The Short Daily Examen
An Examen from the Penitential Liturgy Homily Of Card. James Francis Stafford Saint Peter’s Basilica Holy Tuesday, 11 April 2006 based on the Beatitudes.
● Do I turn from pride, envy, and ambition and follow Jesus’s way of humility. The choice between pride and humility is made concrete by my attitude toward Scripture. Am I docile and open to the Word of God. Am I ready to be judged by it rather than to judge it myself? Do I spend a disproportionate amount of time in reading newspapers and journals, watching television and using the Internet in comparison with the time spent reading and meditating upon the Sacred Scriptures?
● Have I been lacking in poverty of spirit and thus have been unable to hallow the name of God among men? Have I placed my happiness in the possession of external goods? Have I encouraged those in doubt and error to follow what is true and good?
● Have I been lacking in the meekness which prays that God’s kingdom come and that I not resist him ?
● Have I lacked the tears to mourn over the knowledge that the fulfillment of God’s will on earth must be accomplished within the conflict between body and spirit, between heaven and earth, as I am forced to say, “I see another law in my members, warring against the law in my mind”?
● Have I been lacking in the hunger and thirst for justice so that I and others, especially the poor, have not been supported and sustained by being given their daily bread?
● Have I been lacking in mercy whereby I forgive the injuries of others?
● Have I been lacking in purity of heart thereby surrendering to the temptation which creates duplicity of heart. Have I sought affective satisfaction in evil acts or thoughts with myself or with others and thus lost the simplicity of a heart fixed solely on God?
● Have I been lacking in the willingness to be a peacemaker whereby others might have called me a child of God.
● Have I received the good things from God’s bounty with a deep sense of gratitude and accepted with patience the evil that comes to me.
● Have I been lacking in the practice of justice which regulates my relationship with others and has as its end the establishment of peace?
● In my work and civic and political responsibilities have I acknowledged that the perfection of all the beatitudes is found in the acceptance of persecution for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
● Have I followed the precepts of the new justice that Jesus mentions after the beatitudes, his precepts on fasting, prayer and forgiveness.
Cathedral Confession Times For Lent:
7:15am to 8am Monday – Friday between the morning Masses
6:00 pm to 7:00 pm Thursday evening
9:00 am to 10:00 am Saturday morning
3:00 pm to 5pm Saturday afternoon
Communal Penance Service with a number of priests available for confessions.
7:00 pm April 15 at the Cathedral
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