Choose a topic from Part 3a:
1. Penance is said to have parts inasmuch as severalthings are required to constitute this sacrament. This isparticularly the case with regard to the matter of thesacrament.
2. The parts of penance are the acts of the penitent:contrition, confession, and satisfaction. We may add, as a fourthpart, the absolution imparted by the priest.
3. An integral part of anything is something inand of the thing itself which gives completeness or perfection. Thethree acts of the penitent (contrition, confession, satisfaction),are called integral parts of penance. These acts must allcome together to constitute the rounded perfection of penance in sofar as this perfection depends on the penitent.
4. Considering penance as a virtue, wedistinguish three types or varieties of it: penance before baptism;penance for mortal sin; penance for venial sin.
"Whom do you seek, friend, if you seek not God? Seek him, find him, cleave to him; bind your will to his with bands of steel and you will live always at peace in this life and in the next."
St Alphonsus de Liguori
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"The essence of perfection is to embrace the will of God in all things, prosperous or adverse. In prosperity, even sinners find it easy to unite themselves to the divine will; but it takes saints to unite themselves to God's will when things go wrong and are painful to self-love. Our conduct in such instances is the measure of our love of God."
St Alphonsus de Liguori
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"It is not God's will that we should abound in spiritual delights, but that in all things we should submit to his holy will."
Blessed Henry Suso
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