Penance
84. The Sacrament of Penance
1. Penance is the sacrament which takes away sins committed after baptism. A sacrament is something done, in accordance with the institution of Christ, to signify and to confer holiness. Penance is something done by the confessing sinner and the absolving priest, in accordance with Christ's institution, to signify and to confer grace or holiness. Therefore, penance is truly a sacrament.
2. The matter of the sacrament of penance is: (a) remotely: the sins of the penitent; (b) proximately: these sins repented and confessed with a will to make satisfaction. Thus, we say that the matter of penance consists in the "acts of the penitent," that is, contrition, confession, satisfaction.
3. The form of the sacrament of penance consists in the effective words of absolution pronounced by the priest: "I absolve thee . . ."
4. Penance is not conferred or administered by the imposing of hands, a ceremony which indicates the imparting of abundant grace and power, as in confirmation and holy order. Penance is instituted for the removal of sins from the soul. No imposition of hands is required.
5. For those who have committed serious sin after baptism, penance is necessary for salvation. {-When penance cannot be received, perfect charity, which is perfect contrition, produces its effect. The act of perfect charity embraces the full will to do all that our Lord would have one do for the removal of sins; hence, such an act involves, at least in an implied way, the will and intention of receiving the sacrament of penance. Thus, penance is still necessary to salvation, and is to be received, at least in intention, or "in vow," as the phrase is, by those guilty of mortal sin after baptism.-}
6. St. Jerome calls this sacrament, "A second plank after shipwreck." It is the means of regaining the integrity bestowed by baptism and afterwards lost by mortal sin. Thus, penance is compared to a plank, or raft, or lifeboat, by which a man finds safety and survival after his ship has gone down.
7. Penance has its power and effectiveness from Christ suffering, dying, rising again. Scripture says (Luke 24:46, 47): "It behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day; and that penance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations."
8. A person ought always to have a true internal sorrow for his past offences against God even after these have been forgiven. In this sense, penance should be continuous all through life. But the external acts imposed by the absolving priest as satisfaction are exercised for a time only.
9. We cannot be engaged in acts of penance, either internal or external, all the time. But we should always have the habitual disposition of penance; this is manifested in lasting regret for having offended God, and in watchfulness to avoid sinning again.
10. Penance is a sacrament that can be received again and again. It is always possible for man the wayfarer (that is, man making his journey through life here on earth), to lose charity; this sacrament is his divinely instituted means of recovering it. {-This sacrament is also a powerful spiritual tonic, and should be received often even by those who have not lapsed into mortal sin. The matter for "a confession of devotion" is venial sin, or sins of the past life already forgiven.-}
85. Penance as a Virtue
1. Penance as a sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to take away sins and give grace. Penance as a virtue is a lasting disposition of soul (that is, a spiritual habit) to grieve for past sins, to make satisfaction for them, and to avoid committing them anew. An act of penance is any work or action, internal or external, by which the virtue of penance is exercised. {-The word penance is constantly used by Catholics in one of four meanings: penance means a sacrament; it means a virtue; it means the work of satisfaction for sins, imposed on the penitent by the confessor; it means any penitential prayer or work piously undertaken, i.e., an act of penance.-}
2. Habits are specified by their acts. If there is a special reason requiring an act which normally comes from habit, the special habit for it exists. Hence, penance is a special virtue, not merely a general virtue.
3. Penance as a special virtue is a species of justice. Justice seeks to restore and maintain balance and order. The virtue of penance seeks to restore balance and order by removing the disorder of sins and putting the soul right with God by grace.
4. The subject of a habit, and hence the subject of a virtue, is that power or faculty in which the habit resides or is properly said to be situated. Now, the virtue of penance is a habit which consists in the steady will to repent and make amends. Therefore, the will is the subject of the virtue of penance.
5. Penance as a supernatural virtue is infused into the soul by almighty God; the soul, by God's grace, cooperates by acts which dispose it to receive this virtue. The soul is first stirred by a servile fear of punishment due to its sins; from this, the soul advances to a loving filial fear of God; thus it is rendered fit and ready to receive from God the supernatural virtue of penance.
6. Penance is not the first of virtues in the order of the nature of virtue. Faith, hope, and charity, come before it. But in the order of time, penance may be regarded as the first virtue, in the sense that sinful man must first turn to God, and he does this by the virtue of penance.
86. Effects of the Sacrament of Penance
1. The sacrament of penance cannot take away the mortal sins of those confirmed in evil, that is, of souls and demons in hell; for these beings are incapable of repentance. But it can take away all mortal sins, without exception, of man the wayfarer, that is, of man in the present earthly life.
2. Mortal sin cannot be taken away without repentance. For mortal sin is a complete turning of man's soul from God; mortal sin remains in the soul until the will turns back again to God; the will does this by repentance, that is, by exercising the supernatural virtue of penance, and, as explained above (q. 84, note), making use of the sacrament of penance.
3. One mortal sin cannot be pardoned without another; all are taken from the soul or none is taken. For every unrepented mortal sin excludes grace and pardon; if one such sin remains in the soul, grace and pardon are blocked out. Besides, no man can truly repent of one sin because it offends God, while he still has the will to offend God by another sin.
