Prep questions for the confessional (Liguori, The mission book, New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1854)

Text: "Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women..." Daniel 11:37 "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry..." 1 Timothy 4:1-3

Quote:

ON THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS.

   "Thou shalt not commit adultery? Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife."

   By these two commandments are forbidden all kinds of impurity. It must be borne in mind that every sin of this nature, whether in action, word, or even only in thought, when quite wilful and deliberate, is a mortal sin, and necessary to be confessed. On these commandments examine your thoughts, words, and actions, as follows:

   I. Have you not dwelt wilfully, and with complaisance, upon impure thoughts or imaginations? Have you not, in fact, consented to them in your mind? How often?

   II. Have you made use of impure language or allusions; taken part in sinful conversations, or listened to them willingly and with complaisance? How often? Was it sometimes before persons of another sex, and how often? Before the young and innocent? How often? Have you sung immodest songs, and in what company? Have you written them, or learned them, or listened to them? How often? Have you sometimes boasted of your former sins?

   III. Have you been guilty of improper and dangerous freedoms with any of the other sex? How far have you carried this sinful conduct? Was the companion of your guilt a single person? How often? A married person? How often? A relation? How often? Was there any thing else in the quality of the person, which made your sin more grievous? (Whenever a second person is concerned, the same distinctions must be made, whether the impurity be one of thought word, or action.) 

   Have you entertained a criminal or dangerous intimacy? How long? Have you written letters through passion, or received them from others? How often? Have you gazed immodestly upon yourself or others; upon pictures or statues, or any object which could excite evil desires? How often? Have you indulged in habits of secret sin? How long? How often?

   Have you not by the freedom of your manners, or your immodest dress, been the cause of temptation to others? Was this also your intention? Have you even in this respect disregarded the sanctity of the Church and of the Holy Sacrifice? How often?

   Have you read impure books, tracts, or newspapers, or listened to them when read? How often? Have you lent them to others? Have you not exposed yourself voluntarily to the occasions of sin, by means of dances, shows, theatres, &c.; by intemperance, by reading romances and plays, by walking out at night, by frequenting society, or by remaining alone with persons of a different sex? How, and how often?

   Have you been guilty of leading others astray, by your enticements, by presents, promises, flatteries, or caresses? Have you employed fraud, threats, or menaces, or even been guilty of violence? How often? Did you accomplish your evil design by means of a promise of marriage? Did you break it? Have you refused to repair the injury you have done? Have you taught sinful things to the innocent and ignorant? Have you corrupted the minds of young children by your actions, caresses, &c.? How often?

   Have you taken part in the sins of others by favoring their bad designs, by remaining silent when you could and ought to interfere, by affording the occasion by your bad advice, by writing or carrying letters, by promoting and encouraging courtships in your own house or else where? How, and how often?

   Have your sins against these two commandments been sometimes of an unnatural kind? How often?

Liguori, Alfonso Maria de, Saint, The mission book: a manual of instructions and prayers, adapted to preserve the fruits of the mission, drawn chiefly from the works of St. Alphonsus Liguori, published under the direction of the Fathers of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1854, pp. 334-335.

Online Source: archive.org/details/missionbookmanua00ligu

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