The Catholic practice of self-examination is the biblical model of discipleship.

It is always good to define our terms. In his Modern Catholic DictionaryGod’s servant John Hardon provided a good definition of “self-examination”:

Reflection in the presence of God on one’s state of soul, for example in preparation for the sacrament of penance.

He also defined “general examination” this way:

Daily periodic, prayerful examination of one’s conscience to determine what sins have been committed, which ones call for repentance, and what good deeds have been performed for which God should be thanked.

And he explained “Special Examination” in these terms:

Regular prayerful self-examination focusing on a particular moral failing to overcome or virtue to exercise. It focuses on the external manifestations of fault or virtue that can be remembered during a periodic inventory. Specific exams are changed weekly, monthly or otherwise to ensure maximum attention. They are also commonly associated with a brief invocation for divine assistance, when the opportunity arises to avoid a sin or to act according to a virtue. And after a while, another cycle may begin with the same flaws that person needs to overcome or the good habits they need to develop.

Catholics believe in being very self-aware and “vigilant” in the spiritual life. We are always examining ourselves to ensure that our hearts are oriented toward God (as a result – always – of God’s grace, which we must seek and ask for). It is precisely this examination of conscience that some Protestants criticize and despise by calling it “uncertainty of salvation”, as if it were slavery, or something undesirable, or a lack total hope, joy and peace that we have in Christ. But that’s not true at all.

Saint Paul expressed something which, I believe, goes along the lines of this:

• 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Don’t you know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run so you can get it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we, an imperishable crown. Well, I don’t run aimlessly, I don’t box like I’m punching the air; but I dapple my body and subdue it, lest after I have preached to others I myself should be disqualified.

Paul also wrote to the same Corinthians about the same need to examine oneself:

• 1 Corinthians 11:28, 31. Let a man examine himself, and eat of the bread and drink from the cup. …But if we truly judged ourselves, we should not be judged.
• 2 Corinthians 13:5. Examine yourself to see if you are remaining faithful to your faith. Test yourself. Don’t you realize that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless you don’t pass the test!

If we pursue this notion, we see that the Greek word in the last two examples above (“test” in 2 Corinthians 13:5) is dokimazo. In the King James Version it is variously translated as “examine,” “discern,” “prove,” “try,” and “approve.” Here are some other similar uses in the New Testament:

• Romans 12:2. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
• 2 Corinthians 8:7-8. Now, as you excel in all things—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this gracious work. I do not say this as a commandment, but to prove by the seriousness of others that your love is also genuine.
• 2 Corinthians 8:22. And with them we send our brother whom we have often tested and found serious in many matters, but who is now more serious than ever because of his great confidence in you.
• Galatians 6:4. But let each man test his own work, and then his reason for boasting will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:21. But test everything; hold on to what is good,
• 1 Timothy 3:10. And let them also be tested first; then if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons.

“Examine” in 2 Corinthians 13:5 is a different word: pirategenerally translated as to attempt Or tent. In this case it is used in the sense of “to attempt” or “to test” or “to try” (i.e. to examine).

Other passages convey the same sort of thing. The word “conscience” appears in the RSV 28 times in the New Testament. Paul wrote:

• “Until this day I have lived before God in good conscience” (Acts 23:1)
• “I am careful always to have a clean conscience toward God and toward men” (Acts 24:16).
• “My conscience bears me witness through the Holy Spirit” (Romans 9:1)
• “We would commend ourselves to every conscience of man before God” (2 Corinthians 4:2).
• “The goal of our mission is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:5).
• “Have faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, some have made shipwreck of their faith” (1 Timothy 1:19).
• “I thank God, whom I serve with a good conscience” (2 Timothy 1:3)

Conversely, Paul refers to the “pretensions of liars whose conscience is burned” (1 Timothy 4:2); “To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and the unbelieving nothing is pure; their minds and consciences are corrupt” (Titus 1:15).

The author of Hebrews exhorts believers to “purify their consciences from dead works, to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14); and confidently affirms: “our hearts are cleansed from an evil conscience” (10:22), and “we are sure of a clean conscience” (Hebrews 13:18). Saint Peter adds: “keep your conscience clean” (1 Peter 3:16).

So we see that the practice of self-examination of one’s conscience is a strong biblical theme. We are invited to always be vigilant in this regard. The Catholic practice of examination of conscience is the biblical model of discipleship.