Is an Act of Contrition Difficult?

In attempting to give an answer to this question I presuppose certain doctrines of Catholic faith. I presuppose that contrition is of such efficacy with God that an act of perfect contrition elicited from the motive of God’s infinite goodness at once reconciles the sinner with God. This it does by virtue of perfect charity which contrition implicitly contains. I also presuppose that God seriously desires the salvation of all men, and in His Providence furnishes all with the means to obtain it. The question, then, is not merely one of speculative theology; it is exceedingly practical. For such as cannot receive the sacrament of Penance and yet have committed mortal ' sin an act of perfect contrition, or of perfect love of God, is the only means of salvation. Thus the question, whether an act of contrition is difficult or not is practically the same as the question whether it is difficult or not for the innumerable multitudes to obtain salvation who, for one reason or another, cannot receive the sacrament of Penance before death.

Some Catholic writers hold that it is not difficult, especially for Catholics, to make an act of perfect contrition. Among these is a German writer, the Rev. J. von den Driesch, whose little book on Perfect

Contrition I was instrumental in putting into the hands of English readers some years ago. However, this consoling doctrine seems to be contrary to the Catechism of the Council of Trent. This authoritative source of Catholic doctrine has the following passage concerning Contrition : —

Contrition, it is true, blots out sin; but who is ignorant that to effect this it must be so intense, so ardent, so vehement, as to bear a proportion to the magnitude of the crimes which it effaces? This is a degree of contrition which few reach, and hence through perfect contrition alone very few indeed could hope to obtain the pardon of their sins.¹

¹ On the Sacrament of Penance,” Donovan’s translation, p. 271.

So, then, according to this authoritative source of Catholic teaching it is so difficult to make a perfect act of contrition that few make it, and very few, indeed, could hope to obtain the pardon of their sins by perfect contrition alone. However great the authority of the Catechism of the Council of Trent may be, it is well known that there are in it points of doctrine which have no greater weight than has a theological opinion. I may instance what the Catechism ‘says about the necessity of confessing the circumstances of sin which only aggravate its malice, but do not change its nature. Is the above extract another such point in which one theological opinion is followed without depriving Catholics of the liberty to follow other and more consoling opinions if they choose to do so? Yes, it is, unless I am mistaken.

In proof of this contention I may observe, in the first place, that in the above extract the Catechism seems to require more than the common teaching of Catholic schools requires. If the words be taken in their obvious sense they seem to require that an efficacious act of perfect contrition should be not only a detestation of sin above all other evils, but that it should also be in the highest degree intense. On the contrary, the common teaching nowadays is that no special degree of intensity is required in the act of contrition provided that it be a detestation of sin above all other evils for the love of God.² Indeed, the Catechism of the Council of Trent itself seems to teach the milder opinion in another place. There it says : —

² See C. Pesch, Praelectiones Dogmaticae, vii., n. 137.

If, however, our contrition be not perfect, it may, nevertheless, be true and efficacious; for as things which fall under the senses frequently touch the heart more sensibly than things purely spiritual, it will sometimes happen that persons feel more intense sorrow for the death of their children than for the grievousness of their sins.³

³ Donovan’s translation, p. 266.

So that, although supernatural contrition for sin may not be so intense as natural sorrow for the loss of a parent or husband or child, and so does not bear a proportion to the magnitude of the crimes which it effaces, nevertheless, it may, according to this extract, be true contrition and efficacious for the forgiveness of sin.

The presumed necessity of so great intensity, ardor, and vehemence is the reason why the Catechism teaches that very few indeed could hope to obtain the pardon of their sins through perfect contrition alone. If that reason is not well grounded it may still be difficult on account of the nature of the act of contrition or of the act of love which contrition implies. Of course both contrition and charity are acts of supernatural virtue, and as such they are not only difficult but utterly impossible without the help of God’s grace. God must move the intellect and stir the will with His grace to make the least act of supernatural virtue possible to man. But this being supposed, is it difficult to make acts of contrition and charity, either because God rarely grants the requisite grace, or for some other reason?

