Christian Preparedness Guides Part 3
Here, I’m going to share two quotes about perfect contrition.
from the book Mass and the Sacraments by Fr. John Laux (1928)
“Contrition is pain or grief of mind and detestation of sin committed, with the firm purpose of sinning no more” (Council of Trent).
Contrition is the most necessary part of our preparation for the reception of the Sacrament of Penance. Without contrition no sin is ever forgiven. Hence the act of contrition must be made before confession or at least before absolution is given.
2. Contrition Is an Act of the Will. – The penitent turns away from sin, detests it, regrets that he committed it, and is resolved to make satisfaction for it and to avoid it in future. Such an act of the will presupposes the knowledge that sin is an evil. Hence if we wish to become truly contrite we must think of the malice of sin and its dreadful consequences. An act of the intellect must precede the act of the will.
3. Our contrition, and therefore also our purpose of amendment, must be interior, universal, supreme and supernatural. –
a) Our contrition is interior if we detest sin in our hearts as the greatest of all evils and sincerely wish we had never committed it. “Rend your hearts and not your garments,” says the prophet (Joel 2,13). […]
b) Our contrition is universal if it covers all our mortal sins without exception. If we have only venial sins to confess, we must be truly sorry for at least one of them, otherwise our confession will be null and void. […]
c) Our contrition is supreme if we are resolved not to commit a mortal sin for the love or fear of anything whatsoever.
d) Our contrition is supernatural if it is produced by the grace of God and founded on motives which faith makes known to us, e.g., if we are sorry for our sins because by them we have offended God, lost Heaven, and deserved Hell. If we were sorry for our sins only because they brought disgrace or temporal loss of some kind upon us, our sorrow would be merely natural sorrow and of no avail for our salvation.
Supernatural contrition may be imperfect or perfect. – If we are sorry for our sins because we fear that God will punish us for them, our contrition is imperfect (attrition). It is imperfect because it is not born of the highest motive of love. “He that feareth is not perfected in love” (1 John 4,18). If, on the other hand, we are sorry because we have offended God, who is infinitely good and who is our greatest benefactor and most loving Father, our contrition is perfect. “Perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4,18)
[…]
Perfect contrition at once blots out all mortal sins, even before we confess them, – just as the ten lepers were cured on their way to the priests. “He that loveth Me, shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him” (John 14,21).
Hence if we ever have the misfortune to fall into deliberate sin, we should make an act of perfect contrition immediately. Of course we are still bound to go to confession, in order to fulfill the ordinary law, and we should do so reasonably soon. When others are in danger of death, and no priest is present, we should help them to make acts of perfect contrition. “Perfect contrition is the key of Heaven.”
We should always strive after perfect contrition for our sins. But who can say with certainty that his contrition is perfect? Therefore imperfect contrition must suffice for the reception of the Sacrament of Penance. “Imperfect contrition,” says the Council of Trent, “though it cannot of itself, without the Sacrament of Penance, justify the sinner, yet disposes him to receive divine grace in the Sacrament of Penance.”
4. Our contrition must be accompanied with a firm purpose of amendment. – We must resolve:
a) To avoid all sin, at least all mortal sins;
b) To shun the proximate occasion of sin and to use the means which are necessary for our amendment;
c) To perform our penance and to repair, as far as possible, any injury caused by our sin.
If we have only venial sins, we must firmly resolve to avoid them or at least to lessen their number.
By a proximate occasion of sin we mean anything that is likely to lead us into sin, such as bad companions, bad amusements, bad reading. “He that loveth danger shall perish in it” (Ecclus. 3,27).
If we are not resolved to avoid mortal sin or its proximate occasion we have no true contrition; we make a bad confession and the absolution is of no use to us.
from the book Parishes without a Priest („Gemeinden ohne Seelsorger“) (1874)
Part Three. Perfect contrition is a source of grace in life and a lifeline in death
I. What is perfect contrition?
Contrition is a sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again. It is divided into imperfect and perfect contrition. Imperfect contrition arises from fear of hell and the loss of heaven; it is sufficient for Confession if it is accompanied by a beginning of love for God. Perfect contrition, on the other hand, also called filial or loving contrition, arises from perfect love for God; it is a heartfelt, bitter sorrow for our sins because we have thereby offended God, the highest and most lovable good. The fear of hell and the hope of heaven need not be excluded from perfect contrition, but must take a back seat. The truly loving person longs for heaven in order to be united with the God of his heart, and fears hell only because there he would be eternally separated from God; from the greatness of the punishment he recognizes the greatness of the insult inflicted on God. The real reason for his repentance, however, is love for God […]. From this love then springs an exceedingly great pain at having offended such a lovable God, a true hatred and abhorrence of sin and the firm resolution to rather lose everything and endure even the bitterest death than to offend God by a grave sin, also to avoid all venial sins as offenses against the highest good to the best of one’s ability, to use the means necessary for correction, to do penance and to make amends for the bad consequences of sin as far as possible.
