De Penitencia
The Nature and Necessity of Penance
Penance is defined as a transformative act of contrition and discipline that secures eternal life and avoids the judgment of hell.
Penance, son, is contrition of heart and bitterness of soul for the sins one has committed—sins one repents of and resolves never to commit again—and one also afflicts the body with fasting, with prayers, with pilgrimages, and with other practices like these. Son, the Sacrament of penance is a great and powerful Sacrament; for through penance, all the demons and all the sinners in hell would be delivered from their endless torments, if they could only do penance for a single hour. Through the penance you do in this world, son, you escape the pains of hell and the fire of purgatory; and when you pass from this age into the next, then you come to the heavenly glory that lasts forever. My son, since penance earns a person forgiveness for every sin they commit and leads them to all the joys of paradise, do penance while you are still alive in this world; for in the next life, the verdict is already set—either eternal glory or the fire of hell.
The Authority of the Keys
The power to administer penance is rooted in the authority Christ granted to Saint Peter and his successors in the Church.
In those days, son, when our Lord Jesus Christ was in this world and went about with the apostles, he then gave the keys of penance to Saint Peter, head of our Holy Mother Church, and said that whatever Saint Peter bound and loosed on earth by the power of God would be bound and loosed in heaven.1 By the power God gave to Saint Peter, my son, the holy father who holds Saint Peter's place has the power to give penance, and so do the priests who hold the place of the Apostle; and that is why people go to confession to the priests, to receive penance from them.✦2
The Mercy and Comfort of Repentance
God invites sinners to penance as an act of mercy, and meditating on eternity makes the discipline of penance a source of spiritual comfort rather than despair.
God wants a person to do penance so they'll trust in the great mercy of our Lord God, and so that God may have grounds to forgive the sinners who judge themselves bound to endure the afflictions that penance brings.3 If you want to ease for your body the afflictions that are bitter through penance, think on the torments of hell and on the glory of paradise; for then the sufferings a person bears through the work of penance will be pleasant to you. To sin and to scorn the holy Sacrament of penance, my son, is to scorn the glory of paradise, the torments of hell, the company of the angels and the saints in glory, and our Lord God.
Read the original Latin
Penitencia es, fill, contriccio de cor e amargor d anima per los peccats que ha fets, dels quals hom se penet e proposa que nul temps nols fassa, e dona hom affliccio a son cors ab dejunis e ab oracions e ab pelegrinacions e ab les altres coses semblants a aqüestes.
Gran sagrament e forts es, fill, lo sagrament de penitencia; car per penitencia serien tots los demonis e tots los peccadors en infern deliurats dels turments qui no han fi, si sol una hora podíen fer penitencia.
Per la penitencia que hom fa, fill, en aquest mon, fug hom a les penes infernals e a foch de purgatori; e con hom passa d aquest segle en laltre, adones hom vé a la celestial gloria que tots temps dura.
Amable fill, con penitencia fassa a hom tots los peccats que hom fa perdonar e fa totes les benenanses de paradis donar, dementre que est viu, fill, en aquest mon fé penitencia; car en laltre segle donada es la sentencia de gloria eternal o de foch infernal.
En aquell temps, fill, que nostro Senyor Jhesu Christ era en aquest mon e anava ab los apóstols, adones doná les claus de penitencia a Sent Pere emperador de nostra Sancta mare Esgleya, e dix que tot so que Sent Pere per la vertut de Deu ligás e solvés en la térra, sería ligat e solí en los cels.
Per lo poder que Deus doná a Sent Pere, ha, fill, lo sant pare qui té loch de Sent Pere, e han los preveres qui tenen loch del Apostoli, poder de donar penitencia; e per assó van les gents a confessio als preveres, a pendre dells penitencia.
So per que Deus vol que hom fassa penitencia, es per so que hom se confiy en la gran misericordia de nostro Senyor Deu, e per so que Deus age rahó que perdó a los peccadors quis jutgen a sostenir les afliccions que penitencia dona.
Si les affliccions qui son amares per penitencia vols aleujar a ton cors, cogita en los turments infernals e en la gloria de paradis; car adonchs te serán agradables les passions que hom ha, per obra de penitencia.
Peccar e menysprear lo sant sagrament de penitencia es, fill, menysprear la gloria de paradis e los turments infernals e la companya dels ángels e dels sants de gloria e de nostro Senyor Deu.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.20.23 — If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
Notes
- 1 ↩Medieval Catalan emperador names Peter's supreme earthly headship of the Church; rendered as head for modern readability rather than the odd-sounding emperor.
- 2 ↩sant pare = the pope (the holy father); loch del Apostoli = the place/office of the Apostle (Peter), i.e. share in the Petrine/apostolic authority to impose penance.
- 3 ↩Medieval Catalan qui·s jutgen a + infinitive: either 'who judge themselves bound/obliged to endure' or, more juridically, 'who sentence themselves to endure.' Rendered as self-imposed obligation under penance, not courtroom condemnation by another.
Doctrine for Children — Opening companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit