What Everyone Should Know About:

THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE

by St. Alphonsus M. Libuori
Penance is a sacrament in which, by the absolution of a confessor, sins committed after Baptism are forgiven. For
priests have received from Jesus Christ the power of forgiving sins, as appears from the words: Whose sins you shall
forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained (John 20:23). Therefore the Council of
Trent excommunicates all that say that this sacrament has not the power to forgive sin. By this sacrament the sinner
recovers not only the divine grace, but also the merits of the good works performed in the state of grace, which he
had lost by sin. The soul also receives additional strength to resist temptations; for the same Council says that by
justification (being rendered just through repentance and forgiveness) we are renewed in the spirit of our mind
(session 6, chap.6). All these graces we receive through the merits of the Passion of Jesus Christ.

Examination of Conscience
This examination consists in making a careful search in order to call to mind the sins committed since the last
confession made with the required conditions.
In this search many fail by too detailed an examination, and many others by not examining enough. The former are
the superscrupulous, who are always examining their conscience and are never satisfied; thus they can neglect to
excite true sorrow for their sins and a firm purpose of amendment. Moreover, their scruples render the sacrament so
distasteful that going to confession appears to them like going to be martyred. This examination for confession need
not be made with extreme carefulness and effort. It is enough for the penitent to apply attention to discover all the
sins committed since his last confession. This care and effort must be proportioned to the situation of the penitent. If
he has been a long time absent from confession and has fallen into many mortal sins, greater care and effort are
necessary. Less is required if he has been lately at confession and has committed but few sins. If, after making a
careful search, a person forgets a certain sin, but has a general sorrow for all his sins, the one that he has forgotten in
confession is pardoned, and he is only bound to confess it at his next confession. When a confessor tells a
superscrupulous penitent to make no further examination and never again to confess what he has now told, the
penitent should be silent and obey the confessor. St. Philip Neri used to say: "Let all who desire to advance in the
way of God obey their confessor, who is in the place of God. He who acts thus may be sure that he shall not have to
render to God an account of the actions which he performed through obedience."(2) And St. John of the Cross said
that "to [unreasonably) mistrust what a confessor says, is pride and a want of faith." The great reason of this is
because Our Lord said to His ministers: He that heareth you heareth Me (Luke 10:16).
But would to God that all were scrupulous! Generally such souls have a tender conscience; let them be obedient, and
they are safe. The misfortune is that most Christians have not many scruples. They commit numberless mortal sins,
which they forget; and afterwards they scarcely confess the sins that occur to them at the moment of confession.
Thus it sometimes happens that they do not accuse themselves of half their sins. Confessions made in this manner
are fruitless. It would be even better to omit making them. The historian Victor Rossi reports that a young man who
had usually made his confession in this way, sent for a confessor at the hour of death; but before the confessor
arrived, a devil came and showed the young man a long list of sins omitted in his past confessions through
carelessness in examining his conscience.
The poor youth despaired of salvation and died without making his confession.
Good Christians make an examination of conscience and an act of contrition every evening. There was a devout
monk lying at the point of death one day. When his Superior came and told him to make his confession, he
answered, "Blessed be God! For thirty years I have made an examination of conscience every evening and have
made my confession every day as if I were at the point of death."
My friends, when you are preparing for confession, go to a retired part of the Church. Then, first of all, thank God
for having waited for you till that moment and beg Him to make known to you the number and grievousness of your
sins. Then start going over in your mind the places you have frequented, the persons with whom you have kept
company, and the dangerous occasions in which you have been since your last confession. Examine in this manner
all the sins committed during that time by thoughts, by words and by deeds; above all, examine yourself on the sins
of omission, particularly if you are the head of a family, a public official, or in any similar situation in which persons
do not generally accuse themselves of sins of omission. But to make the examination in a more orderly manner, it is
better for those who have committed different kinds of sin to examine themselves on the Ten Commandments, and
see what commandment they have violated and whether the violation has been grievous or venial.
