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Chapter 13AlcVV.1.13

Caput XIII. De poenitentia

The Call to Repentance from Scripture

The Savior and the prophets summon the faithful to repentance through tears, cleansing, and a break from sin.

The Savior himself shows its power in the Gospel, saying: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is drawing near (Matt.✦ III, 2). And John the Baptist says: Produce fruits worthy of repentance (Luke✦ III, 8). A fruit worthy of repentance is to weep for past sins and not do those same things again, as Scripture says: You shall not add sin upon sin (Ecclus.1 V, 5). Be washed, the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah, and be clean (Isa.✦ I, 16).

True Tears and the Danger of Relapse

Genuine repentance is shown by weeping for sin and not returning to it, while those who fall back after tears remain uncleans.

So whoever laments the past and doesn't let themselves fall back into the same things that deserve tears is washed clean. But whoever laments what they've done yet won't let it go, and after tears goes right back to the very things they wept over — that person is not washed clean. Concerning those who after tears return to worse sins, blessed Peter speaks with terrible force: "A dog returns to its own vomit" (2 Pet.✦ 22).✦ "My child, you have sinned," it says in holy Scripture, "do not add sin again, but pray about your former sins, and they will be forgiven you" (Sir.2 21:1). True repentance is not measured by the number of years, but by the bitterness of the heart.3 That is why blessed Peter quickly received pardon from the Lord, because he wept most bitterly over the fault of his threefold denial.✦

The and the Mercy of God

God weighs the depth of inner sorrow more than the length of time, and in his mercy he desires all sinners to turn and live.

Repentance, even if it is brief, is not despised before a just God who weighs the secrets of the heart, when it is carried out with deep inner bitterness. God doesn't require so much a long stretch of time as he weighs the sincere disposition of the penitent. Whoever trusts in Christ with their whole mind, even if they die in many sins, lives forever through their faith, just as the Lord himself says in the Gospel: I am the resurrection and the life.✦ Whoever believes in me, even if they have died, will live; and everyone who lives and believes in me will not die forever (John✦ XI, 25). He spoke of the death of the soul, because it will come upon a person on account of the sickness of their sins. But God is merciful by nature; he is ready to save through mercy those he will not come to save through justice. He wants everyone to be saved and no one to perish (1 Tim.✦ II, 4): who says through the prophet: On whatever day a sinner has turned back, they will live with life and will not die (Ezek.✦

The Urgency of Penance in This Life

No sinner who turns to penance should doubt God's mercy now, yet this life is the only time granted for repentance before judgment.

XVIII, 21).✦ No matter how great a sinner or unbeliever someone may be, if they turn to penance, they should not doubt that they can obtain pardon through God's mercy. In this world, God's mercy comes to the aid of those who do penance. In the life to come, however, penance is of no use; instead, we will have to give an account of our works. Only in this life is freedom open to the penitent; after death, however, there is no opportunity for correction.

Read the original Latin

Cujus ipse Salvator in Evangelio virtutem ostendit, dicens: Poenitentiam agite, appropinquabit enim regnum coelorum (Matth. III, 2). Et Joannes Baptista ait: Facite fructus dignos poenitentiae (Luc. III, 8). Fructus est dignus poenitentiae, transacta flere peccata, et eadem iterum non agere, sicut Scriptura ait: Non adjicies peccatum super peccatum (Eccli. V, 5). Lavamini, dicit Dominus per Isaiam prophetam, et mundi estote (Isai. I, 16).

Lavatur itaque et mundus est, qui praeterita plangit, et iterum flenda non admittit. Lavatur et non est mundus, qui plangit quod gessit, nec deserit: et post lacrymas haec quae fleverat, repetit. De his qui post lacrymas ad delicta revertuntur pejora, beatus Petrus terribiliter ait: Canis revertitur ad vomitum suum (II Petr. II, 22). Fili, peccasti, dicitur in Scriptura sancta, non adjicias iterum, sed de pristinis deprecare, et remittentur tibi (Eccli. XXI, 1). Poenitentia vera non annorum numero censetur, sed amaritudine animi. Unde beatus Petrus mox a Domino indulgentiam recepit, quia amarissime flevit trinae negationis culpam.

Poenitentia, quamvis sit exigui temporis; si intima cordis amaritudine agitur, non despicitur apud judicem justum Deum, qui cordis secreta considerat. Non enim longitudinem temporis tantum requirit Deus, quantum affectum sinceritatis poenitentis pensat. Qui enim in Christum tota mente confidit, etiamsi in multis moriatur peccatis, fide sua vivit in aeternum, sicut ipse Dominus in Evangelio ait: Ego sum resurrectio et vita. Qui credit in me, etiamsi mortuus fuerit, vivet: et omnis qui vivit et credit in me, non morietur in aeternum (Joan. XI, 25). De morte animae dixit, quia propter peccatorum aegritudinem eveniet illi. Deus autem natura misericors est, paratus est salvare per misericordiam, quos non veniet salvare per justitiam, qui vult omnes salvos fieri, et neminem perire (I Tim. II, 4): qui per prophetam ait: In quacunque die conversus fuerit peccator, vita vivet, et non morietur (Ezech.

XVIII, 21). Quamvis quisque sit peccator et impius, si ad poenitentiam convertatur, consequi posse veniam se per Dei misericordiam non dubitet. In hoc saeculo poenitentiam facientibus Dei misericordia subvenit. In futuro autem poenitentia non proficit, sed rationem nostrorum operum reddituri sumus. In hac vita tantum poenitenti patet libertas, post mortem vero nulla correctionis est licentia.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Matt.3.2 — and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."
  2. ↩Luke.3.8 — Therefore, produce fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say among yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.
  3. ↩Isa.1.16 — Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil.
  4. ↩2Pet.2.22 — It has happened to them according to the true proverb: 'A dog returns to its own vomit,' and 'A sow, after washing herself, returns to wallowing in the mud.'
  5. ↩2Pet.2.22 — It has happened to them according to the true proverb: 'A dog returns to its own vomit,' and 'A sow, after washing herself, returns to wallowing in the mud.'
  6. ↩Matt.26.75;Luke.22.62 — And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly. Luke.22.62 — And he went out and wept bitterly.
  7. ↩John.11.25 — Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live."
  8. ↩John.11.25-John.11.26 — Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live." John.11.26 — and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
  9. ↩1Tim.2.4 — who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
  10. ↩Ezek.33.11 — Say to them, 'As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'
  11. ↩Ezek.18.21 — But if the wicked turns from all the sins he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩'transacta flere peccata' rendered as 'weep for past sins' — the participle 'transacta' (things done/past) modifies the object of weeping.
  2. 2 ↩The jussive infinitives 'non adjicias iterum' and 'deprecare' function as direct commands; rendered as imperatives to preserve the force of the scriptural address.
  3. 3 ↩'animi' rendered as 'heart' rather than 'soul' or 'mind' to capture the affective, devotional register of interior sorrow in this penitential context.

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