Case 5. Was He Prepared?

Titius, a well-instructed Catholic, is accustomed to elicit an act of contrition before going to bed. On a certain Saturday he enters the church to confess, but he had scarcely knelt down to prepare himself when someone came out of the confessional and no one among the crowd that was waiting entered immediately. Since Titius knew well that he had committed one grave sin since his last confession, and that this alone besides some venial sins troubled his conscience, having obtained the opportunity he entered the confessional without special preparation, confessed his sins, and received absolution. Afterwards, however, he doubts whether he had sufficient sorrow, which ought to constitute a part of the sacrament and to be elicited in relation to receiving the sacrament. Hence he afterwards questions the confessor, who therefore asks:

1. When must sorrow be elicited in order to suffice for the sacrament of Penance?

2. Must the required sorrow be elicited with the intention of receiving the sacrament?

3. What is to be said of the case?

1. When ought the act of sorrow to be elicited in order that it may suffice for the sacrament of Penance?

As sin can not be forgiven unless the sinner is sorry for it, the act of sorrow must be elicited before absolution is given, or at least it must exist when absolution is given.¹

1 Manual of Moral Theology, vol. ii, 157.

2. Ought the act of sorrow to proceed from the intention of receiving the sacrament?

Some theologians hold that it should do so, just as the washing with water in Baptism should be ordained to the confection of the sacrament of Baptism. However, it seems safe to say with others that the subsequent referring of the act of sorrow to the confection of the sacrament which necessarily takes place when the penitent confesses his sins with sorrow in order to receive absolution is sufficient. Or, that the intention of confessing the sin which is present in the mind with the act of sorrow, is sufficient to refer the latter to the confection of the sacrament.²

2 Ibid., 157.

3. The case. As is plain from the answer given above, there is no ground why Titius should be disturbed about the sufficiency of his sorrow. It is indeed advisable to make special and immediate preparation for confession, and Titius should not repeat the action which gave rise to his scruples. Still there was nothing essentially defective in his confession. It was formally integral, and the acts of contrition which he made every night before going to bed made him habitually contrite, and they were made sufficiently sensible and referred to the sacrament by his confession. For, of course, he had always intended to confess his sins when he made his acts of contrition.