Each Friday of Lent we will share a different guide to help examine your conscience based on different aspects of our lives as members of the Vincentian Family. Please feel free to download, print and share.

Introduction

Let this season of Lent be a special time of grace to help us reflect on and deepen our commitment to following Jesus Christ, Evangelizer and Server of the poor. One of the rich traditions to help us live out that reflection and continue our own personal processes of conversion is an examination of conscience.

Lent is a time to open ourselves up to God’s mercy, but at the same time to be aware of our own limitations and our own sinfulness. It is true that we think and act in ways contrary to the Gospel. Anyone who says he is in no need of conversion, being without sin, is a liar, as St. John clearly states, or even worse yet, is blind to his own situation. The season of Lent is a time when God, in his mercy, forgives us his children for having strayed from our own identity as Vincentians. Let us be willing to share with the Lord our failings and sins and at the same time acknowledge God’s mercy.

Your brother in St. Vincent,
G. Gregory Gay, C.M.

Source: Vincentiana Vol. 49, No. 1 Article 7, Gregory Gay C.M.

Week 1: The Word of God

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