Meditation on Sacramental Absolution

On the esteem we ought to entertain for divine absolution, though we should not suppose ourselves in mortal sin, when we are about to receive it.

FIRST POINT.

THANKS be to God for his unspeakable gift! If we are not more sensible of the benefit of the absolution, which we receive, it is often because we think that we are not in mortal sin, but already in a state of grace, when it is granted to us;—but even under such an impression, we must still entertain the highest sense of the divine favor conferred on us in the name of our blessed Saviour: 1st, Because we can never be so secure concerning past mortal sins, as not to desire, every time we come to the holy Sacrament of Penance, to have them washed away more and more by new effusions of the sacred blood of our Jesus. It is for this reason we always make a summary accusation of our past sins, mentioning even some of the most grievous; and we extend our acts of detestation and sorrow to all the iniquities of our past life. Who knows, after all, if he be as yet worthy of love or hatred,—and if he stands not in need of this very absolution, he is going to receive, to secure his salvation? And secondly, because new accusations duly made, and new absolutions duly received, cannot fail to bring new graces of remission and satisfaction for past sins.

SECOND POINT.

WE must, in the spirit of faith, be extremely sensible of the benefit of divine absolution. As for our venial sins, no means can be more effectual to obtain their remission, than a worthy reception of the Sacrament of Penance: and how anxious must a truly Christian soul be to get rid of these venial sins, which are real stains on our conscience, and offend our Creator! How many Saints could not bear to remain, even for one day, under the guilt of these offences which displeases us a little, only because we have not their exalted sense of the holiness of our God, of his tender love for us, or of the state in which our souls ought to be incessantly in the presence of this supreme holiness! What gratitude did they feel, as often as they received absolution, while we remain so cold and insensible! Oh! let us cherish the utmost purity of our souls; trying to free them from even their least venial faults, by a fervent and right use of this best of all means of washing away our sins, viz., the sacramental application of the blood of our Jesus, in the sacred absolution. But let us remember that in order to receive it we must fulfil the conditions of true penance, necessary for the forgiveness of any sin, either mortal or venial. Let us most carefully avoid profaning the divine absolution, by a want, on our part, of the requisite dispositions.

THIRD POINT.

A LAST consideration must still increase very much our profound sentiments of religion and gratitude towards the blessed absolution, viz., the graces which are attached to it, the very least of which is more excellent than the whole visible creation. These graces are an increase of the virtues of faith, hope and charity, which fortify us in good habits, and diminish the violence and force of our evil propensities; also fortitude for the hour of temptation, and also a claim on the assistance and divine interposition of the Almighty, who comes to aid us in our struggles: now this must necessarily render our perseverance more secure. The grace of absolution cancels, according to the fervor of the penitent, more or less of the temporal pain which remains to be undergone, either for mortal or venial sin, in this world or in purgatory.

O my soul, think well of these many graces! and consider each one of them as a drop of the blood of thy Divine Saviour. Think that it must also contribute to secure, hasten, or increase your eternal bliss; and see now how you should esteem divine absolution. What faith, what love, what gratitude, should this word absolution excite in you!

This meditation is from the writings of the late venerable Bishop Bruté.