should have thought of returning to thee, if thou hadst not called me thyself: I never could detest my sins as sincerely as I do, if thy grace had not touched my heart. Thou seest that heart, O great God! and thou knowest that it is filled with the most lively sorrow. I do, my merciful Redeemer ! detest my sins from the bottom of my heart. I sincerely detest sin in general, because it is thy enemy. I detest most sincerely all the sins of my life, particularly those which have displeased thee most, those which are hidden from my view, and those I am going to accuse myself of in this confession. I now look on those offences as the greasest misfortunes of my life, and heartily regret them, because they have made me hateful in thy sight, exposed me to the dreadful misfortune of being eternally separated from thee, and excluded me from the kingdom of heaven. I detest them, because they have offended my most merciful and liberal Benefactor, and because they fastened thy most adorable body to the Cross. But, my God, these are not my only motives for sincerely detesting my sins: if there were neither heaven nor hell; if I never received, nor ever could hope for a benefit from thee, still I would abhor all sin, and heartily regret having had the misfortune of committing so great an evil, because it offends thee, O infinite, adorable Perfection! who can never be sufficiently loved for thyself alone. O why did I not always think as I now do? Why was I so miserable, so blind, as to listen rather to the suggestions of the devil, than to thy divine inspirations? Why were the best days of my life spent in exasperating my Creator? At least, may I now for ever forsake that sinful, useless course I have too long pursued ; may sin always appear to me, as it now does, more dreadful than hell itself; and the least temptation to offend thee, more frightful than death. O let every hour of my life henceforward increase my sorrow for all my offences, and strengthen my firm resolution to prefer a thousand deaths to the unspeakable misfortune of committing one deliberate sin. Resolution of Amendment. If your heart be really penetrated with the sentiments you have expressed in the foregoing Act of Contrition, it will not be necessary to suggest the obligation you are under of forming serious resolutions for the amendment of your life. This resolution of never sinning again, is so essential to Contrition, that, without it, there can be no real sorrow. It is, nevertheless, a point on which many persons fail; the greater number contenting themselves with a sort of general intention of doing better in future, an intention which costs nothing; which often is only in imagination; which, at best, is very weak and indeterminate. As this defect of a firm decided purpose of amendment, and the want of foreseeing and resolving against habitual faults, is the great cause of so many fruitless Confessions, you should be particularly careful in making your resolutions. Remember that those resolutions should be firm, distinct, and humble.-They should be firm; that is, they should be steadily established on the following solid reflections, viz. That your salvation is the only really important concern you have on earth; that, however young you may be now, the hour of death will at last arrive, when most certainly every other pursuit, beside the service of God, will appear nothing but folly. If you lose your soul, all is lost, and lost for eternity; that however difficult you may find it to correct your faults, or to overcome your passions, there is no alternative; they must be encountered; if not, the loss of your soul will be the unhappy but certain consequence. You will of course perceive the obligation of firmly resolving, in occasions of temptation, to resist, no matter what you may feel, and to say to yourself, as St. Gregory did to a great monarch, who required some condescension which conscience forbad: "If I had two souls, I might sacrifice one to please the world and gratify myself; but as I have but one, I am firmly resolved to save it.' Secondly, your resolutions should be distinct; that is, you must, beside a firm general determination of changing your life, reflect on the particular faults you are accustomed to commit, and then resolve particularly against them. Call to mind also the duties you have been most in the habit of neglecting, that you may determine, in the presence of God, to comply with them in future.For example, if you have been in the very bad custom of omitting your morning and night prayers, or your daily examination of conscience, you must resolve to acquit yourself of these duties punctually in future. If you have lost your time, or neglected the duties of your state, your resolution must be to prefer these essential duties to every pursuit, and even so distribute your time, as to insure their fulfilment at stated hours. If you have been idle, or neglected your employments, you should resolve, not only to avoid such conduct in future, but even to make up for lost time by double diligence. In a word, the slothful should resolve to become active and diligent; the perverse and ungovernable, gentle and docile; the peevish and fretful, patient and mild; the proud and vain, humble and diffident; the insincere should resolve to avoid the shadow of a lie, and to make candour their favourite virtue, &c. Thirdly, Your resolution should be humble; for to fulfil such resolutions is in reality more difficult than it generally appears. Young persons, in particular, so seldom reflect on their own weakness, that they are always ready to say with St. Peter: Though all should be scandalized in thee, I never will be scandalized: but, as may be expected, those presumptuous resolutions are generally followed by a relapse. Do you then take special care, when forming your resolutions, to distrust yourself, and place all your confidence in God, without whom you can do nothing, but with whose powerful assistance all things are possible. When you have made all the resolutions you judge necessary, and that as firmly, distinctly, and humbly as you are able, place them in the hands of God, in the sacred heart of Jesus, and under the protection of his most blessed mother. Prayer. DIVINE Jesus! whose holy grace has opened my H eyes to the miserable and sinful state of my soul; who has penetrated my heart with sorrow for my offences, it is in thy presence I now most solemnly resolve to begin a new life, and endeavour to become, from this very moment, what I shall certainly wish to have been at the hour of my death. I resolve to adopt all the means I know to be necessary for preserving thy grace, and persevering in virtue. I resolve to discharge my spiritual duties with the utmost fidelity, to employ my time carefully, and in the manner that thou requirest, since I must account for every moment of it to thee. I resolve to strive particularly against those faults I am most accustomed to commit, and to avoid those dangerous occasions which have hitherto led me into sin. These are my firm resolutions, O my God! but I tremble when I consider my former inconstancy and my present weakness. I do not deserve those graces I have so often abused; but notwithstanding, since thou knowest I can do nothing without thee, I humbly hope thou wilt give me the grace and strength necessary for persevering in thy love, and keeping most faithfully the resolutions I now make. Preserve me, O Lord, from presumptuous confidence in my own strength, for that alone would cause my fall. Alas! there are many now in hell, who at some period of their mortal life felt more fervour, more sorrow for sin, and made more firm purpose of amendment than I do; I also may deserve to be abandoned by thee. My God and only hope! leave me not to myselfaccept my resolutions, but do thou give them efficacy; permit me to place them in thy hands, in thy sacred heart, and under the protection of thy blessed Mother, and my good Angel; that thus my weakness may be powerfully assisted, and that I may be preserved from the misfortune of a relapse into sin. 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 compare my 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 |