As all the Contrition you could feel, or all the sorrow which ever filled the hearts of the greatest penitents, would of itself be insufficient to atone for your sins, you should always recollect to build your hopes of pardon on the merits of your Redeemer and to unite your sentiments of contrition to the bitter anguish and efficacious sorrow which Jesus Christ was pleased to endure for your offences, particularly in the Garden of Olives. Enter there in spirit, and behold, in the person of your Saviour, a perfect model of what a true penitent should be, and offer up all his merits and sufferings to supply for the deficiencies of your sorrow, and other dispositions This may be done in the following form.

Prayer.

O DIVINE Lord! I am fully sensible that it is the greatest of all misfortunes to offend thy divine Majesty, and that no misery can exceed that which is attached to the violation of thy law; therefore I again declare, that I abhor my sins, and return to thee with my whole heart. But, O my God! when I consider that one single offence is a just and sufficient cause for eternal tears-when I reflect on the bitter regrets which the saints felt for a venial sin, and then cornpare ny grievous offences with my imperfect sorrow, I am justly alarmed at my great insensibility. O! why is not my sorrow as great as my offences !-why cannot I grieve for them even unto death, and collect in my heart all the contrition that was ever felt by the greatest penitents, that thus it may truly be broken with sorrow, and incapable of enjoying any other satisfaction than that which is found in unceasing regret! But since those holy dispositions are graces to which I have no claim, I beseech of thee, O divine Lord! to accept my desires, and to supply from the treasure of thy infinite merits all the deficiencies in my Preparation for this Confession. Accept on my behalf, O adorable Jesus! the clear view thou hadst

of all my sins in the Garden of Olives, to supply for my imperfect knowledge of them, or any defect in my examination. I offer up thy sighs, thy tears, thy fainting, thy bloody sweat, and the bitter anguish which penetrated thy amiable heart, to supply for the weakness of my contrition. I offer thee thy merciful resolution of dying for the expiation of sin, to atone for any deficiency thou mayest discern in my determination never more to offend thee, and to perform all the actions of my life in the spirit of contrition and penance. O adorable Heart of Jesus! which was sorrowful even unto death for those very sins I am about to accuse myself of; which was wounded on the Cross, and thus rendered the refuge of sinners, I call on thee now with all the earnestness, humility, and confidence I am capable of, and entreat of thee, by thy infinite love for sinners, to remember all I cost thee, and to apply to my soul abundantly the infinite merits of thy humiliations, sufferings, and anguish.

OF CONFESSION.

WITH respect to the acknowledgment of your sins in the sacred Tribunal of Penance, observe, that it should have four qualities :-First, it should be sincere; that is, each sin should be declared openly, fully, and candidly, such as we conceive it to be in the sight of God. All equivocal expressions, tending to disguise the real state of the conscience, should be carefully avoided any inclination to reserve in this sacred tribunal, where the Searcher of Hearts is the invisible Judge, should be sovereignly dreaded, as the most dangerous artifice of the devil, who thereby ruins many whom he could not otherwise destroy. It is easy enough to deceive a Confessor. but impossible to deceive the Almighty, who presides in the tribunal o pardon or condemn, according to the dispositions of the heart, which he clearly discerns. In vain does

