If it seems like we're spending a lot of time on the Sacrament of Penance in these lessons from the Baltimore Catechism, that's because the Catholic places such great importance on the sacrament. Without the graces that the sacrament grants us, we cannot grow in the spiritual life.
An indispensable element of the Sacrament of Penance is contrition, or sorrow for sin. Like many things in the modern world, contrition has come to mean something less than what it used to. We find it all too easy to say that we're sorry for everything: "It's raining out, and my plans are ruined!" "I'm sorry."
And that includes, of course, saying that we're sorry for things for which we really should be sorry, but not meaning it. True contrition, however, is more than simply saying the words; it includes hatred for all sin and a firm desire never to sin again. We can go to Confession if our contrition is imperfect, but the Christian life means always striving for perfect contrition.
True contrition comes from the heart, and it is the result of the workings of God's grace in us. It includes not only sorrow for having offended God, Who deserves our love, but also a firm resolve to avoid even the near occasions of sin—those things, places, and people that we know make us more likely to fall into sin.
That may seem like a lot to ask. But if we truly are sorry for our sins, then we will not want to commit them again, and we'll make the sacrifices necessary to avoid even the possibility of doing so. And through such contrition, we will grow in the life of the spirit.
Lesson Eighteenth from the Confirmation Catechism has 13 questions. Note that the lesson begins with Question 195, continuing with the numbering from Lesson Seventeenth.
The parallel lesson this week in the First Communion Catechism is Lesson Fifteenth. It includes 4 questions drawn from Lesson Eighteenth of the Confirmation Catechism.
Check out this week's lesson, and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments or ask them in the Catholicism Forum!
Previous Lessons in Sunday School:- Welcome to Sunday School!
- On God and His Perfections
- On the Unity and Trinity of God
- On Creation
- On Our First Parents and the Fall
- On Sin and Its Kinds
- On the Incarnation and Redemption
- On Our Lord's Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension
- On the Holy Ghost and His Descent Upon the Apostles
- On the Effects of the Redemption
- On the Church
- On the Attributes and Marks of the Church
- On the Sacraments in General
- On Baptism
- On Confirmation
- On the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Ghost
- On the Sacrament of Penance