Christopher Wend: Good evening, Your Excellency.
His Excellency: Good evening.
Christopher Wendt: We have a broadcast this evening, it will be on the Sacrament of Penance, and it is going to be one of many parts, because we want to treat it well.
Christopher Wendt: Your Excellency, could you start us off with a prayer?
His Excellency: Yes. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Christopher Wendt: Thank you, Your Excellency. Before we get started, just a few announcements.
One, I highly recommend that you get a copy of Credo. It is the most recent book by His Excellency. It is a compendium of all that we believe, a traditional catechism, and it really addresses all the truths of the faith. You can order it on Amazon, or you can reach out to us at livefatima.io, and we will help you get a copy.
Also, I invite you to partake in the Crusade in 2024. We just celebrated the First Saturday, but we have twelve First Saturdays throughout the year. I encourage you to continue making your First Saturday devotions, even if you have already. Some people ask, “Why are you telling me to make the First Saturday if I have already done it?” Well, Sister Lucia herself made the First Saturday every single month for the rest of her life. It is simply a good practice.
We really want to do it in a special way, with the intention of praying that God will intervene in history and give us holy popes. We are also asking everyone in this crusade to pray the daily Rosary with the intention that God will give us a holy pope.
Our next broadcast, in March, will return to a Q and A session, and we will address all the questions that you have. And without further ado, I give you His Excellency for the first in our series on the Sacrament of Penance, or Holy Confession.
His Excellency: We will speak now at this conference about the Sacrament of Penance, or Confession, as the Council of Trent declares it, for those who fall into sin after Baptism.
The Sacrament of Penance is as necessary to salvation as Baptism is for those who have not yet been baptized. This is the saying of Tertullian. That Penance is a second plank is universally known and highly commended by all subsequent writers on sacred theology. As he who suffers shipwreck has no hope of safety unless, by chance, he sees some plank from the wreck, so he who suffers the shipwreck of baptismal innocence, unless he clings to the saving plank of Penance, has doubtless lost all hope of salvation.
There are different meanings of the word “penance.” It has a variety of meanings. In the first place, it is said of those to whom that which was before pleasing is now displeasing, whether the object itself was good or bad. In this sense, all those who repent whose sorrow is according to the world and not according to God, and therefore it does not work for salvation.
In the second place, the word “penance” is used to express that sorrow which the sinner conceives, not for the sake of God, but for his own sake, concerning sin in which he once took pleasure. A third kind of penance is that by which we experience interior sorrow of heart or give exterior indication of such sorrow for the sake of God alone.
To all these kinds of sorrow, the word “repentance” properly applies. But an important distinction must be made between these different significations of the word. The first kind of penance must be considered faulty. It is when that which was before pleasing is now displeasing, whether the object itself was good or bad. In this sense, we cannot accept this as true penance. The second meaning is only the agitation of a disturbed mind. We express sorrow not for the sake of God, but for our own sake. The third meaning of penance we call both a virtue and a sacrament. It is the means by which we experience the interior sorrow of the heart or give exterior indications of such sorrow for the sake of God alone. In this sense, penance is taken here.
Let us look at the virtue of penance. Interior penance, or repentance, consists in turning to God sincerely and from the heart, and in hating and detesting our past transgressions with a firm resolution of amendment of life, hoping to obtain pardon through the mercy of God.
Accompanying this penance, like an inseparable companion of the destruction of sin, is sorrow and sadness. Hence, many of the Fathers of the Church defined penance as an anguish of the soul.
Penance, however, in those who repent, must be preceded by faith, for without faith no man can turn to God. Thus, in this sense, penance is a virtue.
Some give themselves to such melancholy and grief as utterly to abandon all hope for salvation. Such perhaps was the condition of Cain when he exclaimed, “My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon.” Such certainly was the condition of Judas, who, repenting, hanged himself and thus lost both soul and body.
In Cain and Judas, there was no virtue of penance or repentance. Penance, therefore, considered as a virtue, assists us in restraining within the bounds of moderation our sense of sorrow and gives us hope.
That penance is a virtue may also be inferred from the ends which the true penitent proposes to himself. The first is to destroy sin, and to erase from the soul every spot of it. The second is to make satisfaction to God for the sins he has committed, which is already an act of justice.
Between God and man, it is true that no relation of strict justice can exist, so great is the distance that separates them. Yet, between them, there is evidently a sort of justice, such as exists between a father and his children, or between a master and his servants. The certain end of the penitent is to reinstate himself in the friendship of God, whom he has offended by the turpitude of sin.
