1. The unknown virtue of Penance.
Everybody is acquainted with the Sacrament of Penance. Both religious and diocesan priests go to confession every week. They are going for the Sacrament of Penance, i.e. for the absolution of the priests. Even Pope Francis posed in a confessional to emphasize the importance of the Sacrament.
But before they go to confession they have to have the virtue of Penance. The absolution can only forgive sins if there is a virtue of Penance. Without the virtue of Penance, the sins of the penitent cannot be absolved. Not even the Pope, not even God can forgive unless there is the virtue of Penance. Is God so weak that He cannot forgive sins without the virtue of Penance? Well, really He can; but He had decreed that He will never do that.
When Christ gave the Apostolic Commission, He actually gave the way to develop the virtue of Penance; ‘teach them all My commands.’ The first command of Christ is to ‘repent.’ If this is done well then the soul receives the gift of supernatural Faith; thus Christ’s command ‘to repent and believe.’ These were the first things He preached, ‘to repent and believe.’
2. What is the virtue of Penance.
The virtue of Penance is what forgives past sins. As long as a soul have the virtue of Penance, even if he is unable to confess to a priests for some valid reason he can be saved. So the emphasis in teaching Catholic Truths is to master and acquire as soon as possible the virtue of Penance because in reality most Catholic who die would die without the benefit of the Sacraments of Penance and extreme Unction. For example, those who die in a place crash, those who die of heart attack, in wars, in earthquakes, in attacks of terrorism. Death comes so suddenly that there is no time for the two Sacraments of Confession and Extreme Unction.
Since it is impossible to prepare for these contingencies instruction had been to concentrate in acquiring the virtue of Penance.
3. The virtue of Penance is described as the ‘matter’ for the Sacrament of Penance. While the absolution of the priest is the ‘form’ of the Sacrament.
The virtue of Penance consists of four steps that should be applied to every mortal sin committed. First, the penitent must know what is his mortal sins. He must know what commands of Christ he had committed that makes it a mortal sin. The list of mortal sins are found in Divine Revelation. A good first guide is the 10 commandments of God in the Old Testament. There are many in the New Testament, too.
Secondly, the penitent must be sorry for having committed that mortal sin. His reason for being sorry must not just be servile fear, the fear of hell; it must be the contrition of a child for having offended his father; this is filial fear.
Thirdly, the penitent must make up his mind to avoid this sin in the future. This is called the purpose of amendment.
Fourthly, the penitent must make restitution to God whom he has first offended and then he must make restitution to his neighbor whom he has sinned against.
The penitent must apply these four steps on every and all mortal sins he has committed in the past. If he can do this then he has the virtue of Penance. If a priest absolves him, the penitent’s sin will be forgiven. The absolution of the priest which is the ‘form’ of the Sacrament will work in the presence of the virtue of Penance. If the four steps mentioned above is defective or one is lacking, no one can absolve his sins. This is the defect today. Most penitents do not know how to acquire the virtue of Penance; so most absolutiond are ineffective.
4. The defect.
Without the ‘matter,’ which is the acts of the penitent, the ‘form’ is totally ineffective, this is the absolution of the priest. So Pope Benedict in 2012 ordered the Bishop’s Synod to discussed the ‘new’ evangelization with emphasis on the repentance of the penitent. But the bishops believed that they have mastered the topic having gone to confession for many, many years. They were right that they had practiced the ‘form’ many, many times. But they did not know that they were not acquainted with the ‘matter’. Their knowledge of the ‘matter’ was defective making many confessions sacrilegious.
Let us look at some possible defects in the ‘matter’ of the Sacrament. First, lack of knowledge. Some of those who commit fornication by living as husband and wife before marriage erroneously think that when they marry in church there is no need to repent for their sin of fornication. Their marriage is all right; but their marriage does not automatically forgive their previous sin of fornication. They have to have the virtue of Penance to have that sin of fornication forgiven. Here, lack of knowledge is the defect.
