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Objection 1: It would seem that the sacrament of Penance should not
be repeated. For the Apostle says (Heb. 6:4, seqq.): "It
is impossible for those, who were once illuminated, have tasted also
the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost . . .
and are fallen away, to be renewed again to penance." Now whosoever
have done penance, have been illuminated, and have received the gift
of the Holy Ghost. Therefore whosoever sin after doing penance,
cannot do penance again.
Objection 2: Further, Ambrose says (De Poenit. ii): "Some
are to be found who think they ought often to do penance, who take
liberties with Christ: for if they were truly penitent, they would
not think of doing penance over again, since there is but one Penance
even as there is but one Baptism." Now Baptism is not repeated.
Neither, therefore, is Penance to be repeated.
Objection 3: Further, the miracles whereby our Lord healed bodily
diseases, signify the healing of spiritual diseases, whereby men are
delivered from sins. Now we do not read that our Lord restored the
sight to any blind man twice, or that He cleansed any leper twice, or
twice raised any dead man to life. Therefore it seems that He does
not twice grant pardon to any sinner.
Objection 4: Further, Gregory says (Hom. xxxiv in Evang.):
"Penance consists in deploring past sins, and in not committing again
those we have deplored": and Isidore says (De Summo Bono ii):
"He is a mocker and no penitent who still does what he has repented
of." If, therefore, a man is truly penitent, he will not sin
again. Therefore Penance cannot be repeated.
Objection 5: Further, just as Baptism derives its efficacy from
the Passion of Christ, so does Penance. Now Baptism is not
repeated, on account of the unity of Christ's Passion and death.
Therefore in like manner Penance is not repeated.
Objection 6: Further, Ambrose says on Ps. 118:58, "I
entreated Thy face," etc., that "facility of obtaining pardon is
an incentive to sin." If, therefore, God frequently grants pardon
through Penance, it seems that He affords man an incentive to sin,
and thus He seems to take pleasure in sin, which is contrary to His
goodness. Therefore Penance cannot be repeated.
On the contrary, Man is induced to be merciful by the example of
Divine mercy, according to Lk. 6:36: "Be ye . . .
merciful, as your Father also is merciful." Now our Lord commanded
His disciples to be merciful by frequently pardoning their brethren who
had sinned against them; wherefore, as related in Mt. 18:21,
when Peter asked: "How often shall my brother off end against me,
and I forgive him? till seven times?" Jesus answered: "I say not
to thee, till seven times, but till seventy times seven times."
Therefore also God over and over again, through Penance, grants
pardon to sinners, especially as He teaches us to pray (Mt.
6:12): "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that
trespass against us."
I answer that, As regards Penance, some have erred, saying that a
man cannot obtain pardon of his sins through Penance a second time.
Some of these, viz. the Novatians, went so far as to say that he
who sins after the first Penance which is done in Baptism, cannot be
restored again through Penance. There were also other heretics who,
as Augustine relates in De Poenitentia [De vera et falsa
Poenitentia, the authorship of which is unknown], said that, after
Baptism, Penance is useful, not many times, but only once.
These errors seem to have arisen from a twofold source: first from not
knowing the nature of true Penance. For since true Penance requires
charity, without which sins are not taken away, they thought that
charity once possessed could not be lost, and that, consequently,
Penance, if true, could never be removed by sin, so that it should
be necessary to repeat it. But this was refuted in the SS,
Question 24, Article 11, where it was shown that on account of
free-will charity, once possessed, can be lost, and that,
consequently, after true Penance, a man can sin mortally.
Secondly, they erred in their estimation of the gravity of sin. For
they deemed a sin committed by a man after he had received pardon, to
be so grave that it could not be forgiven. In this they erred not only
with regard to sin which, even after a sin has been forgiven, can be
either more or less grievous than the first, which was forgiven, but
much more did they err against the infinity of Divine mercy, which
surpasses any number and magnitude of sins, according to Ps.
50:1,2: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great
mercy: and according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out
my iniquity." Wherefore the words of Cain were reprehensible, when
he said (Gn. 4:13): "My iniquity is greater than that I may
deserve pardon." And so God's mercy, through Penance, grants
pardon to sinners without any end, wherefore it is written (2 Paral
37 [Prayer of Manasses]): "Thy merciful promise is
unmeasurable and unsearchable . . . (and Thou repentest) for the
evil brought upon man." It is therefore evident that Penance can be
repeated many times.
Reply to Objection 1: Some of the Jews thought that a man could be
washed several times in the laver of Baptism, because among them the
Law prescribed certain washing-places where they were wont to cleanse
themselves repeatedly from their uncleannesses. In order to disprove
this the Apostle wrote to the Hebrews that "it is impossible for
those who were once illuminated," viz. through Baptism, "to be
renewed again to penance," viz. through Baptism, which is "the
laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Ghost," as stated
in Titus 3:5: and he declares the reason to be that by Baptism man
dies with Christ, wherefore he adds (Heb. 6:6): "Crucifying
again to themselves the Son of God."
Reply to Objection 2: Ambrose is speaking of solemn Penance,
which is not repeated in the Church, as we shall state further on
(XP, Question 28, Article 2).
Reply to Objection 3: As Augustine says [De vera et falsa
Poenitentia the authorship of which is unknown], "Our Lord gave
sight to many blind men at various times, and strength to many infirm,
thereby showing, in these different men, that the same sins are
repeatedly forgiven, at one time healing a man from leprosy and
afterwards from blindness. For this reason He healed so many stricken
with fever, so many feeble in body, so many lame, blind, and
withered, that the sinner might not despair; for this reason He is
not described as healing anyone but once, that every one might fear to
link himself with sin; for this reason He declares Himself to be the
physician welcomed not of the hale, but of the unhealthy. What sort
of a physician is he who knows not how to heal a recurring disease?
For if a man ail a hundred times it is for the physician to heal him a
hundred times: and if he failed where others succeed, he would be a
poor physician in comparison with them."
Reply to Objection 4: Penance is to deplore past sins, and,
"while deploring them," not to commit again, either by act or by
intention, those which we have to deplore. Because a man is a mocker
and not a penitent, who, "while doing penance," does what he
repents having done, or intends to do again what he did before, or
even commits actually the same or another kind of sin. But if a man
sin afterwards either by act or intention, this does not destroy the
fact that his former penance was real, because the reality of a former
act is never destroyed by a subsequent contrary act: for even as he
truly ran who afterwards sits, so he truly repented who subsequently
sins.
Reply to Objection 5: Baptism derives its power from Christ's
Passion, as a spiritual regeneration, with a spiritual death, of a
previous life. Now "it is appointed unto man once to die" (Heb.
9:27), and to be born once, wherefore man should be baptized but
once. On the other hand, Penance derives its power from Christ's
Passion, as a spiritual medicine, which can be repeated frequently.
Reply to Objection 6: According to Augustine (De vera et falsa
Poenitentia, the authorship of which is unknown), "it is evident
that sins displease God exceedingly, for He is always ready to
destroy them, lest what He created should perish, and what He loved
be lost," viz. by despair.
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