another – fornication (premarital sex), adultery (sex with a married person)?

Did I marry or advise anyone to marry outside the Church?

Have I divorced or deserted my spouse?  (Specific cases must be taken to the confessional.)

Am I guilty of polygamy or polyandry (many wives/husbands)?

Did I respect all members of the opposite sex, or have I thought of other people as objects?

Did I or my spouse have sterilization done?

Did I abuse my marriage rights?

Have I denied my spouse his or her marriage rights?

Have I practiced birth control (by pills, devices, Onanism, i.e. intentional withdrawal and non-vaginal ejaculation)?

Have I committed any unnatural sin against purity (homosexuality or lesbianism, Transvestitism or cross dressing, Bestiality (sexual acts with animals) etc.)?

Am I guilty of incest?

Am I cohabitating prior to marriage?

Am I guilty of prostitution or rape?

Have I Intentionally caused a sexual climax outside of intercourse?

Have I practiced Oral Sex (oral stimulation permitted as foreplay in marriage – ejaculation must be vaginal)

Have I practiced anal sex or other degrading sexual practices even in marriage?

Am I guilty of Wife Swapping or “swinging”?

Am I guilty of surrogate motherhood?

Am I guilty of types of fertility testing that involve immoral acts?

Have I had in-vitro fertilization or artificial insemination done?

Have I touched or embraced another impurely?

Have I engaged in prolonged or passionate kissing?

Have I engaged in petting?

Have I indulged in lustful desires for anyone, or willfully desired to see or do anything impure?

Have I willfully indulged in any sexual pleasure whether complete or incomplete?

Have I been an occasion of sin for others by wearing tight or otherwise revealing and immodest clothing?

Have I done anything to provoke or occasion impure thoughts or desires in others deliberately or through carelessness?

Have I boasted of my sins or taken delight in past sins?

Have I been in lewd company?

Have I consented to impure glances?

Have I avoided laziness, gluttony, idleness, and the occasions of impurity?

Have I attended immodest dances or indecent plays?

Have I unnecessarily remained alone in the company of someone of the opposite sex?

Have I destroyed the innocence of another by seducing or introducing them to immorality?

Do I have lust in the heart (“if I could I would”)?

 

SEVENTH AND TENTH COMMANDMENTS
“You shall not steal.” (Ex 20:15) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.” (Ex 20:17)

Have I stolen anything? What or how much?

Have I willfully destroyed or defaced another’s property?

Have I negligently spoiled anyone´s property?

Have I been negligent in the stewardship of other people’s money or goods?

Have I cheated or defrauded others?

Have I gambled excessively?

Have I refused or neglected to pay any debts?

Have I acquired anything known to be stolen?

Have I failed to return things borrowed?

Have I cheated my employer of an honest day’s work?

Have I cheated my employees of their wages?

Have I failed to make restitution for my stealing, cheating and frauds? (Ask the priest how to go about making restitution, that is, returning to the owner what you unjustly took from him/her.)

Have I stolen something consecrated to God or from a holy place?

Have I bought, sold, received or concealed items known to be stolen?

Have I willfully failed to make restitution?

Have I padded expense or per diem accounts?

Have I taken advantage of the poor, simple, inexperienced or less fortunate?

Have I denied help to the poor, needy or destitute when it was not a hardship to help them?

Have I defrauded creditors?

Am I guilty of bribery or taking bribes?

Have I committed blackmail, fraud or embezzlement?

Am I guilty of price fixing, tax evasion or forgery?

Have I violated copyrights or pirated computer software?

Have I been envious of another because I don´t have what they have?

Have I been stingy?

Have I been grasping and avaricious, placing too great importance upon material goods and comforts?

Is my heart set on earthly possessions or on the true treasures of Heaven?

 

EIGHTH COMMANDMENT
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Ex 20:16)

Have I lied about anyone (calumny)?

Have my lies caused them any material or spiritual harm?

Have I rashly judged anyone (i.e. believed firmly, without sufficient evidence, that they are guilty of some moral defect or crime)?

Have I injured the good name of another by revealing true but hidden faults (detraction)?

Have I disclosed another´s sins?

Have I been guilty of talebearing, (i.e. reporting something unfavorable said of someone by another so as to create enmity between them)?

Have I lent an ear to or encouraged the spreading of scandal about my neighbor?

Have I taken false oaths or signed false documents?

Am I, without necessity, critical, negative or ever uncharitable in my talk?

Have I flattered others?