are bound to restore ill-gotten goods, or the value of them, as
far as we are able; otherwise we cannot be forgiven.

"Ill-gotten"--that is, unjustly gotten. "Value." It sometimes happens
that persons lose or destroy the article stolen, and therefore cannot
return it. What must be done in such cases? They must give the owner the
value of it. However, when you have stolen anything and have to restore
it, you need not go to the owner and say, "Here is what I stole from
you." It is only necessary that he gets what is his own or its value. He
need not even know that it is being restored to him, unless he knows you
stole it; and then it would be better for your own good name to let him
know that you are making amends for the injustice done. Therefore, no
one need have any excuse for not restoring what he has unjustly, because
he has only to see that it is returned in some way to its owner, or to
those who have the next right to it, or to the poor. But you must
remember you cannot make restitution by giving to the poor if you can
restore to the proper owner. You must restore by giving to the poor only
when the owner cannot be found or reached. Some persons do not like the
duty of restoring to the proper owner, and think they satisfy their
obligation by giving the ill-gotten goods to the poor; but they do not.
You cannot give even in charity the goods of another without being
guilty of dishonesty. If you wish to be charitable, give from your own
goods. It is a sin to delay making restitution after you are able to
restore. You must restore just as soon as you can, because the longer
you keep the owner out of his property and its benefits, the greater the
injury you do him and the greater the sin. One who, after being told by
his confessor to make restitution, and promising to do so, still delays
or keeps putting off, runs the risk of being guilty of sacrilege by
receiving the Sacraments without proper dispositions. But suppose a
person cannot restore; suppose he lost the thing stolen and has not the
value of it. What must he do? He must have the firm resolution of
restoring as soon as he possibly can; and without this good resolution
he could not be absolved from his sins--even if he had not the real
means of restoring. The good intention and resolution will suffice till
he has really the means; but this intention must be serious, otherwise
there will be no forgiveness.

377 Q. Are we obliged to repair the damage we have unjust