Consideration — On the Confession of the Retreat
The direct purpose of the first days of the retreat is to purify the soul of all guilt of sin and all attachment to sin. For this purpose the Sacrament of Penance is the most efficient means, and the confession of sins is an integral part of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.
I
Confession may be of three kinds: a general confession of one’s whole life, or a considerable portion of one’s life; the ordinary, or weekly confession; and thirdly the annual or semi-annual review, which is of rule in many religious institutions.
1. A general confession is obligatory if the preceding confessions have been badly made; it is useful at the age when a child has been fully instructed in its religious duties; when a person enters on a permanent state of life, and perhaps once more, when one approaches the portals of eternity. The anxiety entertained by some souls to repeat their general confessions over and over again is most unreasonable; it fosters scrupulosity and is injurious to spiritual progress.
2. In the ordinary, or weekly, confessions, which, in the case of religious, rarely include a mortal sin, earnest care must be taken that one or more real sins, recently or formerly committed, be confessed, so that matter be presented for absolution; and also that there be elicited an act of supernatural contrition for those sins, or at least for some one of them. Else the Sacrament would be invalid, for real supernatural contrition is one of its essential parts.
3. An annual or semi-annual review of the weekly confessions affords marked advantages, especially when it is made during the retreat: a. Faults are thus likely to be noticed which attracted little attention at other times. As when a ray of sunshine enters into a rather dark room, and reveals more dust on the furniture than was noticed before, so the Divine light of grace, entering the soul during the Exercises, discovers various defects of which there had been no clear perception. That is a good occasion to obtain pardon for them.
b. When our faults are thus seen together, they are apt to arouse more contrition, and thus secure more entire pardon.
c. Such a review gives us a clearer knowledge of ourselves and shows us what defects we should chiefly labor to correct.
II
To prepare for such a review, we should consider those sins especially which are more likely to be committed by religious. In mentioning them we shall follow the order of the Decalogue.
The First Commandment regards the worship of God. Under this head come wilful distractions or negligences in prayer, which may spoil considerable parts of our spiritual exercises; disrespectful handling of holy things, and the unworthy reception of the Sacraments. This last sin is of course rare among religious, but very grievous if it should occur; for it bears the guilt of sacrilege.
The Second Commandment requires the observance of our vows. The vow of poverty is violated when a religious disposes of any temporal goods without permission of his superior, acting as if it were his own property. That of chastity attaches to the violation of the sixth and ninth commandments the additional guilt of sacrilege. The vow of obedience is violated when a religious refuses or neglects to do what he is commanded to do under obedience, or does what he is thus forbidden.
The Third Commandment is not likely to be violated by religious.
The Fourth Commandment obliges subjects to reverence and obey their superiors when they mean to impose an obligation of conscience; and they must be supposed to mean it when the good of souls or the glory of God requires them thus to use their authority. A precept of obedience in virtue of the vow is rarely imposed; but commands in matters of some importance derive from the natural law power to oblige any subjects to obey their lawful superiors, independently of any vow. If serious consequences are likely to follow from the violation of the command, the sin may be grievous.
The Fifth Commandment says: “Thou shalt not kill,” and forbids all wilful injury to another’s or to one’s own body. Of course religious are not likely to injure others violently; but this commandment may be violated in many other ways. One may neglect his own health or injure it by indiscretion in the use of food and drink, thus bringing on diseases by which many a life is shortened. A superior or an infirmarian may neglect the proper care of sick or delicate persons, a pastor or teacher that of school children, etc. Injury done to the souls of others by scandal, or bad example, may also be considered under this commandment; and there are very many ways of giving scandal.
The Fifth Commandment also forbids quarrelling, unreasonable anger, hatred and revenge. A religious teacher, for instance, must be careful that, when obliged to punish children, he does not allow himself to be prompted by passion; and revenge is totally opposed to the spirit of Christ.
The Sixth Commandment forbids any act of impurity wilfully committed; and it has this peculiarity that it admits of no slight matter, but the sin is always grievous when the impure pleasure is sought or admitted with full knowledge and full consent.
The Seventh Commandment forbids stealing and all injustice done to others in their material possessions. The religious state is a strong protection against these sins; still it does not make them impossible. It may happen that a religious does not fulfill all the conditions of a contract; as for instance, when a teacher neglects his class or some of his pupils, so that these do not really get the value of the tuition charges.
The Eighth Commandment enjoins both truthfulness and regard for another’s good name. A lie is never allowed, and mental reservations must not be used but for good reasons, lest human intercourse lose the charm and security of mutual confidence.
Any lessening of another’s good name without sufficient reason is sinful, and it is doubly so when the accusation is false; even a rash judgment or suspicion is wrong, yet it may be mistaken without being rash. The great rule is: “See thou never do to another what thou wouldst hate to have done to thee by another” (Tob. iv, 16).
The Ninth and Tenth Commandments forbid sinful thoughts and desires in matters forbidden by the Sixth and Seventh Commandments. On this point St. Ignatius remarks that when an evil thought is promptly dismissed, there is merit, not sin; and if it returns again and again and is always resisted, there is more and more merit. But a venial sin is committed when one listens to the evil suggestion so as to dwell a little on it, or to admit some carnal delight, or to be somewhat negligent in rejecting it. A grievous sin supposes that the thought or desire is fully consented to.