What is True Contrition?

Contrition is derived from the Latin word, "Conterere," meaning

to Bruise, to Crush, or to Break.

Therefore, to have True Contrition is to be Heartbroken for

having sinned against our most loving Jesus.

The Realistic Crucifixion of Jesus

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More than eighteen centuries have passed since the Son of God accomplished the Great Work of Redemption by His bitter passion and death. Jesus entered Jerusalem with His disciples; and the people of the city, on learning of His approach, hastened forth to meet Him. In their hands, they bore branches of palm and olive; they spread their garments on the ground before Jesus; they filled the air with loud hosannas and with sweet hymns of praise and gladness. But strange to say, amidst the music and rejoicing, amidst the glory of His triumphant entry, Jesus is sad; Jesus weeps and sobs aloud as if His heart would break. This is indeed strange beyond expression, although, Jesus Himself tells us the cause of His tears. He protests that He weeps because Jerusalem does not know Him.

What can this mean? Why, the whole city is full of joy. No sound is heard, except that of praise and gladness. "Blessed be the King who cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory on high." Such is the triumphant hymn with which the people greet Jesus; and yet Jesus weeps and laments because the city does not know Him. "Oh! did thou but know and understand this day."

Such was the welcome which Jesus received from the Jewish people; such, too, is the welcome which He receives at the present day from so many of his own Christian people. He is welcomed by all, He is known but to few. Like the Jewish people, many Christians welcome Jesus; they hasten to the sacraments with every outward mark of devotion; but like the Jews, too, though they welcome Jesus, though they received Jesus, they do not know Him.

In spite of the solemnity of the season, in spite of the outward marks of devotion, so many Christians of the present day often approach the sacraments with such little preparation, with such unworthy dispositions, that instead of being a joy and honor to Jesus, they rather fill His heart with sadness. They load Him with insult.

Let us return to Jeruslem a few days after the triumphant entry of Jesus. Behold the very same Jewish people. They are following an unhappy criminal who is being led to death. Ask them who this criminal is, and they will tell you, "It is Jesus of Nazareth." What! Jesus of Nazareth? Is it possible? Is not this the same Jesus Who was welcomed only a few days ago with such unparalleled honors? Is not this the same people who but a few days ago cried out, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord;" and now their hoarse cry rings wildly through the air, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" Yes, it is the very same Jesus and the very same people. No wonder, then, that Jesus wept on the day of His triumph. No wonder that He complained that this people did not know Him.

But let us turn to ourselves. Were a stranger to pass through the city at the season of Lent, were he to see the churches so well filled, and the confessionals so well crowded with penitents, what a good opinion would he form of the Catholics here. Wherever we turn, we behold eyes filled with tears, countenances stamped with contrition -- everywhere signs of sincere devotion. Here truly, he would say, Jesus is honored; here He rejoices, here He celebrates a glorious triumph.

Yes, but return here in two months, in two weeks even, and the penitent faces will be seen at parties, balls, theaters, and drinking-saloons; at the gambling-house the very same debtors; in families, among relatives and neighbors, the very same quarrels; in the stores the same worldly purchases; the old curses and blasphemies will be heard in the streets and public places. This is indeed a change of scene, and this change of scene is renewed every Easter.

Where comes this fickleness? The Jewish people, in the impulse of the moment, hastened forth to meet Jesus without well knowning whom they welcomed. So in the like manner, many Christians, carried away by the devotion of the season, hasten to welcome Jesus without knowing Him; they hasten to be reconciled to Jesus without understanding well Whom they have offended.

The prophet Jeremiah bitterly bewails such blindness, "There is not one who does penance for his sins, not one who asks himself seriously, What have I done?" This is the origin of the sad inconstancy of the greater part of Christians. Did they, like the Prodigal Son, fully understand the greatness of their sins, they would, like him, truly repent of them. But such is not the case. They have no true contrition, and, consequently, they soon fall again and again into the very same sins that they have but a short time before confessed.

