Questions and Answers
1. What must a penitent do to obtain absolution for his sins?
The penitent must have contrition, i.e. sorrow for his sins, which includes a firm purpose of amendment. As we will see later, he must also make an integral confession of mortal sins not yet confessed, and accept the satisfaction (penance) imposed by the confessor.
The fundamental act is contrition. In certain particular circumstances, a person may be saved without confession or satisfaction of sins (for example, when there is no confessor at the time of death), but no one can be saved without sorrow or repentance for his grave sins.
2. What is “contrition”?
Contrition is a sorrow and hatred of the sins we have committed inasmuch as they are an offense against God. Such sorrow, if it is true, is accompanied by the purpose of confessing them and never sinning again.
It is a sorrow or sadness due to an awareness of the sins committed, by which the soul has offended God and put itself in a state of enmity with Him. This does not mean that the penitent must experience an intense feeling of sorrow for sin but rather that he must judge sin to be a greater evil than any other, so that he would be prepared to endure all other evils rather than to fall again into sin.
It is also a detestation. This word is not redundant, since sorrow is not the same as detestation, although the first inevitably leads to the second. Sorrow, as we have just said, is an interior sadness in the face of the calamity of sin. Detestation, on the other hand, is such an abhorrence of sin that it kindles in the penitent’s soul the desire to uproot it. It supposes hatred of the sin committed, that is, a true retraction of the bad will that the sinner had when he committed it. It is related to anger rather than sadness. Detestation occurs in the sensitive appetite in the presence of an evil difficult to eradicate, although, like sorrow, it need not necessarily be felt.
The sins committed are the material object of contrition, i.e. the sins committed are what we are sorry for. These sins do not include original sin, future sins, or to the sins of others; they only include actual sins that we, ourselves, committed.
The sorrow must be caused by our awareness of the offense we have given to God by falling into sin. True contrition must be supernatural, both in its principle (it is brought about with the aid of supernatural grace) and in its motive (i.e. not caused by natural, purely human motives).
Thus, contrition is considered perfect if the sorrow is prompted by our love for God. But it is imperfect (and called attrition) if the sorrow arises not from such supreme love but from some other supernatural motive, such as fear of the eternal or temporal punishment which is due to sin and is justly imposed by God. Such fear implicitly includes love and subjection to Him, and is commended by Sacred Scripture: “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin: for he that is without fear, cannot be justified” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27-28).
To regret our sins only for fear of the sufferings to come or for the happiness that we will lose, but without any reference to God who is offended, is not sufficient for genuine attrition.
Moreover, the sinner must have at least the implicit purpose of sacramentally confessing his sins. Without this relation to the sacrament of penance, true contrition does not exist.
Finally, the penitent must have the firm purpose of not sinning again. This is the logical and inevitable consequence of sorrow and detestation. He who feels he has offended God and truly wants to root out his sin must clearly be willing not to commit it again. This does not mean that he will in fact never sin again: in spite of our good intentions our human will is still weak and flawed and may fail in the face of temptation. What is required is that, here and now, the sinner sincerely and honestly proposes to make all possible efforts never to sin again.
3. What is the purpose of amendment?
Purpose of amendment is the deliberate and serious will not to sin again. A simple wish is not enough. A firm, energetic, unconditional act of the will is required. It is evident that one has not truly repented of his sins if he does not have the willingness to avoid them in the future. Without such a true and sincere repentance, it is impossible to obtain forgiveness of sins.
Usually such a purpose is implicitly included in the act of contrition, by which all past, present or future sins are rejected. In practice, the penitent should elicit not only an implicit purpose of amendment but also one that is explicit and centered on some special sin, since this will be more effective for the amendment of his life.
It must be firm—that is, the penitent, at the time of repenting of his sins, must be completely determined not to sin again, even if he must lose all his goods and bear all possible evils in order to avoid future sins.
It is not required, however, that the penitent be firmly persuaded that he will fulfill his purpose. Sincerity of purpose is compatible with doubt about its successful outcome, and even with the penitent’s almost moral certainty that, given his weakness, he will fall again sooner or later. That conviction is an intellectual judgment, while purpose is an act of the will.
Therefore, the firm purpose does not exclude fear or doubt (not even the intellectual certainty of a future relapse), but the penitent must consider that amendment, though difficult, is possible with the help of God and that it can be achieved by putting into practice the means at his disposal (v.gr., removing or avoiding the occasions of sin, breaking off bad friendships, frequenting the sacraments, etc.).
The purpose must also be universal, that is, it must include all the mortal sins to be avoided in the future. Regarding venial sins, it is not absolutely necessary that the purpose be universal, but it would be very fitting and profitable.
It must be efficacious to the extent that the penitent must use all the means necessary to avoid sin, such as prayer and vigilance; he must avoid voluntary proximate occasions of sin and do all in his power to repair any damage caused by his sins.
Some very pious penitents, especially if they are prone to scruples, accuse themselves thoroughly of all their venial faults along with all their smallest details. They must be reminded that repentance and the purpose of amendment are incomparably more important than the exhaustive accusation of little faults.
[… to be continued.]
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