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Objection 1: It would seem that confession nowise delivers from
punishment. For sin deserves no punishment but what is either eternal
or temporal. Now eternal punishment is remitted by contrition, and
temporal punishment by satisfaction. Therefore nothing of the
punishment is remitted by confession.
Objection 2: Further, "the will is taken for the deed" [Can.
Magna Pietas, De Poenit., Dist. i], as stated in the text
(Sent. iv, D, 17). Now he that is contrite has the intention
to confess. wherefore his intention avails him as though he had already
confessed, and so the confession which he makes afterwards remits no
part of the punishment.
On the contrary, Confession is a penal work. But all penal works
expiate the punishment due to sin. Therefore confession does also.
I answer that, Confession together with absolution has the power to
deliver from punishment, for two reasons. First, from the power of
absolution itself: and thus the very desire of absolution delivers a
man from eternal punishment, as also from the guilt. Now this
punishment is one of condemnation and total banishment: and when a man
is delivered therefrom he still remains bound to a temporal punishment,
in so far as punishment is a cleansing and perfecting remedy; and so
this punishment remains to be suffered in Purgatory by those who also
have been delivered from the punishment of hell. Which temporal
punishment is beyond the powers of the penitent dwelling in this world,
but is so far diminished by the power of the keys, that it is within
the ability of the penitent, and he is able, by making satisfaction,
to cleanse himself in this life. Secondly, confession diminishes the
punishment in virtue of the very nature of the act of the one who
confesses, for this act has the punishment of shame attached to it, so
that the oftener one confesses the same sins, the more is the
punishment diminished.
This suffices for the Reply to the First Objection.
Reply to Objection 2: The will is not taken for the deed, if this
is done by another, as in the case of Baptism: for the will to
receive Baptism is not worth as much as the reception of Baptism.
But a man's will is taken for the deed, when the latter is something
done by him, entirely. Again, this is true of the essential reward,
but not of the removal of punishment and the like, which come under the
head of accidental and secondary reward. Consequently one who has
confessed and received absolution will be less punished in Purgatory
than one who has gone no further than contrition.
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