73 — PENANCE

(Note: the Eucharist is not treated here, being handled at length in Volume IV. As for penance, this subject is completed in Volume II by the meditation “Confession.”)

Presence of God. — O Jesus, who go in search of the prodigal son, do not despise my repentant and humbled heart, but purify it in the saving bath of Your most precious Blood.

Meditation

1 — Grace, although bestowed with such abundance in baptism and confirmation and although having in itself an infallible sanctifying force, does not force man to good, does not sanctify him without his voluntary cooperation. Man always remains free to correspond or not to the divine gift; unfortunately he always has the sad possibility of resisting grace by yielding to evil and thus failing in his duties as child of God, soldier of Christ. Foreseeing precisely these possible deviations and falls, Jesus instituted a special sacrament whose precise purpose is to heal the wounds of sin, to restore sinners to grace, and to strengthen the weak in it. “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (Jn. 20, 23), the Lord said to the Apostles, conferring on them and their successors the tremendous power to remit sins in His name, a power He did not give to angels nor even to the Most Holy Mary, but reserved to His ministers.

“Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mk. 2, 7), the scribes asked scandalized, seeing Jesus absolve sinners; with a similar attitude, wavering between unbelief and mockery, the world still regards the sacrament of penance, not knowing and not wanting to recognize in the priest God’s minister. But for one who has faith, is there perhaps any sacrament that more moves to piety, devotion, gratitude? Great are the sacraments by which Jesus raises us to the dignity of children of God and His knights; ineffable the sacrament by which, whenever we wish, He nourishes us with His immaculate Flesh; but is not still more moving the sacrament of penance, by which He goes in search of the Christian who betrayed Him, the soldier who deserted the field, the son who, after being nourished at His table, went away to taste the swine’s husks? Instead of becoming indignant and rejecting one who has corresponded so badly to His immense gifts, Jesus institutes a special sacrament to offer him His forgiveness, His mercy, to heal that soul which, already clothed with the wedding garment of grace, already regenerated in His most precious Blood, fell into sin making itself His enemy.

2 — Although the sacrament of penance is necessary only for remitting mortal sins, nevertheless the Church has always recommended and praised frequent use of it even for those who have only venial faults to accuse themselves of. “We highly recommend,” says Pius XII, “the pious practice, introduced by the Church through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, of frequent confession, by which right self-knowledge is increased, Christian humility grows, perversity of habits is uprooted, negligence and spiritual torpor are resisted, conscience is purified, the will is strengthened, salutary direction of consciences is procured, and grace is increased by the power of the sacrament itself” (Myst. Corp.). Frequent confession has always been considered by genuine Catholic tradition as a school of perfection, a most efficacious means for correcting defects and bad tendencies, as well as for growing in virtue. When the penitent, considering in the confessor the very person of Jesus Christ, reveals to him with humble sincerity his faults and weaknesses and accompanies his accusation with true repentance and living desire to amend, the sacrament works most precious effects in him. Not only are his infidelities forgiven, not only does he receive an increase of sanctifying grace, but in addition he is given the “sacramental grace” that assures him divine help to correct his weak points, to conquer temptations to which he is more easily subject, to overcome his own difficulties in the exercise of virtue. There is no better medicine for illnesses and languors of spirit than frequent confession well made, that is, humble, sincere, sorrowful confession of one’s weaknesses. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of merciful Love, not only to wash our souls with His most precious Blood, but to strengthen them in this saving bath, to fortify them, to safeguard them against future attacks of temptation and evil. All the merits of Jesus’ Passion, all the infinite value of His Blood are, in confession, applied to our soul, and we will always come out of it more renewed, sanctified, and strengthened in good the more we approach this sacrament with a contrite and humbled heart.

Colloquy

“My soul, if you have sinned and remained wounded, behold your God, behold your Physician ready to heal you. His omnipotence allows Him in a moment to remit all your sins; His goodness and mercy move Him to forgive you.

“Are you perhaps frightened because He is your judge? But trust, my soul, because if He is your judge, He is also your defender. He is your defender to excuse and justify you, if you repent; He is your judge, not to condemn you, but to save you, if you humble yourself. His mercy is infinitely greater than all your iniquities. And I tell you this not so that, remaining in your sin, you may make yourself unworthy of His pity, but so that, withdrawing from evil, you may not despair of His clemency and forgiveness” (Bl. Louis of Blois).

“O sweetest loving Jesus Christ! You overflow with such ineffable goodness that always, in loving us, You go before us; if we seek You, You present Yourself to us and come to meet us; You love, and Your immense charity extends even to enemies. To no one do You refuse to give Yourself; no one do You despise, but all You call and receive with friendly face. Your charity is so immense and overflowing that those who wretchedly lay in sin You await for penance and often, though they rebel, You force them to return.

“Deign, therefore, to help me, most merciful Lord Jesus Christ, fire and light of love; kindle and illumine my hard and rebellious heart against Your love, so that, with Your help, I may grieve, for love of You, over my sins; may do penance for them; may give myself with pure, humble, loving heart to practicing works pleasing to You, so that, prevented, assisted, and followed by Your grace, I may live in this present life by Your love and, when it ends, obtain by Your mercy eternal life to love You in glory” (Ven. Raymond Jordan, known in ascetical literature under the pseudonym “Idiota”).