Now, it is of faith that true sorrow for our sins is absolutely necessary for salvation, for if there is no true sorrow there can be no pardon. The examination of conscience is necessary; but were we to spend a whole year in examining our conscience without sincere sorrow or contrition, we cannot obtain pardon.

Confession is necessary too; but even if we were to confess all our sins down to the minutest degree, if we have no contrition we cannot obtain pardon.

Satisfaction or restitution is necessary; but though one was to restore everything and had not true sorrow, he could not receive forgiveness.

Absolution is necessary; but were we to be absolved by all the bishops and priests of the Church, even by the Pope himself, and had not true sorrow, we should not receive forgiveness.

Water is necessary for Baptism; but when water is not available, water may be substituted by the Baptism of desire, or by the Baptism of blood; but if contrition is lacking, its lack cannot be supplied by anything. No contrition means no pardon!

So important, so necessary is contrition that, though a sinner were guilty of all the crimes that ever have been or ever will be committed on the face of the earth-- if he has but True Contrition, he can and will be absolved; while, on the contrary, he who has only committed a slight venial sin -- if he has not true contrition, he cannot and will not receive forgiveness. God will not pardon without contrition. "It is," as Tertullian says, "the only price for which God pardons." God cannot pardon without contrition, for to be without sorrow for an offence is to give new and continued offence.

True Contrition, then, is absolutely necessary. To have the desire for contrition is good, but the wish is not sufficent. Tears are good, but tears are not sufficient. It is also not sufficient to look sad and strike the breast again and again; nor is it sufficient to read the Act of Contrition out of a book; nor is it sufficient to mutter the Act of Contrition with the libs. No! True Contrition must be real and heartfelt.

What then is True Contrition? Contrition is a hearty sorrow for having offended God. It includes a sincere hatred of sin, and the firm resolution to offend God no more. Every sin and vice, as our dear Savior Himself declares, proceeds from the heart and has its seat in the heart. When we sin, it is, properly speaking, not our eyes, or ears, or tongue, or the members of our body that sin, but the soul, animating our members. The soul uses the senses as the instruments of sin. It is the soul, the will, that sins, and consequently, it is the soul, the will, that must repent. Our contrition, then, must necessarily be interior and heartfelt.

Now, if sincere, heartfelt contrition is so necessary, what are we to think of those penitents who approach the confessional and confess their sins with such cool indifference? Many of them do not even know what contrition, true sorrow, is, or what it has to do with confession. The greater part, however, know how to make an Act of Contrition, but unfortunately, even their contrition consists generally in striking the breast a few times, and in muttering a certain formula prayer which they learned in their childhood. It is not the number and enormity of the sins that fill the priest with pain and anxiety. It is the desire for proper disposition, of True Contrition, in the penitent, that causes him often the most cruel martyrdom.

The sorrow for sin must not only be sincere and heartfelt, but it must also be a sorrow above every other sorrow. The sorrow which we feel at the loss of an object is proportionate to the value of the object. But God is a good infinitely superior to every other possible good. Consequently, the loss of God should cause us greater sorrow than the loss of every other good. For instance, great is the sorrow of a poor orphan as she stands by the death-bed of her beloved mother; great is the sorrow of a tender mother as she bends over the lifeless body of her child; yet our sorrow for having lost God by sin must be far greater. Yes, if we are truly sorrow for our sins, we must be willing to lose our health, our riches, our honor, our friends, our parents, and to endure every pain, even death itself, rather than to lose God through sin.

True Contrition must not only be interior, but also supernatural. We must be sorry for having sinned, because by sin, we have offended and lost so good a God.