Let us now look at the steps which lead up to this virtue of penance, and must also point out these steps. First, the mercy of God goes before us and converts our hearts to Him. This was the object of the prophet’s prayer: “Convert us, O Lord, to Thee, and we shall be converted.” The soul is next turned to God by faith. The second step is a salutary fear of God’s judgments. A soul, contemplating the punishments that await sin, is recalled from the path of vice. The third step is the hope of obtaining mercy from God, and the courage with which we resolve to improve our lives. The fourth step is that our hearts are inflamed by charity, from which springs filial fear the good and beautiful fear children experience towards their father. Thus, we are led only to avoid offending the majesty of God in anything, and to totally abandon the vice of sin.
Penance is a sacrament. Why did Christ institute this sacrament? One of His reasons certainly was to leave us no room for doubt regarding the remission of sins, which was promised by God.
For each one has good reason to distrust the accuracy of his own judgment on his actions. Hence, we could not but be very much in doubt regarding the truth of our internal penance. It was to destroy this uneasiness that our Lord instituted the Sacrament of Penance, by means of which we are assured that our sins are pardoned through the absolution, the sacramental absolution of the priest, and also to clarify our conscience through the trust we rightly place in the virtue of this sacrament.
The words of the priest sacramentally and lawfully absolving us from our sins are to be accepted in the same sense as the words of Christ our Lord when He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good heart, thy sins are forgiven thee.”
In the second place, no one can obtain salvation except through Christ and the merits of His Passion. Hence, it was fitting in itself, and highly advantageous to us, that a sacrament should be instituted through whose force and efficacy the blood of Christ flows into our souls, washes away all the sins committed after baptism, and thus leads us to recognize that it is to our Savior alone that we owe all the blessings of reconciliation.
What is externally done, both by the priest and the penitent, signifies the inward effects that take place in the soul. A sacrament is a sign of a sacred thing. The sinner who repents plainly expresses, by his words and actions, that he has turned his heart from sin. From the words and actions of the priest, we easily recognize the mercy of God exercised in the remission of sins.
The sacrament may be repeated. When Peter asked whether pardon could be given for sin seven times, our Lord replied, “I say not to thee, till seven times, but till seventy times seven.”
Let us now look at the components of this sacrament. First, the matter of Penance differs from that of the other sacraments in that, while the matter of the other sacraments is something external, whether natural or artificial, the matter, as it were, of the Sacrament of Penance consists of the acts of the penitent: namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction. As these acts are, by divine institution, required on the part of the penitent for the integrity of the sacrament and for the full and perfect remission of sin, they are called parts of the Sacrament of Penance.
It is not because they are not the real matter that they are called by the Council the “matter, as it were.” Rather, it is because they do not have that sort of matter that is applied externally, such as water in Baptism or Chrism oil in Confirmation.
As regards the opinion of some theologians who hold that the acts themselves are the measure of this sacrament, it will be found, when carefully examined, that it does not really differ from the explanation we give in the Catechism of the Council of Trent: namely, that the “matter, as it were,” consists in the acts of the penitent contrition, confession, and satisfaction.
Thus, we can say that that which is consumed by fire is the matter of fire. In the same way, since sins are destroyed, the penitent’s acts may be properly called the matter of penance.
Now, let us look at the form. The form is “I absolve you,” as may be inferred from the words of our Lord: “Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and those sins you shall retain, they are retained.”
Moreover, since the sacrament signifies what it affects, the words “I absolve you” signify that the remission of sin is effected by the administration of this sacrament. Hence, it is plain that such is the perfect form of the sacrament. For, as the word “absolve” refers to the chains by which the soul is bound and from which it is freed by the Sacrament of Penance, the form of absolution is the act by which the soul is liberated from the burden of sin.
In the case of the penitent, who through perfect contrition, accompanied by the desire for confession, has already obtained remission of his sins from God through the act of perfect contrition, the priest, in pronouncing the words of absolution, confirms and completes what God has already begun in the penitent’s heart.
How thankful, then, should the sinner be to God for having bestowed such ample power on the priests of His Church! Unlike the priests of the Old Law, who merely declared the leper cleansed from his leprosy, the power now given to the priests of the New Law is not limited to declaring the sinner absolved from his sins. This is not what the Protestants and Luther taught; rather, as ministers of God, the priests truly absolve from sin. This is an effect of which God Himself, the author and source of grace and justice, is the principal cause.