a Confessor absolve, while the Almighty condemns --in vain does he hope to open for you the gates of heaven, which your insincerity has doubly barred-in ain does the minister of God desire you to depart in peace, when the Almighty already punishes your concealinent by that sting of remorse, which occasions far more pain than could the most humiliating accusation. How intolerable the anguish of the reflections which must always follow from one insincere confession! "I am now at enmity with God-I am a hypocrite-I have lied to the Holy Ghost himself --all my confessions since this last bad one, and all my communions are, without doubt, sacrilegious : whatever good works I may have since done are ineffectual, and this very sin must be confessed some time or other :—I must necessarily go back through all this duplicity-I must accuse myself, not only of the sin concealed, but must declare that I concealed it; and must also declare my several crimes since that one, though I have already confessed them to other clergymen." Is it not then much better to arm ourselves at once with a firm resolution to shake off this galling load; to submit with generosity to a short, a private humiliation, so inadequate to the greatness of our offences, and so abundantly productive of comfort? We shall then have nothing to fear; the past need no more be examined: calmness and humble confidence shall then abide in our hearts, and a good conscience be our delight hereafter. Penitents would always act with the utmost sincerity at Confession, if they were accustomed to consider the sacred tribunal as a place so awful, so holy, as that nothing human should enter there. Beside, confessors should not be viewed in any other light than as the ministers of God, and as holding the place of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God, with which they are filled, moves them → compassion and tenderness. They are too well acquainted with human frailty, to be surprised at any accusation, be it ever so grievous, nor could you tell

them any thing with which they were not before acquainted. They know how prone all are to sin, and how averse from accusing themselves in Confession. They will therefore be rather struck with admiration at the humble avowal of crimes, than shocked at the sinner's weakness. Beside, the Seal of Confession is inviolable--no power on earth can authorize the least breach of it without the penitent's free expressed consent.

Secondly, your Accusation in Confession should be entire; that is, you must declare all your mortal sins, as far as you can remember; for if, after a careful examination of your conscience, some sin still escape your memory, the sin forgotten is pardoned with the rest, with an obligation, however, of declaring it at the next Confession. But if this forgetfulness be the effect of negligence in your examination, the sin forgotten, or any other is not pardoned, and the whole confession becomes null and sacrilegious. Beside declaring all your mortal sins, the number of times each has been committed must be specified: for example, it is not sufficient to say, "I have disobeyed my parents," or, "I have told lies," when perhaps disobedience and lying were habitual, or at least happened several times. It should be specified whether a sin were habitual, and how often in the day, week, or month, it has been committed; adding the words more or less, when not quite certain; neither should you puzzle or disturb yourself on this head, for it is not so much an effort of memory, or an exact computation, that is required from you, as a sincere intention of stating the number of your offences as nearly as you can; avoiding in this instance, as in every other, all scrupulosity and anxiety. You should also specify the circumstances which change the nature of a sin: for example, unnecessary swearing is sinful, but to swear contrary to truth is perjury; to swear against God, is blasphemy; to swear against our selves, is imprecation; consequently it would not

suffice to say, "I have sworn, or been in the habit of swearing;" the nature of the oaths must be specified. You are obliged likewise to mention all circumstar ces which aggravate a sin: for example, to steal a crown is a sin, but to steal ten crowns is a much greater offence; to steal from a rich man is also a sin, but to steal from a poor man is infinitely greater. In a word, whenever your own character, obligations, situation in life, or those of your accomplices, give a peculiar enormity to the crime, or in any respect increase its malignity, you are obliged to specify all these aggravating circumstances, as well as the degree of deliberation with which you sinned, the scandal or bad effects occasioned.

Thirdly, your Confession must be humble; you should be so covered with confusion for your sins, as not to relate them as you would relate matters of little importance. Acknowledge your faults with the humility of the Publican in the Gospel, who sought not to diminish the confusion he conceived was due to his crimes. Let your accusation also be prudent; never mention the names of accomplices, except in cases of absolute necessity, which are very rare: content yourself with mentioning your own sins, without adding those of others, or seeking to throw the blame on others, like Eve, who cast the blame of her crime on the serpent, and Adam, who accused Eve.

Your Confession, lastly, should be simple; that is, you should confine yourself to the declaration of your sins, or any matters relating to conscience, without running into superfluous, round-about details, or trivial circumstances, unnecessary to the explanation of your sins, and tending to intrude on the precious time of a confessor, as also to take off, on your part, from the devotion which should accompany so solemn a duty. It will help much to simplicity and clearness in your confession, if you observe, both in your examination and accusation, the order which has been before pointed out.