Page:Catechismoftrent.djvu/193

 will be found by thee, saith the Lord." If, however, our contrition be not perfect, it may, nevertheless, be true and efficacious; for as things which fall under the senses frequently touch the heart more sensibly than things purely spiritual, it will sometimes happen that persons feel more intense sorrow for the death of their children, than for the grievousness of their sins. Our contrition may also be true and efficacious, although unaccompanied with tears. That sorrow for his sins bathe the offendler in tears, is, however, much to be desired and commended. On this subject the words of St. Augustine are admirable: " The spirit of Christian charity," says he, " lives not within you, if you lament the body from which the soul has departed, but lament not the soul from which God has departed." To the same effect are the words of the Redeemer above cited: " 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 long since done penance, in sack cloth and ashes." Of this, however, we have abundant illustration in the well known examples of the Ninevites, of David, of the woman caught in adultery, and of the Prince of the Apostles, all of whom obtained the pardon of their sins, imploring the mercy of God with abundance of tears.

The faithful are most earnestly to be exhorted to study to direct their contrition specially to each mortal sin into which they may have had the misfortune to fall: " I will recount to thee," says Isaias, " all my years in the bitterness of my soul:" as if he had said, " I will count over all my sins severally, that my heart may be pierced with sorrow for them all." In Ezekiel, also, we read: " If the wicked do penance for all his sins, he shall live." In this spirit, St. Augustine says: " Let the sinner consider the quality of his sins, as affected by time, place, variety, person." In the work of conversion, however, the sinner should not despair of the infinite goodness and mercy of God: he is most desirous of our salvation; and, therefore, refuses not to pardon, but embraces, with a father's fondness, the prodigal child, the moment he returns to a sense of his duty, and is converted to the Lord, detesting his sins, which he will afterwards, if possible, recall, severally, to his recollection, and abhor from his inmost soul. The Almighty himself, by the mouth of his prophet, commands us to hope, when he says: " The wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness."

To convey a knowledge of the most important qualities of true contrition, what has been said will be found sufficiently comprehensive. In these the faithful are to be accurately instructed, that each may know the means of attaining, and may have a fixed standard by which to determine how far he may be