Antiochus Epiphanes, King of Syria, committed many enormous crimes. He ordered the faithful Jews to be cruelly massacred. He plundered the Temple, and desecrated the Holy of Holies, but the vengeance of God was switft and terrible. The impious king was stricken down with an incurable disease. A most excruciating pain tortured him; his body was devoured by worms; his flesh rotting to pieces; and his stench was intolerable. The unhappy tyran began now to repent of his crimes. He promised God that he would restore everything he had stolen from the Temple. He even promised that he would renounce infidelity, travel all over the world, and preach everywhere the True God. This looked like an extraordinary contrition; yet the Holy Ghost tells us of this man in Holy Scripture: This wicked man prayed to God, but in vain! He received no mercy!

He died in a strange land, miserably in his sins. And why so? Is God not infinitely merciful? Has God not sworn by Himself that "He wills not the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live?" Why then did God not pardon this sinner? Although this wicked man wept bitter tears, though he promised to restore everything, though he promised to change his wicked life -- he, nevertheless, received no pardon, because his sorrow was only Natural Sorrow. He did not weep for having offended God. He only wept because he suffered such cruel torments, and because he saw that he was soon to die. His contrition was not supernatural.

Look at the many drunkards, who weep and curse the hour in which they first tasted liquor. But why do they weep? Is it because they have offended God? Oh! no. They weep because they have lost their reputation and fallen into disgrace. Their sorrow is therefore only natural. They cannot receive forgiveness until their sorrow is supernatural or True Contrition.

How about the swindler and the thief, is it because they have offended God? No! They are sorry because they have been arrested and put in prison. This sorrow is vain before God, as only a Natural Sorrow from losing a worldly good or comfort.

The unhappy young man who has wasted his health and happiness in striving to satisfy a brutal passion, laments and curses the day on which he was first led into sin. But does he weep for having offended God? No; he weeps because he has ruined his health; because he finds himself branded with a shameful disease; because he feels that he is a burden to himself, an outcast, an object of scorn to his fellow-men. His contrition is, therefore, not supernatural, and cannot merit pardon.

True Contrition, then, in order to be acceptable to God, must be supernatural. It must come from God. We must be sorry for our sins because by them we have offended so good a God, and thereby lost Heaven and deserved Hell. But, True Contrition, must not only be interior and supernatural, it must also be universal. We must be sorry for every sin, every mortal sin, without exception.

King Saul was commanded by God to destroy all the wicked inhabitants of Amelec, and not to spare even a single one. Saul obeyed, but his obedience was not perfect. He destroyed everything and killed everyone, except the king, who was the most wicked of all. God punished Saul for his lack of obedience by taking away his crown and his life. Likewise, there are many Catholics who, when they go to confession, act just as Saul acted. God has commanded them, under pain of eternal damnation, to destroy every mortal sin by a sincere and universal contrition. Many have obeyed, indeed, but their obedience is not perfect. By contrition, they destroyed the slight, every-day failings; but there is one sin, one attachment that is often spared, one wicked passion, their most ruling passion, which they do not destroy by a true and earnest contrition.

Just as a certain person, for instance, comes to confession. He confesses that he cursed in anger. He is perhaps truly sorry for these sins; but he has also been drunk several times, and for this sin, though he may confess it, he has no real, earnest sorrow. Such a person's confession is a sacrilege, and his sins are not forgiven.

Here is another sinner. He confesses that he has eaten meat a few times on Friday, that he has missed Mass and worked a few times on Sunday, but he has also eaten meat without necessity on fast-days. He has also missed Mass and worked on holy days of obligation without necessity. These sins he hardly remembers, and has no real contrition for them. He is not universally contrite for all his sins, therefore, he can receive no pardon for them.

Another confesses that he has stolen and cheated very much; that he has damaged his neighbors property. He is very sorry for these sins. He is even willing to make restitution to the best of his power. But there is another sin for which he has no real, earnest sorrow. He often takes pleasure in immodest thoughts and desires. For these sins, he is not truly sorry, therefore, his confession is a mockery, and he can receive no pardon from God.

