Thus we understand why the confession of sins must ordinarily be individual and not collective , just as sin is a deeply personal matter. But at the same time this confession in a way forces sin out of the secret of the heart and thus out of the area of pure individuality, emphasizing its social character as well, for through the minister of Penance it is the ecclesial community, which has been wounded by sin, that welcomes anew the repentant and forgiven sinner. The words which express it and the gestures that accompany it in the old and in the new Rite of Penance are significantly simple in their grandeur. It is the moment at which, in response to the penitent, the Trinity becomes present in order to blot out sin and restore innocence. Only faith can give us certainty that at that moment every sin is forgiven and blotted out by the mysterious intervention of the Saviour.
Satisfaction is the final act which crowns the sacramental sign of Penance .
In some countries the act which the forgiven and absolved penitent agrees to perform after receiving absolution is called precisely the penance. They include the idea that the pardoned sinner is able to join his own physical and spiritual mortification which has been sought after or at least accepted to the Passion of Jesus who has obtained the forgiveness for him. They remind us that even after absolution there remains in the Christian a dark area, due to the wound of sin, to the imperfection of love in repentance, to the weakening of the spiritual faculties. It is an area in which there still operates an infectious source of sin which must always be fought with mortification and penance . This is the meaning of the humble but sincere act of satisfaction.