St. Mary Magdalene was filled with such remorse when she wept at the feet of Jesus; St. Peter when he went out and wept bitterly; the thief on the cross when he said to Jesus: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” [Lk 23:42] St. Paul had this firm resolution when he affirmed: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Rom 8:38-39]; likewise St. Anselmus, who declared: “If I saw on the one side a fiery furnace and on the other a venial sin, I would rather be thrown into the furnace than offend God by a venial sin.”
Truly grateful love, that is, that love which thinks not so much of the gifts but rather of God, the Giver and loves Him above all things because of His infinite mercy, is a perfect love and therefore the contrition that springs from it is also a perfect contrition. The same is true of filial love. […]
II. What is the effect of perfect contrition?
A person can obtain forgiveness for grave sins in three ways: first, through the Sacrament of Baptism; second, through the Sacrament of Penance; third, through perfect contrition in connection with the desire for the Sacrament [of Penance]. The Church teaches that perfect contrition, combined with the desire for the Sacrament (Baptism for the unbaptized, Penance for the baptized), reconciles the sinner with God even before he actually receives the Sacrament, and obtains forgiveness for all his sins. Perfect contrition presupposes the perfect love of God, but this and the state of mortal sin cannot exist together in the soul; that love cancels out that state, its fierce fire consumes the sin. Examples are David, Mary Magdalene, Peter, the thief on the cross, etc. The Lord said of Magdalene: “her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much” [Lk 7:47]
Perfect contrition therefore justifies the sinner, not only in an emergency and in danger of death, but in general and always, if it is truly present. But because in the New Covenant, according to Christ’s command, every serious sin is to be subjected to the power of binding and loosing of the Church, this contrition must be accompanied by the desire to go to confession. However, this need not be an explicit one, but the desire for the Sacrament, which is inherent in perfect love, or the firm intention to do everything that God requires, is sufficient. The Council of Trent teaches: “The council teaches furthermore, that though it happens sometimes that this contrition is perfect through charity and reconciles man to God before this sacrament is actually received, this reconciliation, nevertheless, is not to be ascribed to the contrition itself without a desire of the sacrament, which desire is included in it.” Council of Trent, 14th Sess. 4 Ch. If we therefore go to confession at the next opportunity: this is a duty, because it is Christ’s commandment. The uncertainty as to whether our contrition has been truly perfect also compels us to do so. A culpable postponement of confession after having committed a grave sin would be a fairly certain sign that the contrition which one may have awakened over this sin was only an imperfect one and did not eradicate mortal sin.
III. When should perfect contrition be awakened?
1. Although imperfect contrition is sufficient for Confession, we should nevertheless seek to awaken perfect contrition. The fruits of the Sacrament of Penance depend primarily on contrition. The more heartfelt it is, the more temporal punishment will be forgiven us along with eternal punishment, and the greater the measure of sanctifying and other graces that will be bestowed upon us. But if repentance is completely lacking, then Confession is invalid. […] Repentance must be awakened before absolution.
2. It is advisable, apart from Confession, to make perfect contrition more often, for example every evening or on Sundays, even after committing entirely voluntary venial sins, especially if we doubt whether the sin was venial or grave. Two reasons should prompt us to do this.
First, we never have undoubted certainty as to whether we are in the state of sanctifying grace. […] Even the great world apostle Paul confesses of himself: “I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.” 1 Cor 4:4. […] However, this uncertainty should not fill us with despair, but with salutary fear. “[W]ork out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Phil. 2:12. Frequent heartfelt repentance softens this fear, for the psalmist says: “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” [Psalms 51:17]. Thus, contrition of love, if it continually fills our hearts, secures us the mercy of God and with it our eternal salvation.