The mother of a family confesses all her sins, and is truly sorrow for them. But there are some sins that she scarcely ever mentions in confession, and for which she has no True Contrition. She allows her children to remain out late at night. She does not keep them away from dangerous company or from near occasions of sin, like balls, dances, and parties. She allows them to read sensual, immoral books, trashy love-poetry, and the like. For a refusal to have a universal supernatural contrition, her sins are not forgiven.

We must not only confess all our Mortal Sins, but we must also be truly sorry for them, otherwise, we cannot obtain pardon. The reason for this, is, that God never has pardoned anyone, unless he first repents of all his sins, and repents of them from motives of a supernatural character.

Again, sorrow for our sins, to be good, must be accompanied by a firm resolve not to fall again into the same sins. To repent truly and sincerely is to grieve over the evil we have done, and to refrain from doing again the evil over which we grieve. In order that our past sins may not be imputed to us, sorrow and tears are not enough, amendment is also necessary.

There was in Paris a servant of the Church of Notre Dame, who was a priest in name, but certainly not in the practice of the virtues becoming to his holy state. This servant, being at the point of death, entered into himself, acknowledged the wretched state of his soul, and seemed to be really penitent and entirely changed. Having sent for his confessor, he accused himself, which abundant tears, of all his sins, and received the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction with every outward token of piety. He then gently breathed out his soul in peace. After his death, a magnificent burial service was prepared, and the day appeared for it was so glorious that it looked as if Heaven and earth were joined together in order to enhance the pomp of the funeral performance. Everyone deemed him the happiest man that had ever appeared on the face of the earth, since, after having enjoyed this world to the fullest, he had by so happy a death, secured for himself the glory of Paradise. Such was the common talk, for man sees what is outside, but God beholds what lies hidden within.

After a few days the servant appeared to a priest, and brought him the sad news that he was damned. "But how so?" asked the holy man, quite astounded; "you confessed with sorrow and tears, and received the holy sacraments with devotion."

"True," said the damned soul, "I did confess, and I was sorry, yet not with an efficacious sorrow, since my will, in the very act of repenting, felt itself driven to sin again; and I thought it quite impossible that, if restored to health, I should not return to that which I remained attached too. So that while I detested the evil I had committed, I had no earnest and firm purpose of renouncing it." Having said this, he disappeared.

Another important piece to True Contrition, is having it accompanied with sincere humility. "God will never despise a contrite heart when he sees that it is humbled." The publican in the Gospel looked upon himself as one of the greatest sinners in the world. He would not lift up his eyes to Heaven, but held them downcast, and with shame on his countenance fixed them on the ground. He struck his breast, and thus moved God to compassion, appeased his wrath, and obtained pardon -- such are the sentiments, for which we must approach the Holy Tribunal of Confession.

For the inward shame which we feel at the sight of our offences has a large share in obtaining our pardon, and it is out of mercy to us that God has decreed that, in order to obtain forgiveness, it should not be enough to repent in secret and be seen by Him alone; but that we must express our sorrow at the feet of the priest, and thus be covered with that most wholesome confusion, a confusion which is of so great avail to obtain pardon for our sins. If, like the Prodigal Son, we sincerely acknowledge before God the evil we have done in sinning, if we consider the greatness of God, Whom we have offended, if we consider our own vileness and audacity in daring to insult a God of so great a majesty, we shall naturally feel humbled and shall appear like criminals before the Lord; own our disgust with great confusion, detest our misdeeds, and implore forgiveness: "Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before You, I am not now worthy to be called Thy son; make me as one of Thy hired servants."

In return, the sinner who is humbled before God and presents himself for who he really is, God is instantly roused to compassionate pity, forgives the transgressions, and hastens in all tenderness to clasp him lovingly to his bosom, to treat him not as a criminal, nor as one who has ever been guilty, but as a beloved child. With such humble contrition, should the sinner draw near to confession, he may be rest assured that our loving Redeemer, beholding him in these good dispositions, will not fail to shower down His Most Precious Blood in such abundance on him as to cleanse him from all stain and render him whiter and purer than the lily.

