Confession and Absolution | Page 3

on us His great mercy.
Holy Church, in her General Council assembled at Trent, defined this contrition or repentance to be "a sorrow of mind, and a detestation of sin committed, together with a determination of not sinning for the future"--"_animi dolor, ac detestatio de peccato commisso, cum proposito non peccandi de catero_."[19] Or, as the same Council says: "Penitence was indeed at all times necessary for all men who had defiled themselves with any mortal sin, in order to the obtaining grace and justice, * * * that so, their perverseness being laid aside and amended, they might, with hatred of sin and a pious grief of mind, detest so great an offence of God."[20] And, as the Roman Catechism explains, this means no mere feeling, but a genuine act of the will. A mother may show more sensible signs of grief at the loss of her only child than when sorrowing for sin, yet this is not in the least inconsistent with the most perfect contrition or repentance.
There are times when the intense sorrow for sin arouses the whole being of man: exciting not only the higher, but also the lower and sensitive part of his nature. St. Mary Magdalen, David, and many other great penitents, wept bitter tears of sorrow for their past wrongs. This, though a heavenly favor, is no necessary part of repentance. Indeed, it is possible to weep and to have sensible sorrow without having a contrite heart. The three essential elements in contrition are: hatred of past sin, grief at having sinned, and a determined purpose at all costs to avoid, in the future, sin and the occasions of sin. These emanate from the will of man, not from the feelings; they must be strong or intense enough to make the sinner prefer to endure any evil, or sacrifice any good, rather than again offend God, so infinitely good in Himself, and so infinitely good to man.
Unhappily, it is within our power to hate, to grieve, and to purpose amendment very sincerely, and yet not have that sorrow which fulfills God's condition for the pardon of sin. Some human motive--such as loss of health or wealth, injury to reputation and influence, the ignominy and servitude of wrong-doing--may lead a man to detestation of the past and to a firm resolve to avoid wrong in the future. Excellent as may be such a change of mind, yet it is not sufficient to obtain forgiveness from on high. It is based entirely on the injury and loss accruing to self. God is excluded from the whole idea; and yet it is against Him, and against Him alone, that we have sinned.
The only sorrow acceptable to God is that which springs from a supernatural motive, the soul excited thereto by divine grace. In this is our utter helplessness shown; for while it is within our own power to do wrong, we cannot return to the path of duty and repent without the help of God. It is by the heavenly gift of grace operating within, and by the co-operation of the sinner, that the heart is made contrite. The remembrance of God's infinite love and perfections, accompanied by earnest prayer for mercy, may rouse the soul to hatred and grief for its sin, and thus is generated that contrition perfect through charity for having offended God so sovereignly good, who is to be loved above all things. For His own sake, and regardless of the penal consequences of sin, the soul is touched with sincere compunction. This sorrow, with the implicit or explicit desire to have recourse to the Sacrament of Penance, reconciles the soul at once with God, and restores the justifying or habitual grace lost by grievous sin. "There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walls not according to the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life iii Christ Jesus hath delivered me from the law of sin and of death."[21] The soul about to go before God's judgment-seat, if it be in deadly sin, and have not at hand the means for obtaining absolution, is obliged to have this perfect contrition, or otherwise the sin remains unforgiven.
Again, the soul, contemplating in the sight of God the turpitude of sin, as made known to us by revelation, or the terror of God's judgment on those condemned to hell, or the irreparable loss of the sight of God consequent on sin, may be excited by fear of Him who hath power to cast into everlasting prison. The soul, awe-stricken by the painful sight of its own guilt, and by the sense of the judgment of God, yet hoping for pardon and resolved to sin no more, makes an initial act of the love of