The Act of Perfect Contrition
The Act of Contrition as it is found in the Small Catechism of
the Catholic Religion by Bishop John Neumann of the Congregation
of the Most Holy Redeemer, Fourth Bishop of Philadelphia,
Imprimatur by the Most Rev. James Gibbons, Archbishop
of Baltimore, given 24 July 1884:
 O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee,
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 Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my
love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace to confess my sins, to do penance and
to amend my life.
Amen
Since this form of the Act
of Contrition incorporates all the elements
of the Act of Perfect
Contrition, I urge all of you, one and all, to memorize and use this Act of Contrition.
There are five (5) qualities
or elements that must be in the Act of Perfect Contrition. Whether they are in the
form of the contrition
or not, they must be present. Hence, you see why I insist on the above wording, for it is flawless, and it incorporates all
the five (5) qualities of
the Act of Perfect Contrition. By the way,
name the contrition properly. It is "an act of
perfect contrition," not "a perfect act of contrition."
The five (5) qualities of the Act of Perfect Contrition are:
 Interior,
Supernatural,
Universal,
Supreme,
and
Intense.
We shall study each of these five (5)
qualities:
Interior
What do we mean when we say that the Act of
Perfect Contrition must be interior?
We mean that it is an interior
act of the mind and will. When a priest says his Divine Office correctly, but with distractions (hopefully not intended), he fulfills
his obligation that the law
imposes on him. If, while you confer the sacrament of
baptism, you say the words carefully with the intention to baptize as the Church
baptizes, you confer the sacrament
even though you had distractions during the rite. The Act of
Contrition does not work as the above cases. It is something even independent of
spoken words. The mind and heart must determine
everything that is said in the above form of contrition. The mere perfect
recitation of the form, as one says his prayers, is not
sufficient.
Supernatural
There are many elements or divisions in this quality. The Act
of Contrition must be supernatural
as to the "power" with which it is performed. It
must be made under the influence of actual grace.
Actual grace is the supernatural
assistance that enlightens the mind
to know the will of God and strengthens the will to do the will of God. Hence, before
starting the Act of Contrition, it
is good (and I encourage you to do so) to
ask for this special grace. Without it, the Act of
Contrition is useless.
Secondly, the act
must be supernatural as to "motive." Here we have two
(2) motives. The inferior motive (imperfect contrition)
has to do with the dread of the loss of heaven and the pains
of hell. The superior motive (perfect
contrition) has to do with the fact that we have offended
God Who is all good.
Together with the sacraments of
Baptism and Penance,
the inferior motive (fearing
the loss of heaven
and the pains of hell) is sufficient for forgiveness
of all sins. However,
outside of those sacraments,
only the superior motive (being sorry for having offended
God Who is all good)
will suffice for the forgiveness of all sins.
We must answer this question. Just why are you sorry for your sins?
Is it because drinking made you sick? That is a natural motive,
and it has no relation to forgiveness.
While the natural motives are good
in themselves, they will never work for forgiveness.
Universal
The Act of Contrition must
include all of the mortal sins. One may
never keep even one pet sin. Thus, if a person living
in adultery is very sorry
for his sins of eating meat on Fridays,
but will not give up his sinful life of adultery,
he cannot get rid of even one sin. One either leaves all
of his sins behind, or he keeps all of them for God's just
judgment at the moment of death.
Unlike teeth, which when left alone, will pass away, sins,
however, when left alone will never pass away.
Supreme
When we say that the Act of Contrition
must be supreme, we are saying that we must
determine that we would rather die than commit a mortal sin.
We must hate mortal
sin (venial sin too, if
possible) even more than death itself. Just
think how careful we are about our lives. We avoid death
at great sacrifices. A man will throw his
possessions over-board to save his life. He
will avoid the company of those who have a contagious
sickness in order to save
his life. In like manner, we must hate sin, in the Act of
Contrition, as the greatest evil
on earth.
Intense
In the above form of contrition,
we express this determination with the word "detest."
I might say that I do not like
to eat spinach. However, I say that I "detest"
eating rotten crow. In like manner, we do
not say that we just do not like
sin, but we detest it as
we detest eating rotten
crow.
Purpose of Amendment
There is a final element that is not
mentioned in the qualities of the Act of
Contrition, and that is the purpose of amendment.
In practical speech, we make a division in regard to contrition
and the purpose of amendment. However, there is no
real distinction between the two except the
element of past and future. If one is sorry for his sins,
he determines automatically not to sin
again. Any time that a person living in adultery
is really sorry for his sins, he automatically leaves his sinful way of life. A person who is in bad company is not merely sorry
for his sinful life-style, but he determines
to give up one and all of his evil companions.
Intention to Confess
Once one knows the divine law of confession,
he must also determine to confess all the mortal sins he has committed after baptism. To say that one is sorry
without that intention to confess the sins,
when one has a chance to do so, is a false Act of Contrition. One must determine to obey all God's
commandments, and one of
those commandments is that one must confess
all mortal sins committed
after baptism to a duly authorized priest.
If there is no priest to be had, then God
accepts the will for the deed.
He will not accept
the will for the deed if
there is a duly authorized priest available. Remember the Act
of Perfect Contrition always takes away all sins
immediately.
Fulfill the Obligations
For the Act of Contrition to be
complete, one must fulfill all the obligations that follow from ones sins.
A thief must return that which he has stolen.
Likewise, a person who has taken away the good name
of another must do what he can to give that good name
back again.
The Merciful Hands of God
When one has done all that he can in regard to the Act of
Perfect Contrition, he still does not have an infallible
assurance that he has sanctifying grace.
However, he can and should have moral certitude that he is in the state of sanctifying grace. He should
rest his case in the merciful hands of God.
An Act of the Will
Very briefly, we will say it this way. When we make the Act
of Perfect Contrition, we should pay very close attention to every
word in the form, and we are to make the acts that
are required by the form. Never
say, I pray the Act
of Contrition. Do say, I make
the Act of Contrition. When persons
get married, they do not merely say a formula, but they make
an act of the will to join themselves in matrimony.
When a person makes vows in religion, he does not
merely recite a formula, but he makes an act of the will (expressed in words) to
embrace the religious life. In like manner,
the Act of Contrition is an act by
which one is sorry for past sins, and that sorrow
extends into the future so that it also
requires the purpose of amendment never
to commit those sins
or any sins, for that matter, in the
future.
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