But let us take careful note to observe that this humility, which should accompany sorrow for sin, must not be a false humility. Humility is false whenever it is not joined with a strong and firm hope of obtaining forgiveness. Therefore, there are two types of humility: one is a gift from God and the other comes from the devil.

Humility from God brings with it, indeed, a knowledge of our sins and miseries, but has this property, that, while it lowers the soul in its own estimation, it raises it to hope, and finally leaves it all calm and reposing in the arms of the Divine Goodness.

Humilty from the devil, which is counterfeit, brings with it, in the like manner, a knowledge of our sins and weakness, but it has this most injurious quality, that, while it bends low the soul, it takes away hope, or at least diminishes it, and leaves us full of cowardice, diffidence, and discouragement.

Humility from God disposes us to pardon, while humility from the devil prevents a hope for forgiveness. Our confessions, therefore, must be made in a spirit of faith and hope; they should be accompanied with a sorrow not only humble, but full of faith and trust in God. Without such hope, we should never obtain pardon, were we to seek it for all eternity; because sorrow for sin, unaccompanied by hope of forgiveness, so far from appeasing, only irritates Divine Mercy.

Cain repented of his crime after he had murdered his own brother; but because he did not trust in the Divine Goodness, his sorrow availed him nothing. "My iniquity, " he said in his folly, "is greater than may deserve pardon."

Judas Iscariot, in the like manner, repented and exclaimed with tears, "I have sinned in betraying innocent blood." And further, he made restitution of the money for which he had bartered away the precious life of his Divine Master. But what did all this avail him? Nothing, because his sorrow was devoid of any gleam of hope; and giving himself up for being lost, he went and hanged himself on a tree.

Of such a nature is the repentance of certain persons who, after falling into some serious faults, or seeing that they relapse constantly into the same sins, are filled with bitterness, distrust, and false humility, and say to themselves, "God will not pardon me. I think He has turned His back uon me, for my weakness is beyond endurance, and I am continually yielding to the same faults." Now, this is the contrition of Judas and Cain, devoid of all trust in God's goodness.

The devil appeared once to Faverius, a disciple of St. Bruno, while he was dangerously ill on his sick bed, and after terrifying him in many ways, began to remind him of his sins, and to throw them in his face with impudent assurance. The servant of God replied that he had already confessed these sins and received absolution, and therefore had every cause to trust that God had pardoned him.

"Confessed your sins! Confessed your sins!" replied the devil. "You have not told all; you have not made a proper confession; you have not explained the circumstances of your sins. Your confessions are all invalid; they are good for nothing; they will serve only to make your judgement the heavier."

The holy monk, thus reminded of his faults, which were shown to him by the devil in that accursed light which makes us see things in a false medium, and represents God as always using fire and the knife in His treatment of sick souls, was greatly alarmed, and began to be tortured by the most agonizing scruples, being so horror-stricken and full of dismay that he was on the point of falling headlong into the abyss of despair. But the ever Blessed Virgin, the true Mother of Mercy, who never forsakes those who are really devoted to her, appeared to him most opportunely at this terrible moment, with her Divine Infant in her arms, and addressed him as follows, "What fearest you, Faverius? Why have you lost heart? Hope and be of good cheer; you have all but reached the port. All your sins have been forgiven by my most willing Child. Of this I give you my assurance."

At these words, the racking and anguish felt by the dying monk at the thoughts of his sins gave place to a humble, confiding, peaceful sorrow, and shortly after he breathed his last in great calm of soul.

From this we may perceive the difference between True Contrition, which is a gift from God, and that which comes from the devil. This latter is a sorrow full of diffidence and disquiet; while the former is a trusting and peaceful repentance. Let every one, then, always strive after the gifts of God, and take care to possess it whenever going to confession. This kind of sorrow alone appeases God, obtains pardon for sins, and perfectly reconciles the soul with God.

