Steps 4-5 (Review, Forgiveness)

Step 4: Review — "How did I respond to God's grace today?" This is NOT "How did I fail?" but "How did I respond?" Look for both wins and misses. Step 5: Forgiveness — for what you've done and what's been done to you. Don't wallow in guilt; bring it to God's mercy. The examen reveals patterns over time — that's its power. (Ep 641)

Catechism sources (PD) teaches:

"Mother of God," because her Son was true God and true man in the one person of Christ, Our Lord. "Pray for us," because she has more power with her Son than all the other saints.

(Source: baltimore_catechism.txt)

St. Thomas Aquinas teaches:

And heretics and schismatics, who are cut off from the unity of the body, may receive the same Sacrament; but it does not profit them, may, rather is hurtful, as tending to make their judgment heavier, or their forgiveness later. Nor ought they to feel secure in their abandoned and damnable.

(Source: catena_aurea_john.txt)

Doctrinal Foundation

T3.M.004 (sententia_certa): Mary was endowed with a singular fullness of grace from the first moment of her existence, surpassing the grace given to any angel or saint. The angelic salutation "full of grace" signifies a unique and superabundant plenitude of sanctifying grace befitting the Mother of God.

• Scripture: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
• Aquinas: The Blessed Virgin had a greater fulness of grace than any other saint; for the nearer a thing is to its cause, the more it receives of the influence of that cause.
• Fathers: Hail, thou that art full of grace! No creature, whether visible or invisible, ever received such a fulness of grace.

T3.M.012 (De fide (defined dogma)): The veneration given to the Blessed Virgin Mary — called hyperdulia, a degree of honour above that given to other saints (dulia) — is fitting, proper, and in accord with Christian faith. It is essentially distinct from the worship of latria, which is due to God alone.

• Scripture: For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
• Aquinas: Hyperdulia is due to the Blessed Virgin, because she is the Mother of God. This is a higher veneration than the dulia due to the other saints, but it falls infinitely short of the latria due to God.
• Fathers: We do not worship Mary; we honour the Mother of our God.

T4.G.010 (Sententia communis (common teaching)): Prayer is a necessary means of salvation for adults. God grants the grace of perseverance to those who pray for it perseveringly. Without prayer, the necessary graces for salvation will not ordinarily be received.

• Scripture: Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.

• Fathers: He who prays well, lives well. He who lives well, dies well. He who dies well, all is well.

From the Sources

St. Thomas Aquinas (catena_aurea_john.txt):

And heretics and schismatics, who are cut off from the unity of the body, may receive the same Sacrament; but it does not profit them, may, rather is hurtful, as tending to make their judgment heavier, or their forgiveness later. Nor ought they to feel secure in their abandoned and damnable ways, who, by the iniquity of their lives, desert righteousness, i.e. Christ; either by fornication, or other sins of the like kind.

St. Thomas Aquinas (catena_aurea_john.txt):

But you say, the Father is called God with the addition of the article, the Son without it. What say you then, when the Apostle writes, The great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; and again, Who is over all, God; and Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father; without the article? Besides, too, it were superfluous here, to affix what had been affixed just before. So that it does not follow, though the article is not affixed to the Son, that He is therefore an inferior God.

St. Teresa of Avila (book_of_foundations.txt):

If a sister shall in anger threaten another sister, or shall raise her hand, or anything else, to strike her, let the penalty of the grievous fault be doubled for her.

St. Teresa of Avila (book_of_foundations.txt):

A more grievous fault is, if any one shall dare to.

dispute in an unmannerly way, or to speak un- civilly to the mother prioress or the president.

“ That is, those who take the first opportunity of acknowledging and asking forgiveness for their fault are punished less severely than those who wait until they have been publicly accused by another.

CONSTITUTIONS 445

2. If any one maliciously strikes her sister, such an one, in the very act, lies under sentence of

Extended Doctrinal Analysis

T4.S.031 (De fide (defined dogma)): The acts of the penitent — contrition, confession, and satisfaction — are the quasi-matter of the Sacrament of Penance. Perfect contrition, arising from the love of God, reconciles the sinner to God even before the actual reception of the sacrament, provided it includes the desire to confess.

T4.S.034 (De fide (defined dogma)): The confession of all mortal sins according to their species and number, so far as they are remembered after diligent examination of conscience, is required by divine law and is necessary for salvation.

T4.S.035 (De fide (defined dogma)): Attrition — imperfect contrition arising from a consideration of the ugliness of sin or from the fear of hell and punishment — is a true and profitable sorrow. It suffices for the valid reception of the Sacrament of Penance, provided it excludes the will to sin and includes the hope of forgiveness.

T4.S.039 (sententia_certa): The Sacrament of Penance can be received repeatedly and as often as a Christian falls into sin. Unlike the sacraments that imprint a character, Penance imposes no limit on the number of times it may be received, and the faithful are encouraged to confess frequently.

Additional Sources

St. John of the Cross (ascent_of_mount_carmel.txt):

How joy in them is to be directed unto God ., . .

CHAPTER XXX. The evils resulting from the will’s rejoicing in this kind of goods, - 334 CHAPTER XXXI. The benefits of self-denial in the joy of supernatural graces

• 329

° . . 349

x CONTENTS,

PAG CHAPTER XXXII. o

The sixth kind of goods in which the will ae Their nature. The first division ofthem . : . ee + 342 CHAPTER XXXIII. Of the spiritual goods distinctly cognisable by the understanding and the

St. John of the Cross (ascent_of_mount_carmel.txt):

The ‘Ascent’ deals with the active purgation of the senses, the intellect and the will, that is with the need for, and the manner of, the complete mortification of these, as far as under the grace of God it depends on the power of man. The ‘Obscure Night’ treats of the passive purgation of the same faculties, brought about by Divine intervention which steps in where human endeavours fail.

St. Francis de Sales (03_catholic_controversy.txt):

This is the perfect Communion of Saints, for it is the food common to angels, and sainted souls in Paradise, and ourselves ; it is the true bread of which all Christians participate. The forgiveness of sins^ the author of forgiveness being there, is confirmed; the seed of our resurrection sown, life everlasting bestowed.

St. Francis de Sales (03_catholic_controversy.txt):

The forgiveness of sins^ the author of forgiveness being there, is confirmed; the seed of our resurrection sown, life everlasting bestowed. Where do you find contradiction in this holy analogy of faith ?

St. Ignatius of Loyola (autobiography_oconor_1900.txt):

On the third day, however, which was Tuesday, while standing in prayer, the remembrance of his sins came back to him. One suggested another, until he passed in review, one after another, all his past sins. He then thought he ought to repeat his general confession.

Church Fathers (Confessiones_english.txt):

Chapter XI.—Being Troubled by His Grievous Errors, He Meditates Entering on a New Life. 18.

Church Fathers (Confessiones_english.txt):

Perchance, then, even as meat is in ruminating brought up out of the belly, so by calling to mind are these educed from the memory.

Catechism sources (PD) (baltimore_catechism.txt):

"Mother of God," because her Son was true God and true man in the one person of Christ, Our Lord. "Pray for us," because she has more power with her Son than all the other saints.

Catechism sources (PD) (baltimore_catechism.txt):

He arose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. A creed is a definite list or summary of all the things one believes.