In the sacrament of Confession, after confessing your sins, an essential part of the Rite includes a spoken act of contrition.
While it certainly is important to confess any sins that are weighing down your soul, one of the most important parts of confession is to give evidence of your contrition, or sorrow for sin.
Otherwise, our confession is just blowing hot air, especially if we are not truly sorry for the sins we have committed.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church offers a brief explanation of why this is important: "Among the penitent's acts, contrition occupies first place. Contrition is 'sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again.'"
God wants us not merely to rattle off a laundry list of sins, but to express our understanding that what we did was wrong, and to pledge to never do it again.
Parents can relate to this, especially whenever a child commits a wrongdoing. We want our child not just to say "sorry," but to really mean it. God wants the same from us.
How to make an act of contrition
Technically you can compose your own prayer to say during confession, but the Church provides a few different options for those not comfortable with extemporaneous prayer.
Here is the most common prayer that most children and adults in the United States have learned:
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.
Besides this prayer, here is another very common act of contrition:
My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you, whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In his name, my God, have mercy.
There are many other options, which we have covered in another article.
