Commentary of the Gospell

Examen of Conscience

“Purify the inside first, then the outside, too, will be purified.” How easily we forget this, and how conveniently so! We are all eager to change the world out there: it is enough to observe our conversations across dining tables or at market places or even at meetings and conferences to arrive at this conclusion. Rare are the people who work on themselves, their insides. We preach faith and morality from the housetops and are oblivious, innocently or deliberately, to the mess within. This disconnect between the inside and the outside explains, not only many of our physical and emotional illnesses, but also all kinds of abuse stories, sexual, financial, pastoral, etc., that we hear around. Even in many religious houses, the daily examination of conscience has become a thing of the past. It is time to make the examen at the end of the day a non-negotiable daily practice, for every Christian.