Examination of Conscience
Cloisters on the Platte - Part of the Friday Morning Prayer:
Lord, you have called us to depend upon you in humility, trusting your ways, your guidance, your strength, and help. For the times and ways in which I have forgotten about you and depended instead upon my strength, my wisdom, and my ways, I am truly sorry.
I place in your hands for forgiveness my impatience, intolerance, and harsh judgments. Knowing full well my shortcomings and how often I have been wrong or fallen short, still I can hold myself and others to impossible standards; too often I can treat family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers as an annoyance or an interruption, rather than recognizing them as companions in life. For all that is harsh within me… for the ways in which I have refused to bear with others lovingly, I beg your forgiveness, Lord.
As your follower, Lord Jesus, I am sent to bring unity and to build up your church and your world. Even in the face of disappointments born of brokenness and sin, you ask me to be a reconciler and to speak with charity and care. But I find that I have sometimes let myself be cynical or negative, and have undermined and harmed others through gossip or through focusing upon their faults. For bringing division rather than building unity, I ask your pardon, Lord.
Father, you challenge us to choose ways and words and actions and attitudes that will lead us to deeper life, holiness, and service. Sometimes I hand over control of my life to my worst self, or to the worst in others. I too easily react to others in hostility or anger when they are out of sorts, rather than choosing to hold fast to my better self. I give free rein to anger, or to lusts or attractions that lead me away from who I most want to be. I listen to stories, view images, programs, or movies, or go along with conversations that I know are not life-giving and that lead me away from the path of your Son. I find myself lying to others to cover my faults, failures, or mistakes, or I lie to avoid conflicts or to enhance my reputation. For being passive when I should make better choices, and for allowing my life to drift, I ask forgiveness and a new beginning, Lord.
Your blessings surround me and fill me, Father of all, yet I have not stopped to say “thank you” nearly enough. I have taken for granted your love for me, and have neglected my prayers or the ways you offer me grace through the church body. I have allowed myself to forget the gifts you give me by sending others into my life: spouse, parents, children, brothers and sisters, friends, fellow Christians, neighbors, co-workers. Having taken for granted how blessed I am, I have also failed sometimes to be concerned for those who are sick, lonely, hungry, or suffering. For all of these I am sorry, Lord, and ask you to make me new.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Lord, you have called us to depend upon you in humility, trusting your ways, your guidance, your strength, and help. For the times and ways in which I have forgotten about you and depended instead upon my strength, my wisdom, and my ways, I am truly sorry.
I place in your hands for forgiveness my impatience, intolerance, and harsh judgments. Knowing full well my shortcomings and how often I have been wrong or fallen short, still I can hold myself and others to impossible standards; too often I can treat family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers as an annoyance or an interruption, rather than recognizing them as companions in life. For all that is harsh within me… for the ways in which I have refused to bear with others lovingly, I beg your forgiveness, Lord.
As your follower, Lord Jesus, I am sent to bring unity and to build up your church and your world. Even in the face of disappointments born of brokenness and sin, you ask me to be a reconciler and to speak with charity and care. But I find that I have sometimes let myself be cynical or negative, and have undermined and harmed others through gossip or through focusing upon their faults. For bringing division rather than building unity, I ask your pardon, Lord.
Father, you challenge us to choose ways and words and actions and attitudes that will lead us to deeper life, holiness, and service. Sometimes I hand over control of my life to my worst self, or to the worst in others. I too easily react to others in hostility or anger when they are out of sorts, rather than choosing to hold fast to my better self. I give free rein to anger, or to lusts or attractions that lead me away from who I most want to be. I listen to stories, view images, programs, or movies, or go along with conversations that I know are not life-giving and that lead me away from the path of your Son. I find myself lying to others to cover my faults, failures, or mistakes, or I lie to avoid conflicts or to enhance my reputation. For being passive when I should make better choices, and for allowing my life to drift, I ask forgiveness and a new beginning, Lord.
Your blessings surround me and fill me, Father of all, yet I have not stopped to say “thank you” nearly enough. I have taken for granted your love for me, and have neglected my prayers or the ways you offer me grace through the church body. I have allowed myself to forget the gifts you give me by sending others into my life: spouse, parents, children, brothers and sisters, friends, fellow Christians, neighbors, co-workers. Having taken for granted how blessed I am, I have also failed sometimes to be concerned for those who are sick, lonely, hungry, or suffering. For all of these I am sorry, Lord, and ask you to make me new.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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