Finally, the grace of true and sincere sorrow for our sins is no matter of this earth, but of Heaven. "If any assert," says the Council of Trent, "that without a preceeding inspiration and grace of the Holy Ghost man can believe, hope, and love, or repent, in such a manner as he ought, let him be anathema."

"No one," says the Holy Church, "can repent of his sins in such a manner as he ought without a particular grace from God."

Man, it is true, can of himself commit sin and offend God greviously, but to rise again from his fall by heartfelt sorrow he cannot, except by God's grace. Now, this exceedingly great grace will be given to us so much the sooner the more earnestly we pray for it, especially while assisting at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It was through the Blood of Jesus Christ, visibly shed on the cross, that the dying malefactor obtained the grace of conversion, of sincere repentance. In the like manner, it is through the same Precious Blood, invisibly shed at Mass, that the Heavenly Father will grant us the grace of True Contrition for our sins if we offer to Him the Blood of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, in satisfaction for them, and beseech Him, by the merits of this Blood, to have mercy on us.

But as our prayer may not be fervent enough soon to obtain for us this great grace of contrition, let us have recourse to the all-powerful prayer of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is the refuge of all poor sinners, and she has obtained this unspeakably great favor for the most abandoned sinners, even in their last hour.

To conclude, St. Teresa gives an account of a merchant who lived in Spain. He did not live as a good Christian should live, however, he had some devotion to the Blessed Virgin. When St. Teresa came to the town where the merchant lived, she wanted to find a house for her nuns. The merchant heard that the saint was seeking a house; so he went to her, and offered to give her a house which belonged to him. He said he would give her the house in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Teresa thanked him, and took the house.

Two months after this, the gentlemen became suddenly very ill. He was not able to speak or make a confession. However, he showed by signs that he wished to beg pardon of our Lord for his sins, and soon after died.

"After his death," St. Teresa says, "I saw our Lord. He told me that this gentleman had been very near losing his soul, but He had mercy on him when he was dying, on account of the service he did to His Blessed Mother by giving the house in her honor."

"I was glad," says St. Teresa, "that his soul was saved, for I was very much afraid it would have been lost on account of his bad life."

Our Lord told St. Teresa to get the house finished as soon as possible, because that soul was suffering great torments in Purgatory. It would not come out of Purgatory till the convent was finished and the first Mass was said there. When the first Mass was said, St. Teresa went to the altar rails for Holy Communion, and at that moment, she saw the gentleman standing by the side of the priest. His face was shining with light and joy, and his hands were joined together. He thanked St. Teresa very much for getting his soul out of the fires of Purgatory, and the saint then saw him go up into Heaven.

Let us, then, pray; and let us pray to the Mother of God for True Contrition, which contains:

1. Humilty from God

2. Firm Resolution to Sin No More

3. Supernatural and Universal Sorrow for All Sins

4. Interior Heartbrokenness for Choosing to Lose Him, Who is Infinitely Good

and we shall infallibly obtain this grace through her all-powerful intercession; for her Divine Son, Jesus Christ, can refuse nothing to His Mother.

Prayer to Examine Our Conscience

Father of Light! Who enlightens every man that comes into the world, send into my heart a ray of light, of love, and of sorrow, that I may know, detest, and confess the sins which I have committed against You.

O, Mother of God, who are so charitable to sinners that desire to repent, assist me by your intercession.

My Guardian Angel, who has been a spectator and witness of all my sins, help me to discover the sins which I have committed against my God.

All you Saints of Heaven, pray for me that I may bring forth fruits of penance.

Amen

Source of Meditation

The Prodigal Son

Original 1875 Publication

Fr. Michael Muller, 1825 - 1899

CSSR or the Redemptorists founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori