Caput XI. De compunctione cordis
The Birth of Compunction
Compunction flows from humility and confession, and the psalmist's thirst for God gives voice to the tears it produces.
Compunction of heart is born from the power of humility; from compunction comes confession of sins; from confession, repentance; from true repentance will come forgiveness of wrongs. Compunction of heart is a humbling of the mind, joined with tears, with remembering one's sins, and with fear of judgment. Tears tend to flow from a twofold spring of compunction: the first, when someone weighs their own deeds more carefully; the second, when they sigh with longing for eternal life. So the Prophet says: My soul thirsts for the living God—when will I come and appear before the face of God?✦ My tears became my bread day and night (Psalm✦ XLI, 3, 4). And further: My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord.✦ And: My heart and my flesh rejoiced in the living God (Psalm✦
Four Piercings of the Heart
The righteous mind is pierced by remembering sin, fearing judgment, feeling exile, and longing for heaven.
LXXXIII, 3). There are four kinds of affections by which the mind of the righteous person is pierced with wholesome sorrow: the memory of past sins, the reckoning of future punishments, reflection on their exile in the misery of this life, and longing for their heavenly homeland, so that they may reach it as soon as possible. So when these things take shape in a person's heart, you can be sure that God is present in that human heart through his grace. That is why it is said in the psalm: "God, I have declared my life to you; I have set my tears before your eyes, as also in your promise" (Psal.✦ LV, 9).
The Sweetness and Profit of Tears
God's promise of pardon stirs repentant tears, and compunction poured out in prayer reveals the Holy Spirit's presence.
The promise of pardon we hold from God stirs the tears of repentance in our hearts. The sweetness of compunction is a treasure worth longing for in the human heart. A person's soul that is pierced with compunction in prayer gains great profit for their salvation. When compunction is poured out through prayer, there's no doubt that the Holy Spirit is present in our hearts.
Read the original Latin
Compunctio cordis ex humilitatis virtute nascitur; de compunctione confessio peccatorum; de confessione poenitentia; de poenitentia vera proveniet delictorum indulgentia. Compunctio cordis est humilitas mentis, cum lacrymis, et recordatione peccatorum, et timore judicii. Ex gemino fonte compunctionis solent profluere lacrymae; id est, dum merita operum suorum diligentius considerat; altera dum desiderio aeternae vitae suspirat. Unde Propheta ait: Sitivit anima mea ad Deum vivum: quando veniam et apparebo ante faciem Dei? Fuerunt mihi lacrymae meae panis die ac nocte (Psal. XLI, 3, 4). Item: Concupiscit et deficit anima mea in atria Domini. Et: Cor meum, et caro mea exsultaverunt in Deum vivum (Psal.
LXXXIII, 3). Quatuor sunt qualitates affectionum, quibus cogitatio justi taedio salubri compungitur, hoc est, memoria praeteritorum facinorum, recordatio futurarum poenarum, consideratio peregrinationis suae in hujus vitae miseria; desiderium supernae patriae, quatenus ad eam quantocius valeat pervenire. Quando ergo ista in corde hominis fiunt, sciendum est tunc esse Deum per gratiam suam cordi humano praesentem. Unde et in psalmo dicitur: Deus vitam meam nuntiavi tibi; posui lacrymas meas in conspectu tuo, sicut et in promissione tua (Psal. LV, 9). Promissio indulgentiae quam habemus a Deo, lacrymas poenitentiae excitat cordi nostro. Thesaurus desiderabilis in corde hominis, compunctionis dulcedo. Anima hominis quae in oratione compungitur, valde illi proficit ad salutem.
Cum per orationem compunctio effunditur, Spiritus sancti praesentiam adesse cordibus nostris non dubium est.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.42.2-Ps.42.3 — As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, God. Ps.42.3 — My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before the face of God?
- ↩Ps.42.3 — My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before the face of God?
- ↩Ps.84.2 — How lovely are your dwelling places, LORD of hosts!
- ↩Ps.84.2 — How lovely are your dwelling places, LORD of hosts!
- ↩Ps.56.8 — You have kept count of my wanderings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me.
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