Homily 17 April 2005 By Fr. Hathaway FSSP Mater Dei Latin Mass Community
Third Sunday after Easter
On the Firm Purpose of Amendment
(A summary reading of Good Confession, a letter from St. Alphonsus
Liguori to his Redemptoristine nuns.)
St. Alphonsus Liguori tells us three things are needed for a good
confession: an examination of conscience, sorrow, and a firm resolve to
quit sin.
Of these I wish to speak now on the Act of Contrition which we say
after confessing our sins.
Every Catholic should know an Act of Contrition by heart. Some
long-time Catholics still read their Act of Contrition from cards; this
ought not to be so. If a Catholic does not know his
Act of Contrition by heart it likely means he does not say this prayer
often enough; we have good reason to pray it every day. Scripture
says that even the just man falls seven times a day. If this is
true then it behooves every Catholic family to make a nightly exam of
conscience followed by an Act of Contrition a normal part of their
day. Besides the fault of some Catholics having to read their Act
of Contrition there is another: some Catholics say a defective Act of
Contrition.
Every Act of Contrition must include why we are sorry and state a firm
purpose of amendment.
Here is a simple Act of Contrition:
“O my God, I am very sorry for having offended You; and I hate all my
sins because I fear the pains of hell and the loss of heaven; but most
of all, because I fear losing my friendship with You, Who ares worthy
of
all my love; and I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to sin
no more and amend my life.”
Notice well, in saying the Act of Contrition we are sorry NOT because
we hurt our mom’s feelings or because of any personal shame… no, but we
ARE sorry simply because we have offended Almighty God. Our
sorrow must be supernatural and oriented towards God… not mom, or the
dog, or my wounded pride.
This supernatural, God based sorrow may be of two types: the sinner may
be sorry because he fears going to hell (imperfect contrition); or, and
the better type of sorrow, he fears losing the friendship of his loving
God (perfect contrition).
Again, the sinner having imperfect sorrow (contrition) says, “Dear God,
I am sorry because I don’t want to be punished; the sinner having
perfect sorrow says, “Dear God, I am sorry because I have separated
myself from Thee Whom I should love above all things... even more than
myself.”
After the sinner manifests his sorrow for sin because it’s offensive to
God, he next establishes his firm purpose of amendment i.e., he reveals
his firm purpose to sin no more.
“I firmly resolve, by the help of Your Grace, to sin no more and amend
my life.”
Again, the mindset of the sinner asking for forgiveness should be, “I
will sin no more”… it should NOT be, “I will try to sin no more”; nor
should the sinner say, “I wish to sin no more” as St. Alphonsus Liguori
tells us.
Suppose a spouse was unfaithful… and it happens that the wife discovers
her husband’s sin and confronts him about it. Let us say the
husband is sorry for his sin and seeks his wife’s forgiveness. He
may ask for her forgiveness one of two ways: he may say, “Honey,
I am really sorry for having done that and I will try not to do it
again;” or, he may say, “Honey, I am really sorry for what I have done
and I will never do that again.” One of these is a weak resolve
and one a firm resolve not to sin again; which do you think is more
worthy of absolution?
And what did the divine Savior preach from the Mount, “If thy right eye
scandalizes thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it is better
for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than thy whole
body be cast into hell. And if thy right hand scandalize thee,
cut it off, and cast it from thee, for it is better for thee that one
of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body go into
hell.” (Mt 5:29,30)
Sin cuts us off from God’s friendship; we should prefer to cut off
every occasion of sin, indeed we should prefer to cut off our very
life’s blood, to losing the source of eternal life.
If we truly understood the tragedy of sin, I believe every act of
contrition would be a perfect act of contrition. But many times
we don’t hate sin enough and we rest our sorrow on the fear of hell…
which still makes for a good confession… but let us be sure that it is
completely worthy… at the very moment of saying our act of contrition
let us truly hate our sins and muster a firm resolve to sin no
more.
It is a common complaint that modern man has lost his sense of
sin. Among some modern Catholics there seems to be a loss
of being firmly resolved to quit sin, or making a firm purpose of
amendment… and this could be the worse of the two evils.