CHAPTER VI

SATISFACTION

THE third condition required for Absolution is Satisfaction. All penitence, as we have said, is summed up in Contrition. Confession and Satisfaction are only its fruits or results; but where we find that they are wanting it is a sign that our Contrition is imperfect.

What is Satisfaction? And can we make any Satisfaction to God for our sins? It is most true that on the Cross our Lord Jesus Christ, because He was both God and Man, through the infinite dignity of His Person, was able to offer to God a full and perfect Satisfaction for our sins; and we cannot too strongly assert that this is true of Him alone. But Christ, having satisfied the justice of God superabundantly for the sin of man, was able to apply to us this satisfaction in two ways: either by granting entire remission, without letting any penalty remain, or, on the other hand, by commuting a greater into a lesser penalty, that is, eternal into temporal punishment. The first He employs in Baptism, wherein He remits not only the sin but

also all punishment, both temporal and eternal, due to that sin; and this is because sins committed before Baptism were not sins against grace. The second He uses in the case of those who fall back into sin after Baptism, being, as it were, constrained for their own good to visit them with some temporal punishment, although by Absolution the eternal punishment due to mortal sin is remitted. We must not from this infer that our Lord failed to make entire Satisfaction for us; but, on the contrary, that having acquired an absolute right over us, by the infinite price He paid for our salvation, He grants us pardon on the conditions and under the laws which seem good to Him.

Now Scripture proves that God inflicts temporal punishment for pardoned sin. Moses obtained pardon for the murmuring Israelites, yet they were nearly all punished with death.1 Again, we find that after David had acknowledged his crime, Nathan said to him, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child that is born unto thee shall surely die." And this was only a part of David's penance; for he was to be humiliated by his son Absalom, and the sword was never to depart from his house.

1 Cf. Num. xiv. 20-24.

2

22 Sam. xii. 13–14.

When, therefore, we speak of making Satisfaction, we do not mean that anything we can do of ourselves can possibly make Satisfaction to the justice of God. Our Lord made this Satisfaction for us once for all; but, as members of His body, we are called to share in some small degree in that work of Satisfaction. Our Lord bore the Cross for us; and yet He has told us that unless we take up our cross daily and follow Him we cannot be His disciples. Our Lord now in Heaven ever liveth to make intercession" for us;1 and yet He has told us to pray, and taught us that on our prayer must depend very largely the gifts and blessings which we need. As, then, we have to share in His work of intercession, and yet He is our only Mediator, so we are to make Satisfaction for our sins, although He made "a full, perfect, and sufficient . . satisfaction for the sins of the whole world."

.

1

We may look upon our work of Satisfaction as twofold: First, that which as members of Christ we make for the sins of the Church; for S. Paul writes to the Colossians, “I . . . rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His Body's sake, which is the Church."2 And, secondly, that temporal penance for post-baptismal sin which God sees fit ⚫ Col. i. 24.

1 Heb. vii. 25.

to inflict upon us for our own good, and for the satisfaction of His justice.

Two effects follow upon every mortal sin committed against grace (that is, after Baptism): guilt and punishment. The guilt is remitted through Absolution, when the soul is cleansed from all sin by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ; and the eternal punishment due to sin is also then remitted. But a certain amount of punishment, varying according to God's will, and called the temporal punishment of sin, is left to be borne by the penitent sinner either in this world or in the Intermediate State. The debt of this temporal punishment can be paid, however, much more readily in this life than hereafter, because here we can merit, and in the Intermediate State we cannot merit. For here we can do good works, and endure evil voluntarily, and the essential value of our offering depends upon its being a voluntary one. In the Intermediate State the wills of those who are saved are absolutely conformed to God's will; and they are confirmed in grace. Since, therefore, there can be no further temptation, and no possibility of choice or of sin, suffering there cannot be meritorious like that which we willingly endure in this life.

The penance which is imposed by the priest in the Sacrament of Penance is, of course, only a part of the Satisfaction which we have to make, the real

penance being sent us by God in the crosses and pains, the disciplines and difficulties of our life. The penance which a priest gives is frequently remedial; that is, it helps us to overcome sins which have been confessed; and it is a test of our obedience to the laws of God and of His Church, our sins, of course, having all been the result of disobedience.

As this book is intended primarily for those who have not been to Confession, it may be well to say that the sort of penances given are generally acts of devotion, such as the recitation of prayers, the saying of certain Psalms, the reading or making of meditations on portions of Scripture, all intended to be helpful, either in bringing to the penitent a greater sense of the evil of his sin, or else in showing him how he may overcome it.

We shall, however, perhaps get a more practical view of Satisfaction if we examine some of the elements which go to make up our conception of it. The most prominent among these is the idea of amendment, both positive and negative. No penitence can be of any value which does not involve real amendment, not only the negative abandonment of sin, but the positive doing of duties which we have left undone. It is not enough to determine that we will not again fall into some grievous sin which we have confessed, if we are purposing to leave undone many positive duties of Christian