Prayer

My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In His name, my God, have mercy. Amen.

The Act of Contrition is usually associated with the Sacrament of Confession, but Catholics should also pray it every day as part of their normal prayer life. Recognizing our sins is an important part of our spiritual growth. Unless we acknowledge our sins and ask for God's forgiveness, we cannot receive the grace that we need to become better Christians.

In the Act of Contrition, we acknowledge our sins, ask God for forgiveness, and express our desire to repent. Our sins are an offense against God, Who is perfect goodness and love. We regret our sins not just because, left unconfessed and unrepented, they can prevent us from entering Heaven, but because we recognize that those sins are our rebellion against our Creator. He not only created us out of a perfect love; He sent His only begotten Son into the world to save us from our sins after we rebelled against Him.

Our sorrow for our sins, expressed in the first half of the Act of Contrition, is only the beginning, however. True contrition means more than just being sorry for the sins of the past; it means working hard to avoid those and other sins in the future. In the second half of the Act of Contrition, we express a desire to do just that, and to use the Sacrament of Confession to help us do so. And we acknowledge that we cannot avoid sin on our own - we need God's grace to live as He wishes us to live.