He who has had the misfortune of having committed a mortal sin must go to confession immediately; for he may die
any moment and be damned. You may say, "I will go to confession at Easter or Christmas." And how do you know
that you will not die suddenly in the meantime? "I hope in God that I shall not!" But should it happen, what must
become of you? How many have kept saying "later on, later on," and are now in hell; because death came upon them
and they were not able to make their confession.
St. Bonaventure reports in his life of St. Francis (chap.11), that while the saint was going about and preaching, a
gentleman gave him lodging in his house. Moved with gratitude, St. Francis recommended him to God; and the Lord
revealed to the saint that the gentleman was in a state of sin, and that his death was at hand. The saint instantly called
him and had him go to confession to a priest, the companion of the saint. Soon afterwards the gentleman sat down to
dinner, but before he could swallow the first mouthful, he was struck down with sudden death.
A similar misfortune befell a sinner who was damned on account of having delayed his confession. (St.) Bede
(Eccles. Hist. Angl., L.5 C.15) relates that this man, who had once been fervent, fell into tepidity and mortal sin and
delayed confession from day to day. He was seized with a dangerous illness, and even then put off his confession,
saying that he would afterwards go to confession with better dispositions. But the hour of vengeance arrived. He fell
into a deadly swoon in which he thought that he saw hell open under his feet. After he had come to his senses again,
the persons who stood around his bed begged him to make his confession, but he answered, "There is no more time.
I am damned!" They continue to encourage him. "You are wasting your time," said he; "I am damned. I see hell
opened; there I see Judas, Caiphas, and the murderers of Jesus Christ. And near them I see my place, because like
them, I have despised the Blood of Jesus Christ by delaying confession so long." Thus the unfortunate man died in
despair without confession and was buried like a dog outside the church without having a prayer offered for his soul.
With regard to venial sins, it is useful to confess them; for the absolution of a confessor remits them. But there is no
obligation to confess them; for, according to the Council of Trent, the pardon of them may be obtained by other
means without confession - such as by acts of contrition and of charity, or by saying the "Our Father" with devotion.
Are venial sins also remitted by the use of holy water? Yes; not directly, but indirectly by way of impetration; for the
Church, by the blessing of the water, obtains for the faithful who use it help toward repentance and love by which
sins are canceled. Hence, after taking holy water, it will be useful instantly to make an act of sorrow or of love for
God, so that the Lord may, in consequence of those acts, forgive all venial sins that remain on the soul. Holy water
helps also to dispose us to devotion and to banish the temptations of the devil, particularly at the hour of death.
Surius tells us of a dying monk who asked his prior to send away a blackbird from the window. The prior sprinkled
the window with holy water, and then the bird, which was really the devil, flew away. It is also mentioned by Father
Ferrerio that a monk of Cluni at the hour of death saw his room full of devils, but on sprinkling the place with holy
water they immediately disappeared.
CONTINUED IN NEXT ISSUE: Sorrow - Purpose of Sinning No More - The Confession
Let us now proceed. We have spoken of the examination regarding mortal and venial sins. But were a person to do
an action with a doubt whether it was a mortal or a venial sin, what kind of sin would he commit? He would be
guilty of mortal sin, because he exposes himself to the danger of grievously offending God. Hence he must first
(wisely) resolve the doubt;(2a) and if he neglects to do so, he must confess it, at least as it appears before God. But
superscrupulous persons, who have doubts about everything, must follow another rule: they must obey their (wisely
chosen) confessor. When he tells them how to handle their doubts and resolve scruples, they should obey with
exactness; otherwise they will render themselves unable and unfit to perform any spiritual exercise.
Before I proceed further I exhort every one of you to make a general confession, if you have not as yet made one.
And I now speak not only of those whose confessions have been sacrilegious on account of having concealed sins,
or invalid because of lack of sufficient examination of conscience, or of sufficient sorrow; but I speak of all who
wish to be permanently converted to God. A general confession is a great means of bringing about a true change of
life. After her conversion to God, St. Margaret of Cortona told all her (unforgiven) sins to her confessor and thereby
made herself so pleasing and dear to God that Our Lord Himself spoke to her and called her "My sinful one, My
poor little one." She one day said to Jesus Christ, "Lord, when will You call me Thy daughter?" Jesus Christ
answered, "When you have made a general confession of your whole life, then I will call you My daughter." She
made a general confession; and from that time on Jesus always called her His daughter.

