A Sunday Thought About Perfect Contrition and Our Lord's Precious Blood
It's the last day of July, the month dedicated to devotion of Our Lord's Precious Blood. For those of you who aren't sure just how to practice such a devotion, who may have trouble (as I do) wrapping your mind around it, I found something to help us. It's from a little work published in 1904 by by Rev. J. Von Den Driesch titled Perfect Contrition. Before we get to Father's words, a few brief remarks about the idea of perfect contrition and the difficulty some of us have practicing devotion to the Precious Blood.
Contrition, in this context, is sorrow of soul. Perfect contrition, far as I can tell, not being a theologian, has to do with our sorrow being motivated by our love of God, rather than a fear of punishment. In the Act of Contrition we express perfect contrition when we acknowledge the fact that we dread "the loss of heaven and the pains of hell" - a perfectly acceptable reason to be sorry for our sins - "but most of all because they offend Thee my God, Who art all good and worthy of all my love." You don't hear perfect contrition spoken of much these days. Yet even in 1904, Father Von Den Driesch wrote that perfect contrition was "too little appreciated by the faithful." That's why he wrote his book.
We don't have time to dig deeper into the importance of perfect contrition, except to note this: An act of perfect contrition, prayed sincerely, attains forgiveness of our sins, even mortal sins. We should in the case of mortal sin get to confession as soon as feasible, but the reality is, upon expressing to God perfect contrition, our sin is then and there forgiven, and we are in that moment restored to a state of grace. Now for the connection to Our Lord's Precious Blood. Father Von Den Driesch expresses it beautifully in his book (emphasis mine):
And so we see how devotion to Our Lord's Precious Blood can and should be a regular part of our spiritual lives. We need only look at a Crucifix; the Crucifix on your rosary will do. There we see His wounds. Don't ignore them. Let the reality of his suffering break through the busyness and distractions of daily life. Sunday could be the perfect day for this, but any day, even better, every day, would be even better.
And so today we say goodbye to July, the month especially dedicated to devotion to Our Lord's Precious Blood. I hope the reflections of these July Sundays have helped you better understand this wonderful devotion, as well as provided some examples of how to practice it.
Happy Sunday!
Contrition, in this context, is sorrow of soul. Perfect contrition, far as I can tell, not being a theologian, has to do with our sorrow being motivated by our love of God, rather than a fear of punishment. In the Act of Contrition we express perfect contrition when we acknowledge the fact that we dread "the loss of heaven and the pains of hell" - a perfectly acceptable reason to be sorry for our sins - "but most of all because they offend Thee my God, Who art all good and worthy of all my love." You don't hear perfect contrition spoken of much these days. Yet even in 1904, Father Von Den Driesch wrote that perfect contrition was "too little appreciated by the faithful." That's why he wrote his book.
We don't have time to dig deeper into the importance of perfect contrition, except to note this: An act of perfect contrition, prayed sincerely, attains forgiveness of our sins, even mortal sins. We should in the case of mortal sin get to confession as soon as feasible, but the reality is, upon expressing to God perfect contrition, our sin is then and there forgiven, and we are in that moment restored to a state of grace. Now for the connection to Our Lord's Precious Blood. Father Von Den Driesch expresses it beautifully in his book (emphasis mine):
“First of all we must bear in mind that perfect contrition is a grace- a great grace- from God. We should therefore constantly pray for it. Ask for it, not only when you wish to make an Act of Contrition, but often during the day. It should be the object of your most ardent desires. Repeat often, “My God! give me perfect sorrow for my sins!” And if you sincerely mean what you say, Our Lord will hear your prayer.”Beautiful, isn't it?
“Remain there at the foot of the Cross while the Blood of your Saviour falls drop by drop upon your soul. Ask yourself how you have corresponded with these proofs of love. Call to mind your past sins, and forgetting for a moment both Heaven and Hell, repent because your sins have reduced your Saviour to so pitiable a state. Promise Him that you will not crucify Him again, and then slowly and fervently repeat the Act of Contrition. Better still, repeat those wards of sorrow that will spontaneously rise up in your heart, now softened by grace and filled with a holy bitterness.”
And so we see how devotion to Our Lord's Precious Blood can and should be a regular part of our spiritual lives. We need only look at a Crucifix; the Crucifix on your rosary will do. There we see His wounds. Don't ignore them. Let the reality of his suffering break through the busyness and distractions of daily life. Sunday could be the perfect day for this, but any day, even better, every day, would be even better.
And so today we say goodbye to July, the month especially dedicated to devotion to Our Lord's Precious Blood. I hope the reflections of these July Sundays have helped you better understand this wonderful devotion, as well as provided some examples of how to practice it.
Happy Sunday!
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