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Thou hast revealed. Therefore permit not that
human folly should ever obscure my mind and
make me as the blind leading the blind. Grant me a strong faith that I may never cease to think and
speak and act according to Thee and Thy holy Gospel. May I firmly believe
with an explicit and perfect faith; may I recognize God's presence everywhere; may I never forget,
my Jesus, Thy love; may I be constantly mindful of the mystery of Thy Incarnation and life and
sufferings, the ineffable grace of Thy Sacraments, the need I have of union with Thee, the
necessity of the help of Mary my Mother, the importance of prayer, the value of humility, the
strength and wisdom of Thy cross and the purpose of my life for time and eternity. Grant that my
faith may be so firm as to be unmoved by the impulses of fallen human nature; so bright as not to
be obscured by the fascination of worthless things; so simple that I may believe with a blind and
obedient faith; so efficacious that I may think and speak according to what I believe; so strong
that I may resist every temptation of the evil one. Through the intercession of the Blessed
Virgin Mary and all my patron saints grant these, my requests. Amen.


If thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him up
from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
-Romans 10:9

HOPE
Without the virtue of hope, one not only falls into many sins, but finds it very difficult to lead
a cheerful, contented life and to bear the crosses that are the inevitable lot of all mankind.
Therefore this examination shall be not only a test of one's relationship to God,
but also a study of whether or not his attitude
towards life is religiously right and
psychologically sound.

Hope is a theological virtue by which we confidently expect the help of God in attaining our
eternal happiness, and anything we need as a means to that end. The virtue of hope demands
therefore that we firmly believe that God will provide us with sufficient grace to avoid sin, and
with sufficient strength to fulfill the obligations imposed upon us, and with sufficient comfort to
make every cross bearable, if we do our part. The virtue of hope, therefore, forbids two things and
all that is connected with them, viz., presumption and despair.

Presumption is the sin whereby we expect God's help without doing our part, as when we count on
God's forgiveness even when we are committing a sin, or put off the renunciation of sin because
we expect to have an opportunity to confess just before we die. Despair is the sin whereby we
give up trying because we do not believe that even God's grace is sufficiently strong to help us
overcome our own weakness or to grant us forgiveness.


I. MORTAL SINS

1. Have I denied the necessity of God's help to attain my salvation, believing that I could win
heaven by my own efforts alone?

2. Have I said or seriously thought that God was too merciful to condemn anyone to hell, and that,
therefore, despite my serious sins, I would surely be saved?

3. Have I continued in a habit of mortal sin because I believed that some day I would certainly
have the grace to repent and be
forgiven?

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