Assurance of Genuine Contrition

[Antonius_Lupus]

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am a Catholic who has been just recently Initiated into the faith (sans baptism…I got that as a baby).

Anyway, I am going to Confession today to confess a particularly grave sin I committed and I have been bothered by doubts about how we know whether our contrition is genuine.

I really made a big mistake and my deacon (who is like my spiritual father) says that as long as I:

More important is your recognition that this sin is against God, and it is to Him that you confess. If you have a spirit of contrition (it does not have to be perfect contrition), the sacrament will be effective.

There is nothing more in the world that I am worried about right now is whether I truly recognize that this sin is against God AND whether or not I truly have a spirit of contrition.

I want more than anything to be truly sorry and to receive our Lord’s forgiveness. I just want to put these sins behind me and start over, and I want to be able to come back to Communion.

I hope this post was somewhat coherent.

 

[Antonius_Lupus]

I mean, I want Jesus’ forgiveness. I want to be forgiven and cleasened of these sins so that God forgets I even did them. I want the blood of Jesus to bathe me and wash away the stains in my baptismal robes. I wish I hadn’t done these sins cause I know that it has screwed up so much in me, not to mention putting me in another situation of doubt which bothers me. I just want to be forgiven so I can come back to Communion, receive Jesus, and start over.

 

[kyrie80]

I mean, I want Jesus’ forgiveness. I want to be forgiven and cleasened of these sins so that God forgets I even did them. I want the blood of Jesus to bathe me and wash away the stains in my baptismal robes. I wish I hadn’t done these sins cause I know that it has screwed up so much in me, not to mention putting me in another situation of doubt which bothers me. I just want to be forgiven so I can come back to Communion, receive Jesus, and start over.

Stop worrying so much. You sound contrite to me.

 

[Joysong]

Be at peace, repentent one!

Maybe this will help you. When the prodigal son decided to return home to his father, it was not solely due to missing his father, nor did he regret offending him. The scriptures tell us that he was tired of eating the food of the swine, when in his father’s house there was plenty even for the hired hands. Some motive, huh?

But what did the father do? Open his arms in eager anticipation and throw a party!

 

[bpbasilphx]

Contrition is not a feeling (though it may be there) but an act of the will.

 

[kristie_m]

Sounds like you’re on the right track.

 

[GemmaRose]

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am a Catholic who has been just recently Initiated into the faith (sans baptism…I got that as a baby).

Anyway, I am going to Confession today to confess a particularly grave sin I committed and I have been bothered by doubts about how we know whether our contrition is genuine. …

Be at peace! I think that’s the first thing Jesus would say to you.

Contrition = sorrow for sin. It sounds like you are sorry for the sin you committed.

When poster bpbasilphx says that, *“Contrition is not a feeling (though it may be there) but an act of the will.” * This is correct. As an example, sins of a sexual nature feel good. God made sex to feel good, but He wants us to use the gift within marriage. If we have somehow misused the gift, and recognize that we have sinned, we can’t deny that it felt good at the time. So it takes an act of will to acknowledge the sin and repent. You’re not repenting and feeling sorrow that it felt good, you repent and have sorrow because you sinned and offended God. Got that?

So if you are sorry that you committed sin, you already have a spirit of contrition.

Now, what kind of contrition do you have? Why are you sorry for committing sin? If you are sorry for your sins because you’re afraid of going to hell or spending a long time in purgatory, then you have imperfect contrition. This is like the contrition of the prodigal son. Not once in the parable did the prodigal son think that he would go home because he had broken his father’s heart. He was hungry! Well, God is so merciful that he forgives our sins in Confession even when imperfect contrition is all we have.

Are you sorry for your sins for the sole reason that you have offended God? Fear of heaven or hell isn’t an issue at all? Then you have the gift of perfect contrition. Perfect contrition can lead to forgiveness of even mortal sins without Confession (say, if you committed a mortal sin and got hit by a truck on the way to go to Confession).

Most people have a mixture of both kinds of contrition. If you have a mixture of both and want to have perfect contrition, confess often and pray for that grace.

As I said in the beginning, be at peace. It’s obvious that the Lord is working in you. Otherwise, you wouldn’t care about contrition at all!