VATICAN Prayers for Lent - Act of Contrition (10)

Vatican City (Fides Service) - Confession - «…this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found. (Luke 15, 24). Sin is not simply an offence which can be wiped away like writing on a blackboard: it destroys, robs, annihilates the soul, separating it from God for ever. Only God’s Word could make good this offence. The only way was for God’s son to become man, to assume our human flesh, to become like us in every way except sin, to humble himself and to die on the cross an ignominious death. And as promised, He is with us until the end of time that we sinners may repent and return to life. The marvellous work of redemption reveals even more the Almighty power of God.
This prayer at the offertory used in the old Tridentine Mass: «Deux qui humanae substantiae dignitatem mirabiliter condisti et mirabilius reformasti» («God, you created in a wondrous way you created the dignity of human nature, but in a still more wondrous way you recreated it ») echoes the Easter Vigil hymn Exultet: «O Felix culpa!»: «O happy fault!»… Pope John Paul II was known to say: «God is happiest when he can forgive because it is then that He can demonstrate His unconditioned love ».
However, Saint Augustine, a great sinner and then great Doctor of the Church, warns us: « without your help God created you, but without your help He will not save you », echoing in a way Saint Paul who said: «… in my flesh I complete what is lacking in the suffering of Christ …» (Colossians 1, 24b). The confession of the Prodigal Son, the acknowledgement of his sinfulness is the condition for him to come back to life. The Precepts of the Church inlcude ‘to go to Confession at least once a year’. And the new Catechism of the Catholic Church confirms: «2. To confess one's sins, receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation at least once each year» (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the 5 Precepts of the Church, 2) (To be continued) (J.M.) (Agenzia Fides 28/3/2007, righe 26, parole 380)