Chapter 72 — The necessity of penance and of its parts

Accordingly, if a man sin after being baptized, his sin cannot be mended by baptism. Since the abundance of divine mercy and the efficacy of Christ’s grace do not allow man to remain without a remedy, another sacramental antidote has been provided for the cleansing of sins. This is the sacrament of penance, which is a kind of spiritual healing. When those who have acquired natural life through generation contract a disease that is contrary to the perfection of life, they can be cured not by being born again, but by being healed, which is a process of alteration. Likewise, when a man sins after baptism (which is spiritual regeneration), his sin is remedied not by a repetition of baptism, but by penance, which is a kind of spiritual alteration.

We must observe, however, that the body’s healing proceeds sometimes entirely from within, as when a man is cured by his own natural forces; and sometimes both from within and without, as when nature’s efforts are assisted by external help of medicine. But a body is never healed entirely from without; for it still retains the principles of life, which are the cause of its having health. On the other hand, spiritual healing cannot proceed entirely from within. For we have proved (Bk. 3, ch. 157.) that a man cannot be delivered from sin without the assistance of grace. Yet neither can spiritual healing proceed entirely from without, since the mind would not be restored to health unless the will were moved in the right direction. Therefore, in the sacrament of penance, spiritual health must come from within and from without.

This happens as follows. In order that a man be perfectly cured of a bodily sickness, he needs to be delivered from all the harm he incurs through the disease. Likewise, the spiritual healing of penance would not be perfect, unless man were relieved of all the harm he has incurred through sin. The first harm that afflicts man through sin is disorder in his mind, inasmuch as it is turned away from the unchangeable good (namely, God), and is turned towards sin. The second harm is that he incurs a debt of punishment, for, as proved above, (Bk. 3, cc. 140. seq.) it is due to each sin that God, the most just ruler, should punish it. The third harm is a certain weakness in man’s natural good, insofar as by sinning he becomes more prone to sin, and less inclined to good works.

Accordingly, the first thing required in penance is to restore order in the mind, namely, that the mind be turned to God and away from sin, grieving for the sin committed and resolving not to commit it again. This is what is meant by contrition.

Now this restoration of the mind to order cannot be brought about without grace, because our minds cannot rightly be turned to God without charity, and there is no charity without grace, as we have already proved. (Bk. 3, ch. 151.) Accordingly, contrition removes God’s anger, and man is freed from the debt of eternal punishment (which is incompatible with grace or charity, since eternal punishment consists in separation from God, to whom man is united by grace and charity). Therefore, this reordering of the mind, which consists in contrition, proceeds from within; that is, from the free will assisted by grace.

Since, however, it has been proved (Ch. 55.) that the merit of Christ’s sufferings for the human race is sufficient to expiate all sins, it is necessary for man’s deliverance from sin that he adhere with his mind not only to God, but also to the mediator of God and man, Jesus Christ, in whom is given the remission of all sins. For spiritual health consists in the mind turning to God: and we cannot obtain this health except through the physician of our souls, Jesus Christ, who saved his people from their sins, and whose merit suffices to take away wholly all sins. It is he who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Nevertheless, all do not receive the effect of perfect remission; each one receives a share in proportion to his union with Christ suffering.

Since, then, our union with Christ in baptism is effected not by any internal operation on our part (since nothing brings itself into being), but by Christ, who regenerates us into a living hope, it follows that the forgiveness of sins in baptism is the effect of Christ’s power, who unites us to himself perfectly and wholly, so that not only is the stain of sin washed away, but all debt of punishment is also remitted—except accidentally in those who are deprived of the effect of the sacrament through receiving the sacrament insincerely.

By this spiritual healing we are united to Christ by means of our own action informed with divine grace; consequently, we do not always entirely, nor do we all equally, receive the remission which is the effect of this union. For the mind may turn to God, and turn away from sin with such strength that man receives complete forgiveness of sin, so that not only is he cleansed from the stain, but is released from the whole punishment. But this does not always happen. Sometimes contrition removes the stain and remits the debt of eternal punishment, as we have said, yet there still remains an obligation to some temporal punishment, that God’s justice may be secured insofar as sin is brought to order by punishment.

