Choose a topic from Part 3 Suppl:
1. Contrition is the greatest sorrow, for it is based onthe greatest charity, that is, the soul's supernatural love andfriendship with God. Sin is the greatest of evils; the sorrow whichcrushes it out of the soul is the greatest sorrow. Contrition is,indeed, not felt as the keenest sorrow in the sensitive part of aman, but as an act of the penitent's will it is the deepestsorrow of all.
2. In the sentient order, grief for sin may be excessive.It is not right or reasonable to become emotionally distrait, evenover sin. True contrition is in the will; here, it cannot be toogreat. But its sentient reaction must be regulated by reason, sothat the sinner retains calmness and patience.
3. Sins have degrees of evil in them; one is worse thananother. Therefore sorrow for one sin may, and sometimes should, begreater than sorrow for another.
"Spiritual persons ought to be equally ready to experience sweetness and consolation in the things of God, or to suffer and keep their ground in drynesses of spirit and devotion, and for as long as God pleases, without their making any complaint about it."
St Philip Neri
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"It is well to choose some one good devotion, and to stick to it, and never to abandon it."
St Philip Neri
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"He who wishes to be perfectly obeyed, should give but few orders."
St Philip Neri
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