As we begin the season of Lent this week, we are reminded of our need for repentance and for conversion. Because we are all sinners, we need to pray for the courage and wisdom to recognize and name our sins. Then we need to seek that change of heart so that we leave those sins behind in order to follow Christ in friendship and love.

Of course, we need to complete our conversion with the forgiveness of Jesus in the sacrament of reconciliation. Please don’t let Lent go by without going to confession. And do remember that on Wednesday, March 25, throughout the Diocese of Rockford, confessions will be heard in our parishes from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Come, be reconciled!

One element of our spiritual lives to help our conversion is a prayer we should all know: the Act of Contrition. There are several versions of it. Whichever one you choose, it is a prayer like the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be to the Father, that each of us should be able to recite by heart. That prayer walks us through the steps and the attitudes of heart that open us to the grace of conversion.

My favorite version begins, “Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you.”

Sin is, first and foremost, an offense against God, against His love, against His will. That is what makes it wrong and sinful. So we start by expressing to God our deep and personal regret that we have offended His goodness.

There are often personal and earthly consequences of our sins. We may damage our relationship with others, offend against someone’s good name or create an attitude of mistrust that will take a long time to overcome.

Still, at its core, the essence of our sin is an offense against God. The Act of Contrition helps us to recall that by its first words.

The Act of Contrition continues, “and I detest all of my sins because of Your just punishments.”

The prayer leads us to use a very strong term, “detest,” to describe our disgust and our desire to be done with our sins. This can be hard because the nature of the spiritual struggle is that we are tempted.

We are attracted to our sins like Adam and Eve to the forbidden fruit of original sin.

We need to pray and ask for the grace not just to want to dislike anything that is contrary to God’s will, but to truly join our will to Christ’s. That is how we detest sin.

The Act of Contrition then acknowledges that sin merits God’s punishments.

By His description of the Last Judgment and parables describing the fires of Ghenna, Jesus has warned us of the consequences in the next life of our sins in this world.

Some argue that to reject sin because of the possibility of being in purgatory or hell is an unworthy motivation. But the Church, in Her wisdom, knows our human nature well. It has long been our Catholic teaching that even fear of divine punishment, a motivation less noble than love for God, can be a true source of repentance for us.

The Act of Contrition continues, “but most of all because they offend You my God, who are worthy of all my love.”

Once again, this prayer reinforces for us what is the essence of sin, offending God. That means that it is God who tells us what offends Him. We look to the Church, established by Jesus and guided by the Holy Spirit, to help us to recognize, understand and know what is God’s will.

That of course means that neither our human judgment nor any decision of a court or government decides what is right and wrong, what is good or what is sinful. Only God has the right to make that judgment.

Our prayer then acknowledges that because He is all good, all holy and all loving, God is worthy of all of my love. That is a deep lesson for each of us.

God does not earn our love by how well our life goes in this world. It is the very nature of our relation to God as our creator that He is worthy of our love.

Even in times of difficulty, despair or darkness, we continue to love God and to trust that He will bring us to the happiness we seek.

Next week, the conclusion of the Act of Contrition.