List of points

In Christian asceticism the examination of conscience meets a need of love, and of sensitivity.

Is there something in your life that does not suit your dignity as a Christian, something which makes you unwilling to be cleansed?

—Examine your conscience, and change.

Take a good look at the way you behave. You will see that you are full of faults that harm you and perhaps also those around you.

—Remember, my child, that microbes may be no less a menace than wild beasts. And you are cultivating those errors and those mistakes — just as bacteria are cultivated in a laboratory — with your lack of humility, with your lack of prayer, with your failure to fulfil your duty, with your lack of self-knowledge… Those tiny germs then spread everywhere.

—You need to make a good examination of conscience every day. It will lead you to make definite resolutions to improve, because it will have made you really sorry for your shortcomings, omissions and sins.