"What can show more pride than this, since the
Scripture says: 'No one is free from sin, not even an infant of a day old;' and David
cries out: 'Cleanse me from my sin.' Are they more holy than David, of whose family Christ
vouchsafed to be born in the mystery of the Incarnation, whose descendant is that heavenly
Hall which received the world's Redeemer in her virgin womb? For what is more harsh than
to inflict a penance which they do not relax, and by refusing pardon to take away the
incentive to penance and repentance? Now no one can repent to good purpose unless he hopes
for mercy." - St. Ambrose ("Concerning Repentance" 4th century A.D.)
"Confess [your] faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be
healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." - James
5:16
"And when he had said this, he breathed on [them], and saith unto them, Receive
ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; [and] whose
soever [sins] ye retain, they are retained." - John 20:22-23
"When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be
forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their
hearts, Why doth this [man] thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God
only?" - Mark 2:5-7
What the Catechism of the Catholic Church says on
"Penance:"
986. "By Christ's will, the Church possesses
the power to forgive the sins of the baptized and exercises it through bishops and priests
normally in the Sacrament of Penance."
1422. "'Those who approach the Sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy
for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the
Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by
prayer labors for their conversion.' [LG 11 # 2.]"
1446. "Christ instituted the Sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his
Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus
lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the
Sacramanet of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of
justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as 'the second plank (of
salvation) after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace.' [Tertullian, De Paenit. 4, 2:
PL 1,1343; cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1542.]"
1456. "Confession to a priest is an essential
part of the Sacrament of Penance: 'All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent
self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are
most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue; for
these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those
which are committed openly.' [Council Of Trent (1551): DS 1680 (ND 1626); cf. Ex 20:17; Mt
5:28.] When Christ's faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember,
they undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who fail
to do so and knowingly withhold some, place nothing before the divine goodness for
remission through the mediation of the priest, 'for if the sick person is too ashamed to
show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot heal what it does not know.' [Council of
Trent (1551): DS 1680 (ND 1626); cf. St. Jerome, In Eccl.]"
1464. "Priests must encourage the faithful to
come to the Sacrament of Penance and must make themselves available to celebrate this
sacrament each time Christians reasonably ask for it. [Cf. CIC, can. 486; CCEO, can. 735;
PO 13.]"
1465. "When he celebrates the Sacrament of Penance, the priest is fulfilling the
ministry of the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost sheep, of the Good Samaritan who binds up
wounds, of the Father who awaits the prodigal son and welcomes him on his return, and of
the just and impartial judge whose judgment is both just and merciful. The priest is the
sign and the instrument of God's merciful love for the sinner."
1466. "The confessor is not the master of God's forgiveness, but its servant. The
minister of this sacrament should unite himself to the intention and charity of Christ.
[Cf. PO 13.] He should have a proven knowledge of Christian behavior, experience of human
affairs, respect and sensitivity toward the one who has fallen; he must love the truth, be
faithful to the Magisterium of the Church, and lead the penitent with patience toward
healing and full maturity. He must pray and do penance for his penitent, entrusting him to
the Lord's mercy."
1491. "The Sacrament of Penance is a whole consisting in three actions of the
penitent and the priest's absolution. The penitent's acts are repentance, confession or
disclosure of sins to the priest, and the intention to make reparation and do works of
reparation."
1496. "The spiritual effects of the Sacrament of Penance are:
- reconciliation with God by which the penitent
recovers grace;
- reconciliation with the Church;
- remission of the eternal punishment incurred by
mortal sins;
- remission, at least in part, of temporal
punishments resulting from sin;
- peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual
consolation;
- an increase of spiritual strength for the
Christian battle."
"God never threatens the repentant, rather He pardons the
penitent. You will say that it is God alone who can do this. True enough, but it is
likewise true that He does it through his priests, who exercise His power." - St.
Pacianus of Barcelona (4th century A.D.)
"In this sacrament the acts of the penitent are as matter,
while the part taken by the priest, who works as Christ's minister, is the formal and
completive element of the sacrament. Now in the other sacraments the matter pre-exists,
being provided by nature, as water, or by art, as bread: but that such and such a matter
be employed for a sacrament requires to be decided by the institution; while the sacrament
derives its form and power entirely from the institution of Christ, from Whose Passion the
power of the sacraments proceeds." - St. Thomas Aquinas ("Summa
Theologica" 13th century A.D.)
ACT OF CONTRITION
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I
detest all my sins, because of Your just punishments, but most of all because they offend
You, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the
help of Your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin. Amen.
