Page:Catechismoftrent.djvu/191

 of performing whatever is necessary to the proper reception of the Sacrament, it thus, at length, prepares us for the remission of sin." From this definition, therefore, the faithful will perceive that contrition does not simply consist in ceasing to sin, purposing to enter, or having actually entered, on a new life: it supposes, first of all, a hatred of sin, and a desire of atoning for past transgressions. This, the cries of the holy Fathers of antiquity, which are poured out in the pages of inspiration, sufficiently prove: "I have laboured in my groaning;" says David, "every night I will wash my bed;" and again, " The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping." " I will recount to thee all my years," says the prophet Isaias, "in the bitterness of my soul." These and many other expressions of the same import, were called forth by an intense hatred and a lively detestation of past transgressions.

But, although contrition is defined "a sorrow," the faithful are not thence to conclude, that this sorrow consists in sensible feeling: contrition is an act of the will, and as St. Augustine observes, sorrow is not penance, but the accompaniment of penance. By " sorrow " the Fathers of Trent understood a hatred and detestation of sin; because, in this sense, the Sa cred Scriptures frequently make use of the word: "How long," says David, " shall I take counsels in my soul, sorrow in my heart all the day?" and also because from contrition arises sorrow in the inferior part of the soul, which, in the language of the schools, is called the seat of concupiscence. With propriety, therefore, is contrition defined a " sorrow," because it produces sorrow, a sorrow so intense that in other days, peni tents, to express its intensity, changed their garments, a practice to which our Lord alludes when he says; " Wo to thee, Corozain; wo to thee, Bethsaida: for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in thee, they had done penance, long since, in sackcloth and ashes." To signify the intensity of this sorrow, the " detestation of sin," of which we speak, is properly expressed by the word " contrition," a word which, literally understood, means the breaking into small parts by means of some harder substance, and which is here used metaphorically, to signify that our hearts, hardened by pride, are subdued and reduced by penance. Hence no other sorrow, not even that which is felt for the death of parents, or children, or for any other visitation however calamitous, 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 own innocence. It is, however, often designated by other names: sometimes it is called " contrition of heart," because the word "heart" is frequently used in Scripture to express the will, for as the heart is the principle, which originates the motion of the human system; so, the will