Chances are, if you are a modern day Catholic and at all serious about saving your soul, you may have encountered administrative elements of the Church who may not prioritize your situation as seriously as you do. To illustrate this further, take for instance the penitent who has experienced conversion, and who has awakened to the need for confession — perhaps regular confession, or maybe for the sake of our illustration, for immediate, same-day confession. Perhaps this same penitent is having this experience in a diocese with limited confession times, or at least, with hard-to-reach Priests. Furthermore, perhaps that penitent picks up the phone, gets in touch with a parish secretary and is told that Father is unavailable for confessions until the end of week so you should come back then.

This unfortunate circumstance is far too common. It’s not the exception as much as the rule, even though we are taught from an early age that Heaven and Hell are really real and that un-confessed, un-repented mortal sin has dire consequences for our eternal destination. In philosophical terms, we are presented with a paradox: a penitent in need of the Sacrament, who is taught by his ministers that he may find himself in critical need for it one day, and yet is unable to find ministers who are willing to administer the sacrament when that day comes.

Of course, the exceptions to this rule abound as many of us have crossed paths with those holy men of God who treat the things of eternity with utmost importance here and now, whenever a soul is in the dire straits of mortal sin. Let us thank and bless God daily for such men, and pray and fast for more of them. 

While the situation illustrated above is widely experienced, several years ago an uncommon and unprecedented situation affected all of us — whether we were in the state of Grace or not. The Covid-19 lockdowns created a prolonged scenario where every Catholic’s common reality was utter sacramental scarcity, and it goes without saying but this was surely a turning point in our Catholic history and quite possibly an unfortunate end for many people who died without the sacraments during that time.

What Can We Do If We Can’t Get To Confession?

And so, we come to our key question: what can we do if we can’t get to confession? What happens when we find ourselves in the unfortunate state of Mortal Sin, but without the ability or opportunity to confess it to a priest? What happens if, God forbid, they close the churches again?

A few centuries ago, most of Europe found itself in a shortage of the Sacraments when whole cities and nations in Christendom revolted against the Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation. During this time, the elites and rulers of the day determined their people’s allegiance to the Catholic and Apostolic Faith and many people were automatically cut off from the sacraments due to the apostasy of their political and religious leaders. The Council of Trent, which was the Church’s answer to the would-be reformers, wrote extensively on the answer to our question. What can we do if we can’t get to confession? The Church’s answer: perfect contrition.

The Council of Trent says, “The penitent, through perfect contrition, accompanied by the desire of confession, has already obtained remission of his sins from God” (Roman Catechism, Part 2 Section 4, Penance), in that same section, the holy council also writes, “since God is most desirous of our salvation, He will not delay to pardon us. With a father’s fondness, He embraces the sinner the moment he enters into himself, turns to the Lord, and having detested all his sins, resolves that later on, as far as he is able, he will call them singly to mind and confess them.” (Ibid.) This is good news for the penitent, because it means that even if the first opportunity for confession is days away (or, in the case of the dying penitent who is without the sacraments, a completely out of reach prospect) he can, as soon as now, begin beseeching God for the Grace of perfect contrition and if it pleases God, attain it— though sacramental confession is still required if there is time and opportunity.

Perfect contrition is, as the name implies, the perfect movement of contrition in the soul. This is only possible with God’s help, and has the ability to pardon our sins even before we go to Confession. Although Sacramental Confession is to be encouraged and sought as our ordinary means of forgiveness, in times when the sacraments are scarce, we must pray frequently to obtain perfect contrition.

It is when we have sorrow and detestation for sin committed, “because thou art all good and deserving of all my love,” as the Act of Contrition says, that contrition is mobilized to perfection. This is distinct from imperfect contrition, which the Council of Trent describes as “attrition, since it commonly arises either from the consideration of the heinousness of sin or from the fear of hell and of punishment.” (Council of Trent, Section 14, Ch 4, Contrition)

A Resource To Help Understand Perfect Contrition

The Magdalena Prayer Book introduces the faithful to a deepened understanding of perfect contrition (and spiritual communion) rooted in magisterial and scriptural wisdom, guiding them to reach deep into their hearts and develop genuine sorrow for past and present sins and unite themselves spiritually to the Holy Eucharist as often as possible. Amidst limited access to the Sacraments, The Magdalena Prayer Book emerges as a vital resource, offering devotions and insights that complement the journey of a repentant sinner, providing solace and guidance in the absence of, or as a supplement for, Sacramental Confession and Communion. 

The structure of The Magdalena Prayer Book is driven by what the Council of Trent refers to as “the conditions” for perfect contrition. Much like the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love, we cannot attain perfect contrition without the intervention of Grace. While God initiates and completes the process, we are called to actively cooperate with His movements. One of the ways we can cooperate is to get the conditions right in the soil of our soul for Him to plant the seeds of conversion and bring them to an abundant harvest. It’s these conditions which structure the devotions of The Magdalena Prayer Book. Each condition, as outlined and described by the Council of Trent, is a separate section of devotions, and running through each one are prayers to the Church’s penitential Saints and other prayers which have been curated to fit the spiritual themes of each section/condition. 

Furthermore, each of the conditions connects quite beautifully to one or more of the seven penitential Psalms (in the Douay-Rheims translation: Psalms 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, 142). These Psalms are identified as “penitential” by the Tradition of the Church and the editors of the Douay-Rheims Bible due to the fact that they deal specifically with the heart of the penitent seeking God’s mercy. The Magdalena Prayer Book also organizes these Psalms according to the conditions for perfect contrition and places them at the heart of each section, thus giving the wandering penitent resources from Tradition, the Magisterium, and Sacred Scripture as formidable and helpful guides. 

In the midst of administrative shortsightedness or worse, The Magdalena Prayer Book doesn’t merely acknowledge the penitent’s struggle; it actively empowers him to navigate it, providing a meaningful and transformative bridge to God, even when immediate access to the sacraments proves challenging.

Image: Photo by Jacob Bentzinger on Unsplash