Now, infliction of punishment for a fault requires some kind of judgment. Therefore, the penitent who comes to Christ to be healed must look to Christ for the assessment of the punishment, and Christ prescribes the remedy through his minister, as he does in the other sacraments. No one, however, can judge of sins of which he is not informed. Consequently, it was necessary to institute confession as the second part of this sacrament, that Christ’s minister may be informed of the penitent’s sin.

Therefore, the minister, to whom confession is made, needs to have judiciary power as occupying the place of Christ, who is appointed judge of the living and the dead. (Acts 10:42.) Now two things are requisite for judiciary power, namely the authority to know of a fault, and the power to absolve or condemn. These two are called the keys of the Church, namely, discerning knowledge, and the power to bind and loose, which our Lord committed to Peter when he said: I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt 16:19). But we must not suppose that he entrusted the keys to Peter so that Peter alone might have them, but that others might have them through him: otherwise, sufficient provision would not have been made for the spiritual welfare of the faithful.

Now these keys derive their efficacy from Christ’s Passion, whereby he opened to us the gate of the heavenly kingdom. Consequently, just as there is no salvation for man without baptism (in which Christ’s Passion is efficacious) received either in reality or in desire (namely, when necessity and not contempt excludes the sacrament), so is there no salvation for those who sin after baptism unless they submit themselves to the keys of the Church either by actual confession and acceptance of the judgment of the Church’s ministers, or at least by purposing to do so when the opportunity offers. For thus Peter declares: There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

Hereby we exclude the error of those who say that man can obtain forgiveness of his sins without confession, or the purpose to confess, or that the authorities of the Church can dispense a man from the obligation of going to confession. Ecclesiastical superiors cannot override the Church’s power of the keys, in which all their powers consist, nor make it possible for a man to obtain forgiveness of his sins without the sacrament that derives its efficacy from Christ’s Passion. Christ alone, who is the institutor and author of the sacraments, can do this. Therefore, just as the ecclesiastical superiors cannot dispense a man so that he is saved without baptism, so neither can they dispense a man so that he obtains forgiveness of sin without confession and absolution.

It must be observed, however, that baptism has a certain efficacy for the remission of a man’s sins even before he actually receives it, and while he has the purpose to receive it, although afterwards when actually received, it bestows an effect more plentiful in grace and forgiveness—though sometimes grace is bestowed and sin is remitted in the actual reception of baptism by one whose sin has not yet been remitted. In the same way, the keys of the Church produce their effect in a man even before he actually submits himself to them, provided he has the intention of so doing. But he receives grace and forgiveness more plentifully when he actually submits himself to them by confessing his sins and receiving absolution. And sometimes a man, after confessing his sins, may obtain grace by the power of the keys even at the moment of the absolution whereby his sins are remitted.

Since, then, at the time of confession and absolution grace and forgiveness are more plentifully bestowed on a man who has already obtained both on account of his good intention, it is clear that the minister of the Church, by absolving him, remits some of the temporal punishment which was still due to the penitent after his contrition by the power of the keys. As to what remains of that punishment, he binds the penitent to it by enjoining a penance, the fulfilment of which is called satisfaction, which is the third part of penance. Hereby man is wholly freed from the debt of punishment, since he has paid the penalty which he deserved. More than this, the weakness of his natural good is repaired: he then refrains from evil things, and habituates himself to good things by humbling his spirit to God in prayer, training his flesh by fasting that it should be subject to the spirit, and using his external possessions to give alms to his neighbor, to whom he thus unites himself though he had been separated from him by sin.

Hence it follows that the minister of the Church exercises a kind of judgment by using the keys. Now no man is appointed judge except over those who are subject to him. Consequently, it is not true, as some falsely assert, that a priest can absolve anyone from his sins; but only those over whom he exercises that power.