Wednesday, August 22, 2012
300. What is interior penance?
(Comp 300) It is the movement of a
“contrite heart” (Psalm 51:19) drawn by divine grace to respond to the merciful
love of God. This entails sorrow for and abhorrence of sins committed, a firm
purpose not to sin again in the future and trust in the help of God. It is
nourished by hope in divine mercy.
“In
brief”
(CCC 1490)
The movement of return to God, called conversion and repentance, entails sorrow
for and abhorrence of sins committed, and the firm purpose of sinning no more
in the future. Conversion touches the past and the future and is nourished by
hope in God's mercy.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 1430)
Jesus' call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him,
does not aim first at outward works, "sackcloth and ashes," fasting
and mortification, but at the conversion
of the heart, interior conversion. Without this, such penances remain
sterile and false; however, interior conversion urges expression in visible
signs, gestures and works of penance (Cf. Joel 2:12-13; Isa 1:16-17; Mt 6:1-6;
16-18). (CCC 1431) Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole
life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a
turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have
committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change
one's life, with hope in God's mercy and trust in the help of his grace. This
conversion of heart is accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness which the
Fathers called animi cruciatus
(affliction of spirit) and compunctio
cordis (repentance of heart) (Cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1676-1678;
1705; cf. Roman Catechism, II, V, 4).
On
reflection
(CCC 1432)
The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give man a new heart (Cf. Ezek
36:26-27). Conversion is first of all a work of the grace of God who makes our
hearts return to him: "Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that we may be
restored!" (Lam 5:21). God gives us the strength to begin anew. It is in
discovering the greatness of God's love that our heart is shaken by the horror
and weight of sin and begins to fear offending God by sin and being separated
from him. The human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have
pierced (Cf. Jn 19:37; Zech 12:10): Let us fix our eyes on Christ's blood and
understand how precious it is to his Father, for, poured out for our salvation,
it has brought to the whole world the grace of repentance (St. Clement of Rome,
Ad Cor. 7, 4: PG 1, 224). (CCC 1433)
Since Easter, the Holy Spirit has proved "the world wrong about sin"
(Cf. Jn 16:8-9) i.e., proved that the world has not believed in him whom the
Father has sent. But this same Spirit who brings sin to light is also the
Consoler who gives the human heart grace for repentance and conversion (Cf. Jn
15:26; Acts 2:36-38; John Paul II, DeV
27-48).
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