Do you know the Act of Contrition by heart? It used to be one of the pillars of daily prayer, right up there with the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be to the Father.

 

There are several versions of it, but all fairly similar. It used to be memorized in catechism class, especially because it was needed as part of going to confession. Even more, it was a prayer to be recited each day because it contributes to our awareness of sin in our lives.

 

One of the great needs of our day is in fact to recover a vivid sense and awareness of sin. In a world constantly fleeing from God and from any thought and mention of Him, it becomes harder and harder to recognize the sinful roots of the evils that plague us.

 

The daily struggle to make the choice for Christ, and therefore for eternal life with Him, slips away from our eyes. It is all so easy to be distracted by the search for the values so exalted by the society we live in. Those are values such as material wellbeing, physical comforts, or participation in the sexual revolution.

 

But if we are properly focused on the true meaning of our existence and God’s gift of life given to us, we realize that each day we are faced with choices which are for or against God’s will. They are good or sinful depending upon how they help us relate to God Himself.

 

Our moments of prayer and even worship of God, coming from the heart, are part of our attachment to good. Flowing from that kind of prayer is the reception of the sacraments, frequently and worthily. That includes of course regular confession. The sacraments regularly strengthen us and form us internally in preparation for heaven itself.

 

Of course the next step is the life of charity. We must live God’s love by loving others in imitation of Christ. Our charity must be, as we say in the Confiteor at Mass, in thoughts and words in what we do (rightly) and what we abstain from doing (to avoid sin).

 

What is not of God and from grace is sinful. There is no middle ground between heaven and hell, between God and Satan. The Act of Contrition, recited daily helps remind us of that.

 

Typically, the Act of Contrition begins by saying that we are sorry from the heart for having offended God. Before all else, this simple saying is the basis for seeking God’s forgiveness.

 

The Act of Contrition goes on to say that we detest our sins because we fear the just punishment they merit but even more because they offend against God and His love. The Church has long taught the fear of hell is sufficient as a reason to hate our sins. But it must eventually give way to a purer reason, which is the love of God.

 

That prayer then typically places on our lips the firm resolve to sin no more and to avoid whatever leads us into sin. The Church is wise about the weakness of our humanity in using the term “resolve.” Weak and broken as we are, we cannot promise not to sin. But we offer our resolve and with grace we can fulfill it.

 

How wise too is the counsel to avoid not only the sin, but the conditions that make way for sin. Just like a person who drinks too much resolves to avoid the bar which is the occasion of his fall, we too can identify what is the precursor of sin for us. Part of contrition is to avoid that circumstance.

 

We all need the Act of Contrition. Why not recite it daily?