Choose a topic from Part 3 Suppl:
1. Contrition is sorrow for sin. It is not grief by reasonof punishment due to sin, but grief for the sinitself which deserves punishment.
2. Contrition is sorrow in the will for what the will hasdone amiss. Hence, contrition does not include in its scope theoriginal sin which the sinner has not committed by bad use of will,but has inherited by infected nature.
3. Contrition is a word which means a crushing ofwhat is hard and evil out of the will. Every actual sin is a kindof hardness in the will, and this must be crushed out. Hence, wehave need of contrition for every actual sin.
4. Contrition as a part of the virtue of penancelooks to the past. A person must have contrition for the sins hehas already committed, for it is these that have caused thehardness in his will which contrition crushes out. Contrition assuch does not refer to future sins, yet it disposes a person towatchfulness against them. Contrition belongs to the virtue ofpenance; caution with regard to future sins belongs to the virtueof prudence as conjoined with penance.
5. We cannot have contrition for the sins of others, butonly for our own sins. We should, indeed, grieve for the sins ofothers, but this grief is not contrition.
6. A person must have contrition for each mortal sin hehas committed; he must confess each one and therefore he must havecontrition for each one.
"God gives us some things, as the beginning of faith, even when we do not pray. Other things, such as perseverance, he has only provided for those who pray."
St Augustine
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"A person who rails at God in adversity, suffers without merit; moreover by his lack of resignation he adds to his punishment in the next life and experiences greater disquietude of mind in this life."
St Alphonsus de Liguori
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"Let persons in the world sanctify themselves in their own houses, for neither the court, professions, or labour, are any hindrance to the service of God."
St Philip Neri
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