To prepare the way for an attempted solution of this question, I would ask the reader to call to mind the close connection that exists between an act of contrition and an act of charity or love of God. The motive of contrition is God’s infinite goodness, which is loved above all things, and which excites the sinner to hate sin above all other evils. So that wherever there is perfect contrition there is also perfect love. On the other hand, wherever there is perfect love and the consciousness that sin has been committed, it cannot be but that the love of God will move the sinner to detest sin above all things as being an offense of God whom it sovereignly loves. Contrition, then, and charity intermingle, as St. Francis of Sales teaches in his own inimitable way. He writes: —

But I do not mean to say that the perfect love of God, by which we love Him above all things, always precedes this repentance, or that this repentance always precedes this love. For though it so often happens, still, at other times, as soon as divine love is born in our hearts, penitence is born within the love, and oftentimes penitence entering into our hearts, love enters in penitence. And as when Esau was born, Jacob, his twin brother, held him by the foot, that their births might not only follow the one the other, but also might cleave together and be intermingled ; so repentance, rude and rough in regard of its pain, is born first, as another Esau; and love, gentle and gracious as Jacob, holds him by the foot and cleaves unto him so closely that their birth is but one, since the end of the birth of repentance is the beginning of that of perfect love. Now as Esau first appeared, so repentance ordinarily makes itself to be seen before love, but love, as another Jacob, although the younger, afterwards subdues penitence, converting it into consolation.⁴

⁴ The Love of God, Bk. II., c. 20.

It would seem to follow from this that if contrition is difficult, an act of charity must be difficult; and if love is easy so must contrition be. The question, then, whether it is difficult to make an act of perfect contrition may be put in another way. We may ask: Is it difficult to make an act of the perfect love of God?

By the light of natural reason we can see in creation, and in ourselves, plenty of indications that our Creator is a good God who pours Himself out in loving goodness upon all things that He has made. He has given us the capacity to know and love Him, and He cannot but desire that we should do so. Indeed, we have a natural inclination to love God above all things. As St. Francis of Sales teaches:

Although now our human nature be not endowed with that original soundness and righteousness which the first man had in his creation, but on the contrary be greatly depraved by sin, yet still the holy inclination to love God above all things stays with us, as also the natural light by which we see His sovereign goodness to be more worthy of love than all things; and it is impossible that one thinking attentively upon God, yea even by natural reason only, should not feel a certain movement of love which the secret inclination of our nature excites in the bottom of our hearts by which at the first apprehension of this chief and sovereign object, the will is captured, and perceives itself stirred up to a complacency in it.⁵

⁵ The Love of God, Bk. I., c. 16.

In another place of the same treatise the Saint teaches that unbaptized pagans are quite capable of repentance for sin, because it offends God. He says: —

There is yet another penitence which is indeed moral, yet religious too, yea in some sort divine, proceeding from the natural knowledge which we have of our offending God by sin. For certainly many philosophers understood that to live virtuously was a thing agreeable to the divinity, and that consequently to live viciously was offensive to Him.⁶

⁶ Ibid., Bk. II, c. 18.

But we must have recourse to revelation if we want to know the truth about divine love in all its fulness, beauty, and consoling sincerity. In innumerable passages of the Old and New Testaments God makes known His love for us in the most endearing expressions of human affection. In the most plaintive accents of wounded affection He pleads for our love in return. Almost in despair He tells us that the sum and substance of the Law and the Prophets is that we should love Him. This is the first and the greatest commandment. Foreseeing a possible excuse He assures us on His own divine authority that it is not difficult to love Him: —

This commandment, that I command thee this day, is not above thee, nor far off from thee; nor is it in heaven, that thou shouldst say: Which of us can go up to heaven to bring it unto us, and we may hear and fulfil it in work? Nor is it beyond the sea, that thou mayest excuse thyself and say: Which of us can cross the sea, and bring it unto us, that we may hear and do that which is commanded? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it... . That thou mayest love the Lord thy God.⁷

⁷ Deuteronomy 30: 11-16,

Before the institution of the sacrament of Penance, while perfect contrition was still the only means by which the sinner could be saved, God sent this message by His prophet: —

Thus you have spoken, saying: Our iniquities and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them: how, then, can we live? Say to them: As I live saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; and why will you die, O house of Israel?⁸

⁸ Ezechiel 33: 10, 11.

