nd sorrow. Never keep the
priest waiting for you in the confessional; pass in as soon as he is
prepared to hear you.

192 Q. What is the examination of conscience?
A. The examination of conscience is an earnest effort to recall to mind
all the sins we have committed since our last worthy confession.

"Worthy confession," because if we made bad confessions we must tell how
often we made them, and whether we received Holy Communion after them or
not, and also all the sins we told in the bad confessions, and all
others committed since the good confession. If, for example, a boy made
a good confession in January, and in confession in February concealed a
mortal sin and went to confession after that every month to December, he
would have to go back to his last good confession, and repeat all the
sins committed since January, and also say that he had gone to
confession once a month and made bad confessions all these times.

*193 Q. How can we make a good examination of conscience?
A. We can make a good examination of conscience by calling to memory the
Commandments of God, the precepts of the Church, the seven capital sins,
and the particular duties of our state in life, to find out the sins we
have committed.

*194 Q. What should we do before beginning the examination of
conscience?
A. Before beginning the examination of conscience we should pray to God
to give us light to know our sins and grace to detest them.

Lesson 18
ON CONTRITION

195 Q. What is contrition or sorrow for sin?
A. Contrition or sorrow for sin is a hatred of sin and a true grief of
the soul for having offended God, with a firm purpose of sinning no
more.

"Offended"--that is, done something to displease Him.

*196 Q. What kind of sorrow should we have for our sins?
A. The sorrow we should have for our sins should be interior,
supernatural, universal, and sovereign.

*197 Q. What do you mean by saying that our sorrow should be interior?
A. When I say that our sorrow should be interior, I mean that it should
come from the heart, and not merely from the lips.

"Interior"--that is, we must really have the sorrow in our hearts. A
boy, for example, might cry in the confessional and pretend to the
priest to be very sorry, and the priest might be deceived and absolve
him; but God, who sees into our hearts, would know that he was not
really sorry, but only pretending, that his sorrow was not interior, but
exterior; and God therefore would with