The rites observed in the Sacrament of Penance are profound. The sinner who repents casts himself humbly and sorrowfully at the feet of the priest. He physically humbles himself so that, by this act, he may be led to see that he must tear up the roots of pride, from which spring and flourish all the sins he now deplores. In the priest, who is his legitimate judge, he venerates the person and the power of Christ Himself, our Lord. For in the administration of the Sacrament of Penance, as in that of other sacraments, the priest holds the place of Christ, and Christ is the principal Minister.
As the penitent enumerates his sins, acknowledging at the same time that he deserves the greatest and most severe justice, he asks for pardon for his faults.
Let us look at the effects of the Sacrament of Penance. First of all, the great efficacy of penance consists in this: it restores us to the grace of God and unites us to Him in the closest friendship. There is no sin, however great or horrible, which cannot be erased by the Sacrament of Penance, and this is not merely once, but over and over again.
On this point, God Himself speaks through the Prophet: “If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he has committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment and justice, he shall live and shall not die. And I will not remember all his iniquities that he has done.”
St. John the Apostle says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” And a little later, he adds, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, for He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ourselves, but for the sins of the whole world.”
When we find in Sacred Scripture and in the writings of the Fathers of the Church passages that seem to assert that certain sins are irredeemable, we must understand that these texts refer to the difficulty of obtaining pardon for these sins. Just as a disease may be called incurable because the patient is not disposed to accept the medicine that could offer relief, in the same way, certain sins are not remitted because the sinner rejects the grace of God, the only medicine for salvation.
There are three integral parts of penance, as we have already mentioned: contrition, confession, and satisfaction. On this, St. John Chrysostom speaks: “Penance enables the sinner to bear all willingly in his heart. This is contrition. On his lips is the confession; in his actions, entire humility and solitary satisfaction.” These three parts are necessary to constitute the whole. Penance is composed of these parts in such a way that, though contrition and confession, which justify men, are alone required to constitute its essence, unless accompanied by its third part, satisfaction, it remains short of its absolute perfection.
These three parts are so intimately connected that contrition includes the intention and resolution of confessing and doing satisfaction. Likewise, contrition and the resolution of doing satisfaction imply the necessity of confession. Confession, then, must precede satisfaction.
Let us now look at the first part: contrition. The Council of Trent defines it as “a sorrow for sin committed, with a purpose of sinning no more, joined with a confidence in the mercy of God and an earnest desire of performing whatever is necessary for the proper reception of the sacrament.” This, then, prepares us for the remission of sin.
Contrition is a detestation of sin. From this definition, therefore, the faithful will perceive that the efficacy of contrition does not simply consist in ceasing to sin, or in resolving to begin, or having actually begun a new life, it supposes, first of all, a hatred of one’s ill-spent life and a desire of atoning for past transgressions. Contrition produces sorrow. But although contrition is defined as sorrow, this sorrow does not consist in sensible feelings, for contrition is an act of the will. As St. Augustine observes, grief or feeling is not penance, but the accompaniment of penance.
By sorrow, the Fathers of the Church understood a hatred, a detestation of sin. With propriety, therefore, contrition is defined as sorrow because it produces sorrow. Hence, penitence, in order to express it, was used in the past to change garments. Our Lord alludes to this custom when He says, “Woe to thee, Chorazin! Woe to thee, Bethsaida! For if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they would have long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes.”
So there are names given to signify the intensity of the sorrow. The name contrition has rightly been given to the detestation of sin. The word means “contrition,” the breaking of an object into small parts by means of a stone or a hardened substance. Here, it is used metaphorically to signify that our hearts, hardened by pride, are beaten and broken by penance.
Hence, no other sorrow, not even that which is felt for the death of parents, children, or other calamities, is called contrition. The word is exclusively employed to express the sorrow with which we are overwhelmed by the forfeiture of the grace of God and of our innocence. Contrition, however, is often designated by other names. Sometimes it is called “contrition of heart” because the word “heart” is frequently used in Scripture to express development.
By the Fathers of the Church, it is also called “compunction of heart,” and hence they prefer to entitle works on contrition with the title “Treatise on Compunction of Heart.” For just as authors are lanced with a knife to allow the escape of poisonous matter accumulated within, so the heart, as it were, is pierced with the lance of contrition to enable it to release the deadly poison of sin.
