hold His forgiveness and would not
blot out the sins, and the boy would have a new sin of sacrilege upon
his soul; because it is a sacrilege to allow the priest to give you
absolution if you know you have not the right disposition, and you are
not trying to do all that is required for a good confession. So you
understand you might deceive the priest and receive absolution, but God
would not allow the absolution to take effect, and the sins would
remain; for if the priest knew your dispositions as God did, or as you
know them, he would not give you absolution till your dispositions
changed.

*198 Q. What do you mean by saying that our sorrow should be
supernatural?
A. When I say that our sorrow should be supernatural, I mean that it
should be prompted by the grace of God, and excited by motives which
spring from faith, and not by merely natural motives.

"Supernatural"--that is, we must be sorry for the sin on account of some
reason that God has made known to us. For example, either because our
sin is displeasing to God, or because we have lost Heaven by it, or
because we fear to be punished for it in Hell or Purgatory. But if we
are sorry for our sin only on account of some natural motive, then our
sorrow is not of the right kind. If a man was sorry for stealing only
because he was caught and had to go to prison for it, his sorrow would
only be natural. Or if a boy was sorry for telling lies only because he
got a whipping for it, his sorrow would only be natural. Or if a man was
sorry for being intoxicated because he lost his situation and injured
his health, he would not have the necessary kind of sorrow. These
persons must be sorry for stealing, lying, or being intoxicated because
all these are sins against God--things forbidden by Him and worthy of
His punishment. If we are sorry for having offended God on account of
His own goodness, our contrition is said to be perfect. If we are sorry
for the sins because by them we are in great danger of being punished by
God, or because we have lost Heaven by them, and without any regard for
God's own goodness, then our contrition is said to be imperfect.
Imperfect contrition is called attrition.

*199 Q. What do you mean by saying that our sorrow should be universal?
A. When I say that our sorrow should be universal, I mean that we should
be sorry for our mortal sins without exception.

"Universal." If a person committed ten mortal sins, and was sorry for
nine, but not for