WHAT IS CONTRITION

A MESSAGE FOR THE 10th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

The catechism teaches that for the Sacrament of Penance, our sorrow must be 1) interior, 2) universal, and 3) supernatural.  These terms are not difficult to understand.

Interior.
When the priest asks us to say the words of the Act of Contrition, we must be telling the truth when we say them.  It is not enough to rattle off the words. You must believe the words to be true. This is not about emotion:  you don’t necessarily have to be wiping the tears from your eyes as you repeat the words.  But you must at least believe that what you are saying is the truth. That you aretruly sorry for your sins, and for the reasons you give, that you dread the loss of heaven, or because they offend God.  Otherwise, you are simply lying to God, mouthing words you don’t believe.  If your attachment to your sin is so strong that you are actually not sorry at all, don’t bother telling God that you are.  He knows the truth.  Lying to God in the confessional merely adds to your sins, so that you’re worse off when you come out than when you went in.

Universal.The sorrow for your sins must extend to all your sins, at least the mortal sins.  If you’re lying on the battlefield with three mortal wounds, the surgeon must take care of all three.  If he leaves just one mortal wound without treatment, then that will surely be your cause of death.  So be sorry for every single mortal sin you’ve committed, and the venial ones too if you can.  It’s always a good idea to take one or more mortal sins of our past life, and to confess them again, trying to excite fresh sorrow for them.

Supernatural.This is the quality of contrition hardest to understand, and the hardest to obtain.  If we’re to be sorry for anything, we obviously have to have a reason for being sorry.  Now, the reason could be one of any number of things, but it always stems from the consequencesof the sin we commit.  These consequences vary, and therefore give rise to many different kinds of contrition.  For example, the drunkard lies on his bed of sickness, ashadow of his former self.  His habits, his addiction, has led to the injury of his body, perhaps the loss of a job, or the breakup of his family.  And so he’s sorry for his sins of drunkenness.  A prisoner in jail curses his crime because it has deprived him of his freedom.  Other sins undermine the health, weaken the mind, destroy our credit and good name, or cover us with shame and infamy.  Now, if such reasons as these lead us to repent of our sins, causing us even to bewail them with many bitter tears, this is, no doubt, sorrow of a very real and heartfelt kind; but it is a natural sorrow, and, therefore, is not sufficient for the Sacrament of Penance.  Our sorrow must be supernatural.  We must repent of our sins on account of the evil consequences they bring upon us for eternal life.  Sin robs us of sanctifying grace; it deprives the unrepentant sinner of heaven, and casts him into eternal fire; it makes him the enemy of God, and crucifies our Saviour over again.  These consequences of sin have reference to our eternal life, and are therefore supernatural.  You must have this kind of supernatural contrition for your confession to be valid.