Transcript

One of the most famous parts of the sacramental life of the Christian is the penances that are given during confession, or the Sacrament of Penance.

For example, the recitation of prayers like the Our Father or the Hail Mary.

Why does a priest give a penance for the sins confessed?

Must the penitent perform the assigned penances in order to be truly forgiven for the confessed sins?

What happens if we forget to do the penance, or even actively disregard the penance?

Are we still forgiven?

We will answer these questions in this video, in which we consider the nature of penance or satisfaction .

We recall that the Sacrament of Penance, or confession, provides a remedy for sins committed after baptism.

While baptism is a kind of spiritual rebirth in Christ, and a kind of spiritual death to a previous life, the Sacrament of Penance has its power from Christ's passion, as a spiritual medicine.

As we can only be born naturally one time, so we are only reborn in Christ once through baptism.

Moreover, as medicine for an ailment can be repeated with regularity, so we can, and indeed should, regularly receive the spiritual medicine of confession.

In order to understand the role of penance and satisfaction in the Sacrament of Penance, we have to distinguish the two different kinds of evil that human persons can fall victim to.

We remember that evil is a privation of a due good, and evil is the absence of a good in something where goodness should be present.

In the case of human persons who act voluntarily, freely, we recall the important distinction between two types of evil, the evil of fault or guilt, in Latin, culpa, and the evil of punishment, or the pain due to sin.

In Latin, poena.

The evil of fault is voluntary.

It is the stain of sin that attends deliberately chosen actions of a disordered kind.

The evil of punishment or pain, on the other hand, is involuntary, the unhappy consequences that follow upon our sin, upon the evil of fault.

In a word, the evil of fault is what we do.

The evil of punishment is what we suffer because of the evil that we do.

In the case of mortal sin, both kinds of evil are present.

An act of mortal sin comprises two things.

One, a turning from the immutable, unchanging good which is God.

And two, an inordinate turning to a mutable, contingent good.

For example, to money, power or physical pleasure.

In confession, the penitent's voluntary evil of fault, their guilt is absolved.

The penitent is no longer turned away from God.

They are restored to a state of grace, to divine friendship with God.

Nonetheless, a disordered attachment to a created good can remain in the soul of the penitent, even after they have received absolution.

This lingering disordered attachment to a created good is a temporal punishment.

God effects the removal of this lingering disordered attachment to a created good through penance, satisfaction.

Saint Thomas Aquinas identifies two moments in the justification of a sinner.

First, divine grace removes the debt of eternal punishment.

Second, divine grace empowers satisfaction, penance, that alleviates the temporal punishment that sin incurs.

This means that penance heals, reorders our disordered attachments to created goods.

Aquinas also notes that our Lord Himself highlights the importance of penance in the Christian life.

This is seen in the Gospels themselves.

Jesus admonishes people not only to repent, but also to do penance.

Our Lord forgives our guilt in confession, but our Lord works in and through our penitential actions to liberate us from disordered attachments that linger in us, even after our guilt has been forgiven.

The power of Christ's passion works through the absolution of the priest, together with the action of the penitent who cooperates with grace for the destruction of sin.

Thus, acts of penance, acts that make satisfaction are the ordinary way through which repentant sinners cooperate with the sacramental grace of penance.

This explains why the priest gives a penance in confession.

The penance marks a significant moment in the life of the penitent.

The penance given begins a sanctifying process that is meant to continue throughout the penitent's entire life.

Because of their restored conformity to Christ, to the saving reality of divine truth and love, all parts of the penitent's life are penitential insofar as all of his or her actions are ordered to deeper union with Jesus, and to the diminution of his or her disordered attachments to created goods.

What happens if we deliberately disregard the penance that we have received in confession?

In this case, it is highly doubtful that we made a good and sincere confession.

All valid confessions require a sincere desire for union with God, the forgiveness of sins and the reordering of one's life to God, and away from disordered attachments.

The adamant refusal to perform any penance would seem to indicate that we are not yet intent on living a completely God-ordered life.

In such a case, the penitent should spend time reflecting on the infinite goodness and mercy of God, and go to confession again, this time with the desire to order one's life completely to our loving Lord, and consequently with a desire to fulfill the assigned penance.

What happens, however, if we accidentally forget the penance assigned in confession?

Are our sins still forgiven?

Is our guilt still remitted?

Absolutely.

If we genuinely forget to fulfill our penance, usually a series of prayers, for example, three Our Fathers or five Hail Marys, our sins have still been forgiven.

Moreover, because of the grace we receive in confession, the whole of our life is now ordered towards God, and consequently to the reduction of our attachment to created goods.

Whatever good that we do, and whatever evil or suffering that we endure now serves as a remedy for the effects of sin and an increase of grace.

In sum, we are not forgiven because we do penance.

Rather, we do penance because we have been forgiven.

For readings, podcasts and more videos like this, go to Aquinas101.com.

While you're there, be sure to sign up for one of our free video courses on Aquinas.

And don't forget to subscribe, like and share with your friends, because it matters what you think .