by William Sloan

Created on: February 25, 2009   Last Updated: March 04, 2009

WHAT THE ACT OF CONTRITION MEANS TO A CATHOLIC

There are four types of prayer. Everyone (except maybe atheists) use prayers of petition. (You are asking for something. Anyone who has ever taken a math test certainly prays, atheist or not.) There is also the prayer of thanksgiving where you thank God for giving you his blessings. There is also the most important prayer, prayers of praise to God. It is right, fitting, just and proper to give God thanks and praise.

The act of contrition is a prayer of sorrow where you beg God to forgive your sins and restore you to a state grace. "Contrition or contriteness is from the Latin contritus 'ground to pieces, i.e. crushed by guilt is sincere and complete remorse (i.e. regret with a sense of guilt) for sins one has committed." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrition) Of course, a Catholic believes that confession is not complete (barring an emergency) unless you confess your sins to a priest. An Act of Contrition is only acceptable for forgiveness of sins if it is a perfect act of Contrition and the sins are confessed to a priest as soon as possible. The Act of Contrition is said at the end of a confession to validate that one is truly sorry for his or her sins. When one sins, they sin against God and man. When you pray the Act of Contrition, you tell God you are sorry for violating his laws. You detest your sins because God justly punishes us. Of course, a Catholic will want to confess sins and say his Act of Contrition as part of his Confession as soon as possible because a Catholic who dies in the state of grave or mortal sin will suffer eternal damnation in hell. A Catholic is most sorry for their sins because they offend God who deserves all of our love. An Act of Contrition and Confession is not valid unless you firmly resolve to sin no more and to avoid the opportunities of sin. You rely on God's grace to not sin any more. We are all human; we all sin. However, we must have a firm purpose of amendment to sin no more. Otherwise, a confession and an Act of Contrition are not valid and a Catholic is not forgiven of his sins.

An Act of Contrition is the final thing a penitent says while the priest absolves-pardons him from his sins. The Act of Contrition is a chance to get a second chance with God after we disapoint him with our sins. After sinning, the Act of Contrition is a start to become renewed and back in a state of grace with God. The Act of Contrition is very important to a Catholic tying it in with Confession.

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