Throughout the Christian way of life, and especially in Lent, believers are called to examine their consciences and repent of their sins. The deeper the repentance, the greater the conversion of heart, and the greater the resolution of amendment.
As Christians, we are confident to confess our sins and ask God for his mercy, since God always rallies our cause and is eager to accept our sorrow and give us a new beginning in Jesus Christ.
To aid us in our repentance, the Church provides us with the Act of Contrition. It is a pivotal and central prayer in the Church’s spiritual treasury. The prayer is known to many believers as a part of the sacrament of Confession, but the prayer should be prayed far more often, even daily.
The Act of Contrition is as simple as a wading pool and as deep as an ocean. Our task, therefore, is to plumb its depths as we mature in the Lord.
The first step in exploring the riches of the Act of Contrition is to learn and memorize the prayer and to pray it from our hearts. Regrettably, the memorization of prayers has seen a decline in recent decades, but the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms and recommends the practice:
“The catechesis of children, young people, and adults aims at teaching them to meditate on The Word of God in personal prayer, practicing it in liturgical prayer, and internalizing it at all times in order to bear fruit in a new life. Catechesis is also a time for the discernment and education of popular piety. The memorization of basic prayers offers an essential support to the life of prayer, but it is important to help learners savor their meaning” (2688).
Admittedly, there has to be a balance between the memorization of prayers and the savoring of their meaning as we pray them from our hearts. Such a balance is achieved in some form by first learning and memorizing the prayers.
Whenever an adult believer does not know the Act of Contrition, I ask them what they pray at night as they prepare for the end of the day. There is oftentimes a pause since the venerable practice of doing an examination of conscience and praying the Act of Contrition at night has waned in popular practice. Believers today, however, need to bring that pious practice back and Lent is a great time for such a retrieval.
Only by first learning and memorizing the Act of Contrition can we begin to dissect its meaning and savor its spiritual riches.
Currently, there are several forms of the Act of Contrition. Any approved form of the prayer is good. The Order of Penance, which guides the celebration of the sacrament of Confession, even recommends the Confiteor (the “I confess…”) prayer of the Mass as a suitable Act of Contrition.
As a young person, I was taught this form of the prayer:
“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 sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin. Amen.”
Yes, I pray it every night. It has even become a part of my praying of Compline, the formal Night Prayer of the Church, which calls for an examination of conscience and some form of an Act of Contrition.
After learning and memorizing the prayer, we now need to dive into its meaning and ask what we’re saying to God through it. As a help to this effort, we can use the form of the prayer I’ve learned (along with many others of my generation or older). We can use this specific Act of Contrition without isolating anyone since the same basic themes can be discerned and found in all the various forms of the prayer.
The prayer begins with an acknowledgment of God — “O my God.” It immediately puts us in our place. God is God and we are not. It is a posture of humility and deference. It is also a personal address. God is not some removed figure, but he is “my” God. This is not the declaration of a subjective deity in our own image, but rather a statement of affection. We draw near to God, “my God,” as we ask for his mercy.
After the salutation, the prayer speaks of being “heartily sorry” and detesting all our sins. We present our wounded hearts weighed down by guilt and confess our sinfulness to God.
The Act of Contrition contains within the context of perfect and imperfect contrition. We have imperfect contrition when we repent of our sins because of a fear of God and his judgment. We see this in the words, “Because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell.”
Another version of the Act of Contrition simply says, “Because of your just punishments.”
Whatever the wording, this is a reflection of imperfect contrition. The Catechism explains such contrition in this way:
“The contrition called ‘imperfect’ (or ‘attrition’) is also a gift of God, a prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is born of the consideration of sin’s ugliness or the fear of eternal damnation and the other penalties threatening the sinner (contrition of fear). Such a stirring of conscience can initiate an interior process which, under the prompting of grace, will be brought to completion by sacramental absolution. By itself however, imperfect contrition cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins, but it disposes one to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance” (1453).
As noted by the Catechism, imperfect contrition is not sufficient to obtain the forgiveness of grave sins. Imperfect contrition needs to grow and mature. It cannot be fear alone that leads us to the mercy of God. It must be an awareness of God’s love that leads us to God.
The Act of Contrition tracks this development. The prayer goes from a fear of punishment — an imperfect contrition — to a declaration of love by a perfect contrition. The words show us this process: “But most of all because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love.”
Such simple words contain a powerful reality. It is because of our love for God that we grieve for having offended him. We confess in our hearts that God is God, that he is All-Good, and that he rightly deserves our love. These are statements that reveal a perfect contrition.
The Catechism explains perfect contrition in this way:
“When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called ‘perfect’ (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible” (1452).
The realization of the three-step process of God being God, that he is All-Good, and that he is worthy of all our love attests to the workings of the theological virtues in our souls. These three virtues, the highest of all virtues, are infused in us at holy baptism.
The theological virtues of faith, hope and charity touch the very core of our relationship with God and so are offended by every sin we commit. As such, they are always a part of our repentance and reconciliation. The confession of God as God is theological faith, the admission of God as All-Good is theological hope, and the acknowledgment of God as worthy of all our love is theological love.
The Act of Contrition, therefore, is also an abbreviated Act of Faith, Hope and Love.
The prayer concludes with a firm resolution of amendment and the adamant assertion that we need God’s grace and, by its power, will do our best not to sin again. It is a declaration that we truly hate sin and will avoid it at all costs.
The Act of Contrition is at its best when it’s memorized and its meaning savored by all believers. It is a powerful little prayer that displays the movements of our hearts as we repent of our sins and seek the mercy of God.
