SECTION 5 



PENANCE 



I. Necessity of This Sacrament. — The 

 Sacrament of Penance (sacr amentum poenit en- 

 tiae sive reconciliationis) is the normal means 

 by which a Catholic who has committed mortal 

 sin after Baptism can recover sanctifying grace. 

 To receive this Sacrament, actually or at least 

 in desire (in re aut in voto), is as necessary for 

 persons guilty of mortal sin as Baptism is for 

 those still in the state of original sin. This is 

 but another way of saying that for all Christians 

 guilty of mortal sin Penance is a necessary means 

 of salvation (necessitas medii)} Christ has in- 

 stituted this Sacrament for the forgiveness of 

 sins, and hence perfect contrition without at least 

 the votum sacramenti cannot justify a sinner, 

 for contrition, to be truly perfect, must include 

 the desire of employing the divinely ordained 

 means of reconciliation, i. e., the Sacrament of 

 Penance. 2 Justly, therefore, is Penance called 

 "the second plank after shipwreck." 3 



1 Cone. Trident., Sess. XIV, De Trident., Sess. XIV, De Poenit., c. 

 Poenit., c. 2, can. 6 (Denzinger- 1 and 4 (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 

 Bannwart, n. 895, 915); St. Thomas, 894, 897 sq.). 



Summa Theol., 3a, qu. 84, art. 5. 3 St. Jerome, In Is., II, c. 3: 



2 Cf r. John XX, 21-23; Cone. "Sectinda post naufragium tabula est 



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