But even supposing that we are in the state of sanctifying grace, there is another reason why we should often awaken perfect contrition. This second reason is its great merit. It obtains for us the pardon of venial sins, into which we fall daily, and diminishes our temporal punishment, thereby shortening the punishment in Purgatory that awaits us. It also increases in us God’s grace and love of God, strengthens us for good and thus contributes to the increase of our hoped-for happiness in Heaven. […] On earth the love of God cannot exist without the pain of having offended this most lovable God so often: perfect contrition is, as it were, the earthly form of perfect love.
3. In particular, the Christian should awaken perfect contrition when he has had the misfortune to fall into grave sin. Never lie down to sleep in mortal sin, you could wake up in hell! It is also a doctrine of faith that you cannot earn treasures for heaven in a state of mortal sin. Should you ever fall into serious sin, then seek to reconcile yourself immediately with God you have offended through true contrition of love. Accuse yourself of your guilt before Him, plead for forgiveness, ask for time and grace for Confession and conversion. […] However, you do not need to feel this pain sensually, because repentance is a spiritual pain, a pain of the soul, a movement not of feeling but of the will. Should you suddenly die without the Holy Sacraments after such heartfelt contrition of love, then you will find in God a reconciled and merciful judge who will not cast you off forever. If, however, the Lord is granting you your life, then go to Holy Confession as soon as you have the opportunity. […]
4. Finally, in death, this repentance is the only means of salvation in the case of grave sin and in the absence of the Holy Sacraments. We can trust that God will grant the necessary grace to those who are of truly good will and have no opportunity to confess. This applies in particular to pious Catholics who die an unexpected death and to those people who live and die outside the Catholic Church through no fault of their own, but who have sought the truth and practiced virtue to the best of their ability. Even a heretic, a Jew, a Turk, a pagan, can still be saved by turning to God on his deathbed, asking for forgiveness with perfect contrition of love and at the same time wishing to do and receive what he recognizes as necessary for salvation by the grace of God. God wants all men to be saved, he offers His saving hand to all, and only those who reject it will perish. As will be shown later, perfect contrition can be awakened with the heart in an instant with the help of a special divine grace. Grace sometimes ignites suddenly in the soul, like a flash of lightning. But insofar as we have to cooperate, this contrition in death will become all the easier the more often and heartily we have practiced it in life. —
IV. How can perfect contrition be awakened?
[…] Every person, even the most simple-minded and unlearned, even the greatest sinner, can and should awaken it; indeed, under certain circumstances, his eternal salvation depends on it. On the other hand, this contrition should not be taken too lightly. Rather, it requires a firm, determined will on the part of man and a special, extraordinary grace on the part of God. But God does not deny these graces to anyone who fervently asks him for them and cooperates to the best of his ability.
Many words will not be enough; repentance must be in the heart. St. Francis once sighed to God for a whole night: “O my God and my everything! O my God and my everything: O most sweet my God and my everything” That was perfect love. Perfect contrition can be awakened in similar brief expressions. David, who was guilty of adultery and murder, only said, “I have sinned against the LORD”, and immediately heard the prophet say, “The LORD also has put away your sin.” [2 Sam 12] The tax collector beat his breast and said, “’God, be merciful to me a sinner!”, and he went home justified. [Lk 18:13] Both had in their hearts a deep love for God and an exceedingly great sorrow for the offense they had caused Him, together with a firm resolve to mend their ways and do enough, even though they did not express all this in words.
The surest signs of perfect contrition are corresponding deeds, namely early confession, if possible, true amendment of life; fleeing from occasions for sin; reconciliation with one’s neighbor; works of penance; zeal in prayer, in the fulfillment of the duties of one’s state of life, in the exercise of charity, etc. Perfect love and contrition is not a flickering and soon extinguished straw fire, but an ember that ignites and lasts in the heart. Through frequent awakening, the innere embers receive new nourishment and are fanned into a flame. Heartfelt tears of repentance, as with Magdalene and Peter, are a special grace, but by no means necessary.
Perfect contrition is, as I said, a grace that is obtained through prayer and cooperation. Therefore, pray more often and with fervor for a true heartfelt contrition of love. […] [T]urn to Mary, the refuge of sinners. Furthermore, since you must first recognize your sins in order to repent of them, examine your conscience diligently, if possible every evening (especially about your main fault). Self-examination and self-knowledge will open your eyes to the countless and great offenses you have already committed against your God. Punish yourself through works of penance according to your circumstances and the gravity of your transgressions. Such works are: fasting or at least a little abstinence from food and drink, mortification of the eyes and tongue, abstinence from a lawful pleasure, almsgiving, especially the patient endurance of suffering and affliction as penance for sins. […]