All this is from the Old Testament, the law of fear, and much more could be quoted to the same effect. It would be unmeaning if an act of contrition and of love were so difficult that few could reach it, and if very few, indeed, could hope to obtain the pardon of their sins through perfect contrition alone. That was the only means available for obtaining forgiveness of sin under the Old Law. Under the New Law, the law of love cast out the law of fear, and it became much easier to love God and to be reconciled with Him. We have far more abundant grace, and in the easy task of knowing and loving Jesus Christ we fulfil the precept of knowing and loving God. As St. Francis of Sales says: —

The sweet Jesus, who bought us with His blood, is infinitely desirous that we should love Him, that we may eternally be saved, and desires we may be saved that we may love Him eternally; His love tending to our salvation, and our salvation to His love. Ah! said He: I came to cast fire on the earth and what will I but that it be kindled. . . . That the commandment of love may be fulfilled, He leaves no living man without furnishing him abundantly with all means requisite thereto. God not only gives us a simple sufficiency of means to love Him, and in loving Him to save ourselves, but also a rich, ample, and magnificent sufficiency, and such as ought to be expected from so great a bounty as His.⁹

⁹ The Love of God, Bk. II, c. 8

According to the same great Doctor of Divine Love, when Our Lord sees a soul fall into sin He runs to its assistance : —

Seeing it is not now necessary that He should employ His love in dying for us, when He sees the soul overthrown by sin He commonly runs to her succor, and by an unspeakable mercy lays open the door of her heart by the stings and remorses of conscience which come from the divers lights and inspirations which He puts into our hearts, with salutary movements, with which He makes the soul return to herself, and brings her back to good sentiments. And all this God works in us without our action, by His all amiable goodness, which prevents us with its sweetness. . . . The soul would remain lost in her sin, if God prevented her not. But if the soul thus excited add her consent to the solicitation of grace, seconding the inspiration which prevents her, and accepting the required helps provided for her by God, He will fortify her, and conduct her through various movements of faith, hope, and penitence, even till He restore her to her true spiritual health, which is no other thing than charity.¹⁰

¹⁰ The Love of God, Bk. III., c. 3.

The bold metaphor of the poet in the Hound of Heaven is amply justified by Catholic theology : —

Nigh and nigh draws the chase, With unperturbèd pace, Deliberate speed, majestic instancy ; And past those noised Feet A voice comes yet more fleet— *‘Lo! naught contents thee, who content’st not Me!’’

All that the human soul, even though stained with sin, has to do in order to be again united to God by love and contrition, is to yield her consent to the insistent pleadings of her divine Lover.

At the request of His apostles, Our Lord furnished them and us with a set form of prayer suitable for ordinary and common use. The very first petition of the Our Father is an act of perfect love of God, as St. Thomas of Aquin and other theologians teach. Would not the Our Father be unsuited for common and ordinary use if so few could mean what they say while using it? And yet few could mean what they say, if few can make an act of love and contrition. No wonder, then, if Saint Jure, in his classical work on the Knowledge and Love of Jesus Christ asserts that it is easy to love God above all things. He writes: —

Since it is commanded it is possible. We will go further and we will say that it is not only possible but that it is easy. If it was easy for the Jews under the law of fear and severity, is it not still more easy for Christians under the law of grace and love?¹¹

¹¹ De la Connaissance et de Vamour de Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ, liv. i., c. 14.

The Ven. Robert Southwell, S.J., the martyr, holds that it is so easy to practise divine love that no one can excuse himself from practising it: —

All men are able to love Thee, O Lord, wise men and fools, rich and poor, little and great, young and old, men and women, and to every estate and to every age, love is common ; no man is weak or feeble, no man is poor, no man is old to love. . . . If any man should say that he cannot fast, or that he cannot give alms, or that he cannot go to Mass, we ought to believe him, but can any man say that he cannot love? This is impossible.’¹²

¹² A Hundred Meditations on the Love of God, p. 298.

The Rev. J. von den Dresch maintains that Catholics often have perfect contrition without knowing it or thinking of it; for example, while devoutly hearing Mass, while making the Stations of the Cross, while piously contemplating a crucifix, or a picture of the Sacred Heart, while listening to a sermon, and so forth.¹³ Many priests, I think, especially if they work among the poor of Christ, would maintain the same. Finally, St. Francis of Sales writes: —

¹³ Perfect Contrition, p. 15.

