I love this picture, even though it makes me feel sad to think that I have ever hurt my beloved Jesus. Our Lord is so merciful.....He died for our sins! "He paid a debt He did not owe, a debt, I owed but could not pay!"
It is really hard sometimes to look at my soul and evaluate where I am spiritually. How am I offending Him? In what ways can I grow in virtue, allowing myself to grow closer to Him? Sometimes either I do not want to look at my shortcomings, or I am not really sure what my shortcoming even are.
It is good to do a daily examination of soul (conscience) to see what is going on. Without this knowledge, I stand the chance of falling deeper and deeper into sin, thus falling away from my Lord......my Delight!! He will NEVER leave me or love me less. He loves me so much that He blessed me with free will, which gives me, in turn the opportunity to either love Him back or turn away from Him.
Here is a beautiful Examination from my Prayer Book
1. Does the awareness that I am a child of God and bear the seal of this reality on my soul, permeate my day? Do I behave like His good, faithful son or daughter? Is there anything in particular that satisfies or displeases God, my Father? Have I tried to do God's will in my various activities today? Have I performed them with this intention?
2. Have I tried hard, sincerely, and fervently, to fulfill my spiritual commitments well (i.e prayer time, reading scripture)
3. Have I fulfilled the duties in my state in life (as a son, daughter, parent, spouse, etc...) honestly and responsibly in the spirit of service? Have I sought God's glory and the good of others more than my own personal interests?
4. Have I lived out Christian charity in thoughts, words, attitudes, and actions? In other words, have I done good to others by helping to make them happy, especially those closest to me- being patient, not talking badly of them or holding grudges, forgiving, and helping out as much as I could whenever I had the opportunity?
5. How well have I carried out my mission as an apostle? Did I take the necessary steps and seize opportunities to win souls for Christ? Do I have clear apostolic goals and have I striven to meet them? Was I generous in giving my time and resources to further Christ's interests?
6. What omissions was I guilty of today? (the failure to do something I know that I should and ought to do)
7. Have I taken care to form a sensitive conscience (we cannot always trust our conscience if it is not well formed- we see plenty of people doing things that they feel are perfectly fine but we know, are not. In our humanness, we can justify many actions)
8. Do I know what my root defect is? (i.e Lack of devotion, pride, self-love, vanity, laziness, faultfinding, envy, gluttony, lack of charity, frivolity and superficiality, sensuality, neglectfulness, irresponsibility in my work, individualism, indifference to the common good....)
What have I done today to improve?
9. What was the most positive thing in my day?
10. What was the most negative thing in my day?
Jesus, you are my delight and I truly pray that You, my loving Father, will delight in me, Your little girl! You are my life and my everything! I want to please You always and use the great blessing of my faith to bring other souls to You, my Precious Jesus!
