Saying Act of Contrition during Reconciliation

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Okay, so I have gone to Confession rather often recently, and I am always requested to say the act of contrition, but I always have to tell the Priest that I can’t remember it. The Priest tells me to make one up, and so I do.

I have decided that I need to memorize this Act of Contrition.

The problem is, I find so many Acts of Contrition. Which one should I say?
 
hamburglar said:
The problem is, I find so many Acts of Contrition. Which one should I say?
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Any of them, including the ones you make up. 👍 To which I’d add the Fatima prayer (O, my Jesus…) or the Jesus payer (Lord Jesus Christ…).

If it helps, print it out in a small piece of paper and take it with you the next time.

:blessyou:
 
I am lucky enough to have the Compendium Of The Catechism of The Catholic Church and there is a lovely Act Of Contrition at the back of the book in the Common Prayers section. Perhaps you could pick a copy up? As has already been said you could copy it onto a piece of paper and take it with you but also the book is compact enough to take the whole thing into confession.🙂
 
This one is in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and is the one I learned as a child (about 45 years ago):

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.

Here is another that many children learn these days:

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You. And I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

And yet another which is found in the (approved) series of religious education textbooks used in our parish:

My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against You, Whom I should love above all things. I have hurt myself and others. I firmly intend, with Your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In His name, my God, have mercy. Amen.

I think any of these would be fine. The first two (and I suppose the third, though worded differently) explicitly include an act of “perfect contrition,” that is, sorrow because we offend God (not just from fear of punishment), and I think that is extremely important.
 
There is nothing wrong with making a “cheat-sheet” of your favorite Act of Contrition and bringing it along with you. In fact, two of the churches where I go to confession have one of the Acts posted on signs, hanging right there in the confessional in case you need a reminder or don’t know what to say. 👍
 
Print one of these out, cut it into a small piece of paper, and take it with you. I keep one in my wallet all the time, you never know when you may need it!

I started this practice after freezing one day in the Confessional. Sometimes I can’t remember my own name much less the Act of Contrition I want to say to our Lord!
 
the one i have said and is easy to remember: Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
 
CarrieH said:
There is nothing wrong with making a “cheat-sheet” of your favorite Act of Contrition and bringing it along with you. In fact, two of the churches where I go to confession have one of the Acts posted on signs, hanging right there in the confessional in case you need a reminder or don’t know what to say. 👍
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Most of the confessionals that I go to, have a printed card with the Act of Contrition, that the priest will let people use.

I went to Catholic School back in 1958, the nuns made sure we knew it before our first penance.🙂 I’ve been saying the same version to this day.

Jim
 
I find it very funny that the priest told you to “make up” an Act of Contrition. But, the more amusing thing is that it’s completely valid. Even though Holy Mother Church desires penitents to use a “structured” Act of Contrition during the Sacrament of Reconcialtion, as long as you say “sorry” in there, you can pretty much say anything.

I remember my First Confession years ago. At the end of the confession, I said, “For these sins and for the sins of my whole life I am sorry”. So the priest gave me my penance, but he didn’t ask me to say an Act of Contrition. I asked him if I should. And he said, “You already did”. For some odd reason, that has been in my memory for so many years…
 
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