A: As you know, our contrition must be universal, that is, we must be sorry for all our mortal sins without exception. This, of course, does not mean that we must make a special act of contrition for every single sin that we have committed. We should recall our sins as best we can and then make an act of contrition that includes them all. This will also include those that we may have forgotten. It is sufficient if our act of contrition arises from a general motive, such as the fear of hell, the loss of heaven, or from love of God. Therefore, when we say, “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 are 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”, our contrition is sufficient.
Contrition is more than regret or sadness about sin. People often regret what they remain willing to do, but one repents only what one wishes one had not done and wills never to do again; people often are sad about what they could not help and others’ sins, but one repents only sins for which one is responsible. Contrition is more than uttering the words of an act of contrition; a person can be contrite without using a formula, and if a formula is used, one must mean what it says. Normally, people with contrite hearts not only give outward expression to repentance, but feel shame and sorrow for their sins, and experience anxiety about their relationship with God.
Q: Suppose you go to confession and confess a mortal sin that you have committed, knowing that you will soon be committing that same sin again and again. Does that make your confession bad?
A: How do you know that you will commit the same sin again? If you are quite positive, then you are already planning to commit the sin again and your professions of sorrow and purpose of amendment are a mockery of the sacrament. But that is not what you mean. You wish to say that, because of former sa experience with your strong passions or an enslaving habit, you are apprehensive that you will fall back into your former sins. But this apprehension need not interfere with your firm purpose of
amending the behavior. Your purpose of amendment is sufficiently firm when you are sincerely determined to avoid sin in the future, your frequent lapses notwithstanding. You will never be able to foresee with certainty whether you will really carry out your resolution or not, since you cannot tell the future. The principal point is that you have at least the honest intention to do your best to avoid sin in the future. Accordingly, if the priest would ask the penitent about his purpose of amendment and the latter would honestly answer, “I am weak, I’m afraid I’ll fall again, but I don’t want to now,” that penitent would have a true purpose of amendment.
We must remember that powerful passions and strong and habitual inclinations to sin are not, properly speaking, sins. Like temptations, they are an incentive to sin and must be manfully and prayerfully resisted when they urge to sin.