Second, lack of contrition. Many are sorry for having sinned because it caused the lost of their reputation. That is a wrong reason. The penitent’s reason must be the lost of Charity. Here we have the wrong motive for contrition, so no contrition.
Third, lack of purpose of amendment. Many penitent really are convinced they must stop sinning. But most conviction are weak. They easily fall again. So no purpose of amendment, so no forgiveness of this sin.
Fourthly, lack of restitution. Every sin is against God, and often against neighbor, too. If so restitution must be made to both. This fourth element is the most neglected. Almost nobody feels the need for restitution. When a husband fights with his wife, does he make restitution afterwards? When a child disobeys his parents does he make restitution? When one misses Mass, does he make restitution to God. This is the reason we have the Masses of Reparation to the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart of Mary. No one makes restitution for their sins against them.
When one of this element is defective, that particular mortal sin and all mortal sin are not forgiven. One mortal sin cannot be forgiven while retaining others. It is either all or none. Many do not realize this. If we exclude one mortal sin in the act of Repentance, all the other mortal sins remain in the soul. And together with all the mortal sin all the venial sins; because the venial sins are forgiven in connection with the forgiveness of mortal sins.
In the same way, if the penitent forgets to make restitution for a mortal sin against God or neighbor, then all his mortal sins remain in his soul though he his absolve by a priest. Why? Because the proper disposition, which is the virtue of Penance, is absent.
Let us say the penitent have 10 mortal sin in his life time, he has to have the virtue of Penance to have those sins forgiven. In which case he has to apply the four steps mentioned above on all and every one of those mortal sin. If there is a defect on just one step, not one of his mortal sins would be forgiven. In the virtue of Penance, the penitent must perfectly accomplish the four steps mentioned above on all and on each one of the mortal sin. That’s tough, isn’t it, though this is just an act of the mind and free will.
This is the primary reason why in the beginning of Christianity monasteries were established. Precisely for this purpose. It is next to impossible to develop the virtue of Penance in the world. It must be done in a special environment that the early saints have devised in imitation of Christ’s 30 years of hidden life. And it is called monasticism. If you don’t believe me, try is for a week in the world, even in the privacy of your room. You will see, it won’t work; i.e. to apply all the four steps on all and on each one of your moral sins. Just the first step….’find out what are your mortal sin’ will be next to impossible. But anyway, still try it.
5. What next.
A penitent have acquired the virtue of Penance. He brings his virtue with him to his confessor. When the confessor absolves him his past sins are forgiven. Now, what will he do so that he does not fall into those same sins again? Continue putting that virtue of Penance into practice, i.e. continue the life of repentance. Repentance for what sins? Continued repentance for those past forgiven sins, for as the Psalm says; ‘my sins are always before me.’ The penitent must continuously recall his past sins and continuously repent for those past sins…..in order to be able to avoid them in the future.
If he ceases to repent even for a minute he will fall into sin again. And when he falls into sin, all those past sins will return to his soul, not in the way he committed them in the past, but in the form of sins of ingratitude. God had given him the favor of removing all his sins and now he has returned to sin again…..that is ingratitude.
So the penitent must acquire the virtue of Penance so that his past mortal sins will be forgiven ……and he must retain and continue practicing the virtue of Penance to avoid sins in the future.
We must repent up to the last second of our lives because we can never be sure if there is a mortal sin that remains in our soul of which we are ignorant of.
6. Today.
Today, we have plenty of confessors who can give absolution. We even have missionaries of mercy with special powers to absolve special sins. The problem is we do not have enough people who see the need for the virtue of Penance. The virtue of Penance is sufficient to have past mortal sins forgiven as shown by the heroes of the Old Testament. King David the perfect example of the man with a perfect virtue of Penance as shown in the Psalms he composed did not have the luxury of the absolution of a Catholic priest. Yet his sins were forgiven. Judas, a bishop and with priests surrounding him, even with Jesus Christ eating with him……….what????