Sorrow
Sorrow for sin is so necessary for obtaining forgiveness, that without it even God Himself (at least in His ordinary
Providence) cannot pardon sin. Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish (Luke 13:3). A person
who dies without making an examination of conscience or a confession of his sins, may be saved by making an act
of sincere perfect contrition when he has not time to confess his sins nor a priest to whom he can confess them. But
without sorrow it is impossible for the sinner to be saved.
And here is the mistake of those people who, in preparing for confession, endeavor only to call to mind their sins,
but make no effort to excite a true sorrow for them. This sorrow we must earnestly ask of God; and before we go to
the confessional let us say a "Hail Mary" in honor of the sorrows of the Blessed Virgin, that She may obtain for us a
true sorrow for our sins.

Five Conditions for Forgiveness of our Sins

To obtain the forgiveness of our sins in the sacrament of penance, our sorrow for them must have five conditions: It
must be sincere, supernatural, sovereign, universal, and accompanied with a hope of pardon.
1. Our sorrow must be sincere. It must be not be the mouth only, but also in the heart. This is the kind of sorrow
required by the Council of Trent: "A sorrow of the soul and a detestation of sin committed, with a purpose of sinning
no more" (Sess. 14, chap. 4). The soul, then, must conceive a true sorrow, a true displeasure or regret and true
bitterness of heart, for the sins that have been committed; it must hate and abhor them, saying with the penitent king
Ezechias, "I will recount to Thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul" (Is. 38:15).
2. The sorrow must be supernatural; that is, it must arise not from a natural but from a supernatural motive. It would
not be sufficient to repent of your sin because it has harmed your health, your property, or your reputation. This
would be a natural motive, and sorrow proceeding from such a motive is of no use. The motive, then, of our sorrow
must be supernatural; we must repent of sin either because it has offended the infinite goodness of God, or because
by it we have deserved hell or lost Heaven ...
3. Our sorrow must be sovereign. Not that it need be accompanied with tears and positive physical feelings; it is
enough if it is a deliberate determination of the will, that one would wish(3) he had suffered any positive evil rather
than have offended God. Let timid souls who are always troubled at not feeling sense-perceptible sorrow for their
sins give their attention. It is enough for them to repent with the will - that is, to be sorry for their sins, preferring to
have lost all things rather than to have offended God. St. Teresa has given an excellent method for knowing whether
a soul has true sorrow for sin: if one has a sincere purpose to sin no more and would be content to lose all things
rather than the grace and friendship of God, let him have confidence; for then there is no doubt that he has true
sorrow for his sins.
4. Our sorrow must be universal - extending to all grievous offences offered to God, so that there is no mortal sin
that the soul does not hate above all other evils.
I have said mortal sin; for to obtain the pardon of one venial sin it is not necessary to have sorrow for all our venial
sins; one venial sin may be forgiven without obtaining pardon of another; to obtain forgiveness of any venial sin it is
enough to have sorrow for it.
But whether the sin is mortal or venial, God cannot pardon it unless the soul sincerely repents of it. Let those who
confess only venial sins for which they have not sorrow, remember that their confessions are null. So, when they
wish to receive absolution, they must have sorrow for at least some of the venial faults that they confess, or must
accuse themselves of some sin of their past life for which they are sincerely sorry.
But with regard to mortal sins, it is necessary to have true sorrow for all and a sincere purpose not to commit them
again; otherwise none of them (nor any venial sins either) will be remitted; for no mortal sin is pardoned without the
infusion of grace into the soul; but this grace cannot exist in the soul along with mortal sin. Therefore, no one can
obtain the pardon of one mortal sin without receiving pardon of them all.

The Soul Must Detest and Hate ALL Mortal Sin

It is related of St. Sebastian the Martyr, that he used to heal diseases by the sign of the cross. One day the Saint went
to see Cromatius, who was sick, and promised him health, provided he would burn his idols. Cromatius burned
them, except he reserved one of them for which he had a special affection. Thus he did not recover his health and
began to complain to the Saint. Then the Saint told him that it was useless to have burned the other idols as long as
he kept one of them. It is not enough for the soul to detest some mortal sins. It must detest and hate them all. For a
person who has committed several mortal sins, it is not necessary to detest them one by one (that is, reflecting on
them separately one by one). It is enough to detest them all with a general sorrow as grievous offences against God.
If all be thus detested and deplored, though some sin may have been forgotten, it is forgiven.
5. Our sorrow must be accompanied with the hope of pardon, otherwise it will be like the sorrow of the damned,
who are sorry for their sins, not because they are offenses against God, but because they are the cause of their
sufferings; but their sorrow is without hope of pardon. Even Judas repented of his treachery. I have, said he, sinned
in betraying innocent blood (Mt. 27:4). But because he did not hope for pardon, he hanged himself on a tree and
died in despair. Cain also acknowledged that he had sinned in killing his brother Abel; but he despaired of pardon
and said, My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon (Gen. 4:13); and therefore he died in a state of
damnation. St. Francis de Sales says that the sorrow of true penitents is a sorrow full of peace and consolation; for
the more a true penitent grieves for having offended God, the greater his confidence of obtaining pardon and the
greater his consolation. Hence St. Bernard used to say, "O Lord! if it is so sweet to weep for Thee, what will it be to
rejoice in Thee?"
In order, then, to dispose a soul for the divine pardon in the sacrament of penance, its sorrow must have these five
conditions (namely, it must be sincere, supernatural, sovereign, universal, and accompanied by a hope of pardon.) It
is necessary also to know that sorrow for sin is of two kinds; namely, perfect contrition and imperfect contrition (or
attrition).
2a. "... onde bisogna che prima di operare deponga il dubbio." That is, one must become reasonably satisfied that the
course of action is lawful before undertaking it.
3. "... sensibilita positiva; perche basta che sia appreziativo colla volanta ... "
CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE:
• Perfect Contrition
• Purpose of Sinning No More