Is A Confession Valid If You Don't Say The Act Of Contrition In Th

[1catholic]

I went to confession today, i dont know the act of contrition. I was hoping it was in the confessional, it wasn't and the priest didn't make me say it (like help me thru it or something) he just absolved me. Is this a valid confession or should I go back?

[Brother Adam]

Your confession is valid. If you are concerned you can say your act of contrition after wards, but do not be worried - he said the words of absolution so your sins are forgiven.

"If the priest is sufficiently assured that you are sorry and have a firm purpose of amendment even without hearing you say the Act of Contrition, he can absolve."

[url="http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/08/quaeritur-priest-in-confession-doesnt-ask-for-act-of-contrition/"] - From Father Z[/url]

[cappie]

From the Rite of Penance

Sacrament of Penance and its Parts

6. Followers of Christ who have sinned but who, by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, come to the sacrament of penance should above all be wholeheartedly converted to God. This inner conversion embraces sorrow for sin and the intent to lead a new life. It is expressed through confession made to the Church, due expiation, and amendment of life. God grants pardon for sin through the Church, which works by the ministry of priests?29

a) Contrition

The most important act of the penitent is contrition, which is “heartfelt sorrow and aversion for the sin committed along with the intention of sinning no more.”30 “We can only approach the kingdom of Christ by metanoia. This is a profound change of the whole person by which we begin to consider, judge, and arrange our life according to the holiness and love of God, made manifest in his Son in the last days and given to us in abundance” (see Hebrews 1:2; Colossians 1:19 and passim; Ephesians 1:23 and passim).31 The genuineness of penance depends on this heartfelt contrition. For conversion should affect a person from within toward a progressively deeper enlightenment and an ever-closer likeness to Christ.

b) Confession

The sacrament of penance includes the confession of sins, which comes from true knowledge of self before God and from contrition for those sins. However, the inner examination of heart and the outward accusation must be made in the light of God’s mercy. Confession requires on the penitent’s part the will to open the heart to the minister of God and on the minister’s part a spiritual judgment by which, acting in the person of Christ, he pronounces his decision of forgiveness or retention of sins in accord with the power of the keys.32

c) Act of Penance

True conversion is completed by expiation for the sins committed, by amendment of life, and also by rectifying injuries done.33 The kind and extent of the expiation must be suited to the personal condition of penitents so that they may restore the order that they have upset and through the corresponding remedy be cured of the sickness from which they suffered. Therefore, it is necessary that the act of penance really be a remedy for sin and a help to renewal of life. Thus penitents, “forgetting the things that are behind” (Philippians 3:13), again become part of the mystery of salvation and press on toward the things that are to come.

d) Absolution

Through the sign of absolution God grants pardon to sinners who in sacramental confession manifest their change of heart to the Church’s minister; this completes the sacrament of penance. For in God’s design the humanity and loving kindness of our Saviour have visibly appeared to us34 and so God uses visible signs to give salvation and to renew the broken covenant.

In the sacrament of penance the Father receives the repentant children who come back to him, Christ places the lost sheep on his shoulders and brings them back to the sheepfold, and the Holy Spirit re-sanctifies those who are the temple of God or dwells more fully in them. The expression of all this is the sharing in the Lord’s table, begun again or made more ardent; such a return of children from afar brings great rejoicing at the banquet of God’s Church

Penitent’s Prayer and the Priest’s Absolution

19. Next, through a prayer for God’s pardon the penitent expresses contrition and the resolution to begin a new life. It is advantageous for this prayer to be based on the words of Scripture.

Following the penitent’s prayer, the priest extends his hands, or at least his right hand, over the head of the penitent and pronounces the [b]formulary of absolution, in which the essential words are: I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit[/b]. (my emphasis) As he says the final phrase the priest makes the sign of the cross over the penitent. The form of absolution (see no. 46) indicates that the reconciliation of the penitent comes from the mercy of the Father; it shows the connection between the reconciliation of the sinner and the paschal mystery of Christ; it stresses the role of the Holy Spirit in the forgiveness of sins; finally, it underlines the ecclesial aspect of the sacrament, because reconciliation with God is asked for and given through the ministry of the Church.