Now, the qualities of contrition should be supreme. The sorrow for sins committed should be so profound and supreme that no greater sorrow could be thought of. This will easily appear from the considerations that follow.
Perfect contrition is said to be an act of charity emanating from what is called “fear.” Hence, it is clear that a measure of contrition and charity should be the same. Since, therefore, the charity which we cherish towards God is the most perfect love, it follows that contrition should be the keenest sorrow of the soul. God is to be loved above all things, and whatever separates us from God is therefore to be hated above all things. It is also worth noting that to charity and contrition, the language of Scripture assigns the same extent. Charity says, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart,” and of contrition, the Lord says, “Be converted with your whole heart.” Secondly, it is true that of all objects which deserve our love, God is the supreme good, and it is not less true that of all objects which deserve our execration, sin is the supreme evil.
The same reason, then, which prompts us to confess that God is to be loved above all things obliges us also, of necessity, to acknowledge that sin is to be hated above all things. St. Augustine said, “The spirit of Christian charity lifts not within you if you lament the body from which the soul has departed, but lament not the soul from which God has departed through sin.”
To the same effect are the words of the Redeemer. And He said, “If in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they would have long since done penance.” To establish these truths, it will be sufficient to recall the well-known examples of the Ninevites, David, the woman who was a sinner, and the apostle Peter, all of whom obtained the pardon of their sins and praised the mercy of God with abundant tears and sincere repentance.
Then, in the latter scope, the conditions required for contrition are basically the detestation of sin. We must, in the first place, detest and deplore all our sins. If our sorrow extends only to some sins, our repentance is not solid. “Whosoever shall keep the whole law,” says James the Apostle, “and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” Therefore, we must have the intention of confession and the end of satisfaction with a purpose of amendment. This the Prophet clearly teaches in the following words: “If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he has committed, and keep all my commandments, and do justice, he shall not die.”
When the wicked man turns himself away from the wickedness he has wrought, and practices judgment and justice, he shall save his soul. So, too, to the woman taken in adultery, our Lord commanded the same thing: “Go thy way and sin no more,” and also to the lame man whom He healed at the pool of Bethesda: “Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more.”
Let us now look at the reasons for these conditions.
He who wishes to be reconciled to a friend whom he has wronged must regret having injured him and must seek to restore his friendship. His future conduct must also be such as to avoid offending in any way against that friendship. If, therefore, the penitent has taken something wrongfully from his neighbor, he is bound to make restitution. Likewise, if he has injured his neighbor’s honor or reputation by word or deed, he has the obligation to repair the injury by procuring him some advantage or rendering him some service.
It is also important to forgive injuries. Our Lord and Savior admonishes us when He declares, “If you will forgive men their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offenses. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your offenses.”
Let us now look at the last point, the effect of contrition. As soon as we conceive contrition in our hearts, our sins are forgiven by God, based on our desire to receive the Sacrament of Penance. We have a figure of this in the ten lepers who, when sent by our Lord to the priests, were cured of their leprosy before they had even reached the priests. This gives us to understand that such is the efficacy of true contrition and compunction of heart, that through it we obtain from the Lord the immediate pardon of all sins.
The Christian must have a supreme hatred of sin, both because its turpitude and baseness are very great, and because it brings grievous losses and misfortunes. Sin deprives us of the friendship of God, to whom we are indebted for so many invaluable blessings, and from whom we might have expected and received gifts of even higher value. And along with this, it consigns us to eternal death and torment, an ending and most severe, if we do not repent and remain in our sins. But the penitent, the risk of penance, and especially the compunction of heart or contrition, open us the gates of heaven.
Thank you.
Christopher Wendt: I just have a couple of questions. So if we have time. One question is, if I heard you correctly, you’re saying that if we have perfect contrition prior to going to sacramental penance, sacramental confession, that our sins are forgiven, and then we go, and it’s formalized in the confessional, is that right? Is that a proper understanding?
His Excellency: This is the teaching of the church, and this was the teaching of the Catechism of the Council of Trent. And the example is the lepers, the 10 lepers who were cured before they came to the priests already because they, they had the desire to go there, as it is in a similar to the baptism of desire, when you have when you are not baptized, but you have a desire to receive baptism and you are and you die. The Church calls this the baptism of desire, and this person is saved. So you have to have the intention to go to confession, right? And repeat perfect contrition. So this perfect contrition of love for God. Not simply the imperfect contrition is not sufficient.
