AN ACT OF CONTRITION

O my God! I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all
my sins, because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but
most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and
deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace,
to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.

The substance of this act is: O my God! I am very sorry for all my sins,
because by them I have offended Thee, and with Thy help, I will never
sin again. It is well to know what the acts contain in substance, for we
can use these short forms as aspirations during the day, when we
probably would not think of saying the long forms. A fuller explanation
of the qualities of our contrition will be given in Lesson Eighteen.