While we are little children, we are wise like little children, we speak like little children, we love like little children; but when we shall come to our perfect growth, there above in heaven, we shall be freed from our state of infancy, and love God perfectly. Yet we are not for all this, during this infancy of our mortal life, to omit to do what in us lies according as we are commanded, since this is not only in our power, but is also very easy; the whole commandment being of love, and of the love of God, who as He is sovereignly good, so is He sovereignly amiable.¹⁴

¹⁴ The Love of God, Bk. X., c. 2.

So that when the Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that few reach the intensity required for a perfect act of contrition, and that very few, indeed, could hope to obtain the pardon of their sins by perfect contrition alone, it does not teach what is of faith but of opinion only. Catholics, then, are free to follow other opinions which are more consoling, and, as it seems to us, redound more to the honor and glory of God.

Nor do I feel that my withers are wrung by what Father Faber says in his work on the Blessed Sacrament. He gives the quotation from the Catechism of the Council of Trent on which I have been commenting in a footnote, and on this he supports the following sentences in the text: —

Earth has no privilege equal to that of being a member of His Church; and they dishonor both it and Him who extenuate the dismal horrors of that outer darkness in which souls lie that are aliens from the Church. The greatness of our privilege, and, therefore, of the glory of the Sacraments, is necessarily diminished by anything that makes less of the unutterable miseries, and most appalling difficulties of salvation outside the Church. This is the reason why the Saints have ever been so strong in the instincts of their sanctity, as to the wide, weltering, almost hopeless deluge which covers the ruined earth outside the ark. Harsh, to unintelligent, uncharitable kindness, intolerably harsh, as are the judgments of stern theology, the saints have ever felt and spoken more strongly and more peremptorily than the theologians.’¹⁵

¹⁵ The Blessed Sacrament, Bk. IV., c. 5.

The judgments of stern theology without doubt may sometimes appear harsh, especially to unintelligent and uncharitable kindness. But, before teaching that any particular doctrine which has the appearance even of harshness is a judgment of stern theology we should make sure of the fact. Unless we do this we shall be in danger of dishonoring God and hindering the salvation of souls by mistaking an opinion for the truth. The truth cannot diminish the glory of the sacraments nor the value of the privilege of belonging to the True Church. It is a truth that God seriously desires the salvation of all men, and that, therefore, He has provided sufficient means for all men to be saved. It is a truth that no one is lost except by his own fault. Contrition and perfect charity are the only means of salvation for such as cannot receive the sacraments. The dismal lot of those outside the Church should never be extenuated, but we must never forget that all those who are lost are lost because they would not make use of their free will to be saved, not because God has not provided sufficient and superabundant means of salvation for all. Copiosa apud eum redemptio.

It would hardly be just to the memory of Father Faber to leave the reader under the impression that the above extract expresses his settled conviction on the matter. It is true that I do not remember any passage in his writings which expressly contradicts the extract given above. But in All for Jesus he lays stress on the necessary connection between love and sorrow for sin in these words: —

What I mean is this, that to sorrow over the sins of others is no far-fetched devotion, or subtle refinement of religious feeling; but that it follows inevitably upon the love of God. Where there is no such sorrow for sin, either in ourselves or others, there is no love of God; and in proportion to the amount of love will the degree of sorrow be.¹⁶

¹⁶ Op. cit., p. 58.

In his Creator and Creature and elsewhere he treats of God’s infinite love for us, and of our obligation to love Him in return. He shows at length, with his usual eloquence and unction, how this obligation may be fulfilled, and he teaches that its fulfilment is easy. He says: —

Every creature was created by God for God’s own sake. Hence he has nothing to do but God’s work, nothing to seek but God’s glory; and that work and that glory God has been pleased to repose in love, in the easy service of a rational and yet supernatural love.¹⁷

¹⁷ Op. cit., Bk. II., c. 8.

I think that these passages show that the real Father Faber was not opposed to my contention, that it is not difficult to make an act of perfect contrition or of the pure love of God.