Christopher Wendt: Okay, that’s great. It’s very beautiful. And a couple of other things. It seems like confession or the sacrament and the observance of it are still waxing on in much of the church. What can a priest do in his parish to really encourage his lay faithful to rediscover the beauty and the mercy of God and the Sacrament of Penance?
His Excellency: First, he should do some homilies and sermons on Sundays in the mass, about the greatness and the richness and the usefulness of the sacrament simply is, is this examples also from saints or other people, whole, whole received so many blessings, through the sacrament, and then also to offer generously to the parishioners time, in the confessional, he should increase and better to abandon some administrative work or time in internet and to sit in the confessional even when he sits alone there, and no one will come. The light, the red lamp, is burning there. And it’s an indication that there is hope, there is someone who someone who’s waiting for the sinner, like the father in the parable of the last son, prodigal son. Of course, the priests can sit in the confessional and pray his breviary and rosary is not enough. Even when there is no one or two people, but simply the people know now there is someone in the church, and then all the time, you shouldn’t be announced, there is always some appraised available. This is so important. This is after Holy Mass, it is the second important task of the priest to administer the sacrament of pardon and of mercy of God.
Christopher Wendt: Thank you, one more question before we go, how can the lay faithful really grow in the practice of confession and really, the walk down the path, and really like, avail themselves of everything that Jesus wants to give us in the Sacrament of Penance.
His Excellency: It is very salutary for the people to confess frequently, because when we confess not frequently, in some way, our sensibility of conscience is not so much developed. And a frequent confession helps us to keep our conscience more delicate. And, therefore, a delicate conscience. It’s got nothing to do with scrupulosity. It is simply a confession of love and attention to God to improve our personal relationship with the Lord of love. And this is the inner relationship with the Lord. This is the basis of all the foundations of our life.
Christopher Wendt: You recommend any examination of conscience besides the 10 commandments, and the commandments of the church, to like, like people, that let’s say that for the people that go regularly to some of our members, the members of the Confraternity go once a month? Maybe if they keep using the same examination that they have, like we offer one on the website, from Father Ripperger, I think it is, or something like that. It’s very like it goes through the 10 commandments and it goes through the commandments of the church, is there any other way to kind of like, come at this from a different angle through really like the breakout of like a habit of way of analyzing the consciousness and kind of go deeper to find faults that we may have been kind of planted blinded to?
His Excellency: Well, there are several in good books in prayer books, several I don’t know, my heart is many authors, but you can find in good books extensive examples, and a sample question to help you to examine your conscience. So I think it is helpful, and then also to sincerely pray to your directorial guardian angel. That he may remind you of a call, what you may have forgotten to pray to the Holy Spirit. And he will give you. He will remind you what we have to confess also, so to pray, but both to have which concrete text of examination and also personally invoke the Holy Spirit, your guardian angel.
Christopher Wendt: I think that’s great advice, to seek the grace of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, and to pray to your guardian angel to help in light you and Our Lady to light you have what you need to confess. Your Excellency, thank you for your time. Let’s close with the prayer that our Lord will give us a holy Popes.
His Excellency: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Kyrie Eleison! Christe Eleison! Kyrie Eleison! Lord Jesus Christ,
You are the Good Shepherd! With Your almighty hand, You guide Your pilgrim Church through the storms of each age.
Adorn the Holy See with holy popes who neither fear the powerful of this world nor compromise with the spirit of the age, but preserve, strengthen, and defend the Catholic Faith unto the shedding of their blood, and observe, protect, and hand on the venerable liturgy of the Roman Church.
O Lord, return to us through holy popes who, inflamed with the zeal of the Apostles, proclaim to the whole world: “Salvation is found in no other than in Jesus Christ. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which they should be saved” (see Acts 4:10-12).
Through an era of holy popes, may the Holy See, which is home to all who promote the Catholic and Apostolic Faith, always shine as the cathedra of truth for the whole world. Hear us, O Lord, and through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of the Church, grant us holy Popes, grant us many holy Popes! Have mercy on us and hear us! Amen.
Dominus vobiscum.
Christopher Wendt: Et cum spiritu tuo.
His Excellency: Et benedictio Dei Omnipotentis: Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, descendat super vos et maneat semper. Amen.
Praise be our Lord Jesus Christ!
Christopher Wendt: Now and forever!
If you listen to a broadcast of the first of a series on the Sacrament of Penance or Holy Confession. We’ll have many more in the year to come. Our next broadcast in March will be a Q&A session. So you can start to send your questions in, and until next time, God bless all of you!