4. A sinner is under two burdens, namely, guilt, and debt of punishment due. The debt of punishment due to sin is either eternal or temporal. When mortal sin is taken away as to its guilt, the eternal punishment due to it is also taken away; yet the temporal punishment due to it may not be entirely taken away. Hence, when the guilt of mortal sin is removed by penance, some debt of temporal punishment may yet be owed by the forgiven sinner.
5. Sin leaves remnants or remains in the soul even after it is taken away. Sin may thus be compared to a serious sickness which, even when cured, leaves in the patient a weakness or tendency to relapse. Besides, frequently repeated sins leave a disposition, or even a habit, in the soul. The sacrament of penance which takes away sin does not necessarily take away the remains of sin or the habit of sin; yet the sacrament does diminish or weaken these things so that they do not domineer over a man or compel him to relapse into sin.
6. Penance as a virtue disposes a man to have his sins taken away, and by God's gift of this virtue, a person may obtain pardon of his guilt. Yet the most effective penance is not the virtue, but the sacrament of penance; for the sacrament directly absolves the sinner from his guilt.
87. Remission of Venial Sins
1. No sin is forgiven without repentance or penance. Yet a more perfect penance is required for the forgiving of mortal sin; each mortal sin is to be detested and rejected. A more general grief or sorrow is sufficient in the case of venial sins.
2. Mortal sin is removed by penance (virtue and sacrament) when grace is infused into the soul to drive out and replace sin. Venial sin does not drive out grace, and hence, in one who has no mortal sin on his soul, venial sins can be forgiven without the infusion of new grace by a movement of grace or charity already in the soul. Also whenever grace is newly infused, venial sins are forgiven.
3. The pious use of holy water and the exercise of devotional acts can suffice to take away venial sins. Such pious uses and practices always tend to remove sin, because they can be a true movement of grace in the soul arousing love of God and detestation of what offends him.
4. A man who has both mortal and venial sins, cannot get rid of his venial sins while the mortal sins remain. For by mortal sin a man is turned completely from God, and no sanctifying grace is in him to move for the cancellation of venial sins.
88. Recurrence of Sins Forgiven
1. A sin forgiven is forgiven. A man may, indeed, commit another sin like the one forgiven, but he does not fall back into forgiven sin. It is not possible for the stain of past sins, and the debt of punishment incurred by them, to return upon the forgiven sinner. A sin may be worse because of like sins previously forgiven. But the past sins themselves, once pardoned, do not return.
2. Only in the sense that a man who is pardoned returns to sins like those forgiven, and thereby shows base ingratitude to the forgiving God, is it said that forgiven sins return upon the sinner.
3. Therefore, if a man has obtained forgiveness of mortal sins, and later commits others, his ingratitude does not bring back upon him the debt of punishment due to all past mortal sins. Still, there must be some proportion in this business. The more frequent and grievous one's past mortal sins have been, the greater is the debt of punishment incurred by subsequent mortal sin.
4. We must not say that the ingratitude of a forgiven sinner who commits mortal sins anew, is a special mortal sin in itself. This ingratitude is regularly a circumstance only of the new mortal sin which the offender commits. If, however, the relapsing sinner has an actual contempt of God and the favor he received in his earlier pardon, his ingratitude is a special sin.
89. Recovery of Virtue by Penance
1. Sins are pardoned through penance, especially by means of the sacrament of penance. Now, pardon of sin means infusion of grace. And from grace all virtues flow. Hence, virtues lost by sin are recovered by penance, and notably by the sacrament of penance worthily received.
2. A man rises through penance to the virtue he lost, but he has not always the full strength of that virtue immediately upon regaining it.
3. A man is restored by penance to his former dignity; by the grace infused, he is numbered again with the children of God.
4. If a man with virtuous deeds to his credit commits mortal sin, his good deeds are rendered lifeless and ineffective, because mortal sin turns the man completely away from God and eternal life.
5. But if a man by penance recovers the grace of God, his good deeds, deadened by his sin, come to life again. Hence meritorious deeds done formerly are revived by penance. The lost merits are regained.
6. However, good works done in the state of mortal sin have not any power of merit in them when they are performed. Nor is such power infused into them when penance restores their author to grace. Dead works (that is, good and meritorious works done in the state of mortal sin), stay dead. They are not brought to life by penance.
90. Parts of the Sacrament of Penance
1. Penance is said to have parts inasmuch as several things are required to constitute this sacrament. This is particularly the case with regard to the matter of the sacrament.
2. The parts of penance are the acts of the penitent: contrition, confession, and satisfaction. We may add, as a fourth part, the absolution imparted by the priest.
3. An integral part of anything is something in and of the thing itself which gives completeness or perfection. The three acts of the penitent (contrition, confession, satisfaction), are called integral parts of penance. These acts must all come together to constitute the rounded perfection of penance in so far as this perfection depends on the penitent.
4. Considering penance as a virtue, we distinguish three types or varieties of it: penance before baptism; penance for mortal sin; penance for venial sin.