The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-03-04
coNTRITloN.

have offended SO good God, with
firm purpose of amendment. For
the worthy reception of the Sacra-
ment, says the Brooklyn Tablet" 1t
is required then, that the penitent
be sincerely sorry for his offenses
and that he seriously resolve never
to repeat them. This sorrow must
possess certain qualities or character
istics. It must be internal-that is,
it must proceed from the heart and
not consist merely of outward or ex-
ternal signs of conjunction. BE
converted to Me with all your heart,
in fasting, i'll weeping, and in mourn
ms, and rend your hearts and not
your garments, and turn to the Lord
your God"
Our sorrow must be supernatural
that is, it must arise from a super
natural motive and not from one
merely human. Thus it is not true
sorrow, if the sinner feels contrition
for his sins, simply and solely, be-
cause OF the temporal loss he has
suffered through them. True sorrow
is a grief of soul for having offended
God, Who is SO loving and benefcent
Father to us.
Our sorrow must be universal-that
is, it must extend, at least, to all the
mortal sins of which we are guilty.
We cannot have true contrition if
we repent of some and not all of our
sins. One mortal sin, unrepented of,
makes the forgiveness of other sins
impossible. Sanctifying grace cannot
enter a soul in such a condition, and
without sanctifying grace there can
| be no forgiveness Of sin. AS Venial
sins do not prevent the infusion of
| sanctifying grace, we are not strictly
obliged to be sorry for them, unless
they constitute the only matter of
our confession, in which case we must
have cOntrition for one of them at
least, otherwise our confession would
be null and void. When we have
venial sins only to confess we should
always mention some grievous sin OF
our past life and direct our sorrow
to that. In this way we shall safe
guard ourselves against the possibility
of multiplying our confession, because
of our failure or inability to elicit the
required supernatural sorrow for the
remission of slight offenses.
Our sorrow must be supreme or
sovereign-that is, we should detest
and hate sin as the greatest of all
evils. This hate and detestation must
reside in our will. 1t is not enough
that we believe theoretically in the
enormity of sin, we must hate and
detest our own sins as the greatest
of all evils, and be ready to forego
any gain or suffer any loss rather
than repeat the commission Of them
Contrition is of two kinds. Per-
feet contritiOn is that sorrow for our
sins which proceeds from our love
of God above all things; imperfect
! contTition, or as it is often called,
attrition, is that sorrow for our sins
which proceeds from a good and
supernatural motive, but one that is
less perfect than that of our love Of
God. We have imperfect contrition
when we are sorry for our sins, be-
cause by them we have lost our right
to the joys of Heaven and deserved
the punishment of hell. Perfect con-
triton, as it were, looks at God alone
and causes us to grieve for having
offended Him; imperfect contrition
looks at self and makes us sorry that
we have offended God because of the
loss we have thereby brought upon
ourselves.
Perfect contrition, Joined to the de-
sire of receiving the Sacrament OF
Penance, RENTS the guilt of sin before
We have actually made our confession
or received absolution. Imperfect CON
triton disposes us to receive forgive
ness when joined to the actual recep-
ton of the Sacrament Perfect contri-
ton prepares us for the reception of
a more abundant grace, and for the
remission of large portion of the
temporal punishment due to sim Thus
we see that perfect contrition has a
special efficacy in remitting sin and
securing grace for the soul 1t is Of
the utmost Importance that we strive
to learn the best method of eliciting
such an act
We obtain perfect contrition for our
sins in two ways:
l. We must earnestly beg it of God.
Perfectly sorrow is supernatural sor-
row, arising from supernatural
motive, and is therefore impossible
of attainment without the help of
divine grace. This grace, being a
free gift of God, must be sought for
and will be granted only on the con
ditfon that we pray for it.. Without
sincere prayer, then, we shall seek
for perfect contrition in vain.
?. We must make use of such con.
siderations as may move our wills
to elicit an act of perfect contrition.
The motives which will most effective
ly impel us are enumerated by the
Council of Trent as; the malice and
deformity of sin, the punishment
which it deserves, the loss which it
entails, and the outrage which it of
fers to the infinite goodness of God,
Whom we should love above ali things.
We should consider the price of sin
which the Son of God paid by His
sufferings and death. We should hum
BILE ourselves with the reflection that
we have arrogantly set ourselves M
against the One Who made us. We
should strive to bring home to our.
selves the heinous crime we have com