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Brookline Carmel Bulletin
February 26, 1961
Cogitatio Sancta
(Holy
Meditation)
Our most effective weapon
against sin has been given to us by God Himself. It is the Sacrament of Penance.
In the present economy of salvation it is indispensable. There is no
other way of obtaining the remission of mortal sins. Acts of perfect contrition take away serious sin only because
they include the implicit intention of going to confession at the first
opportunity. And of the many ways of
obtaining forgiveness for venial sins, confession is the best and surest.
The constituent elements
of Sacramental confession are: on the
part of the penitent: accusation of
one’s sins, protestations of sorrow for and detestation of them, a firm purpose
of amendment and the willingness to make satisfaction; on the part of the
priest: the formula of absolution and
the imposition of a penance; on the part of God: divine power. The words
and actions supplied by the human parties signify reconciliation between God
and the penitent and reparation for the disturbance of due order caused by the
sins in question. Of themselves,
however, those acts accomplish nothing.
It is the divine power with which, by the positive will of Jesus Christ,
they are endowed that gives them their efficacy. Thus we understand why the Sacrament of Penance is absolutely
necessary, given the state of mortal sin.
Contrition – sorrow for sins founded upon love for God, the supreme Good
– takes away mortal sin all by itself.
Attrition – sorrow founded upon fear of Hell – plus the absolution of a
duly authorized priest also remits mortal sin.
Now we can never be absolutely sure we have made an act of perfect
contrition, but we can easily be sure we have made an act of attrition and have
received valid absolution. It is
lawful, therefore, to resort to an act of perfect contrition to get into the
state of grace only when circumstances require we be in that state, and we have
no opportunity to get to confession. We
understand, too, why the act of perfect contrition must contain the implicit
intention to receive the absolution of a priest at the first opportunity.
Every sin produces three
effects, all of which impede union with God in one way or another: (1) guilt, (2) the tendency to repeat the
same sin, (3) a perversion of the order willed by God. Being guilty of mortal sin destroys
friendship with God; tendencies toward sin make perfect union with God
impossible on earth, and make the unclouded vision of God after death
impossible, too. Unrepaired disorder
due to one’s sins defers the possession of eternal bliss until full
satisfaction has been made. Of the
three effects, only the first, guilt, is infallibly overcome by the valid
reception of the Sacrament. The other
two only partially, depending upon the subjective state of the penitent and the
nature of the penance imposed. Hence,
frequent confessions are never inadvisable, since tendencies to sin and the
debt of punishment due to sins of the past can always be more completely remitted
even after the guilt has long since been wiped away.
Guilt is removed by sorrow
for sin and the formula of absolution.
The tendency to repeat the same sin is weakened by detestation of it and
the firm purpose of amendment. Satisfaction
for the injury to God’s majesty and the perversion of order is made by enduring
the inconvenience suffered in fulfilling ones’ penance. This same inconvenience helps to weaken the
tendency also, for it acts as a deterrent.
The best penances are the so-called ‘medicinal’ penances. Because they are acts of virtue directly
contrary to the sins committed, they both inflict pain and abolish tendencies
to sin. Here are some examples of medicinal
penances: against lust: inflicting corporal punishment, say, by take
the discipline (Note: this is no longer used); against gluttony: fast and abstinence; against avarice: almsgiving; against pride: performing humble tasks, say doing volunteer
work among the dregs of humanity; against anger (the inordinate desire to
punish for a wrong): an overt act of friendship. Doing medicinal penances is a kind of purgatory. St. John of the Cross teaches that the dark
night of the spirit is the inflowing of God into the soul, grievously
afflicting it as it drives out all contrary forms. Those contrary forms are nothing else than the radical, deep-down
tendencies and inclinations to sin.
Obviously, we are obliged
to confess all our mortal sins, and so are required to spend a reasonable time
searching for them. A reasonable time
is determined by the state of soul of the penitent. One who rarely, if ever, commits a mortal sin would not have to
spend more than time for a quick glance.
A mortal sin would be immediately remembered, since it would make a deep
and lasting impression upon the conscience of such a person.
One does well to confess
all his deliberate venial sins, though he is not obliged to, for these do great
harm to one striving for perfection.
For these we have to have sincere sorrow, a firm purpose of amendment, and
the willingness to do penance for them.
Otherwise the absolution has little or no effect upon them.
Imperfections alone do not
warrant absolution. In the absence of
sin it is necessary to mention some already forgiven past sin. The absolution must have something to work
on, namely tendencies to sin and unpaid debt of temporal punishment. But imperfections may be mentioned for the
sake of greater humility, and to give the confessor an idea of one’s state of
soul, so that he may be able to select suitable medicinal penances.
We often wonder why, after
confessing the same venial sins time and time again, we still continue to fall
into them. Several reasons may be
brought forward to account for this fact. Perhaps our sorrow, detestation and
purpose of amendment are not sufficiently intense. Perhaps it is because the confessor fails (I am blushing) to
impose medicinal penances. Perhaps what
we think are deliberate venial sins are really indeliberate because of
circumstances beyond our control.
Perhaps God wants them to remain in order to give us plenty of reasons
for humbling ourselves. Perhaps our
judgment of our actions has been based upon human prudence: what seems wrong to us, may well be,
according to divine prudence, quite all right and well in accord with God’s
designs. We couldn’t expect Him to help
us to achieve an effect at variance with His Will.
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