What Does “Making Satisfaction” Mean?
In this post, you and I
are also challenged to respond in the way we ought according to our personal circumstances
and relationship with the One who created us, the one Who gives and Who takes. To Him be the glory in and of our lives. Following is the excerpt on making
satisfaction for our misgivings, disobedience towards Him
and towards the others
(From Joseph Tissot, How to profit from
your faults pp. 111-112).
According to St. Gregory, love cannot remain inactive: “It manifests itself in deeds.” And the recollection of our faults should be used to produce such deeds. The fervor it produces should not remain at the level of feelings. It should rule over our will and be reflected in our behavior. The sorrow of true repentance, says our beloved Saint Francis de Sales, should not so much be called sorrow as displeasure or a detestation of evil. “It is a sorrow that is never irritating or despondent, and it by no means burdens the spirit, but makes it active, prompt, and diligent. It doesn’t wound the heart but gives it an uplift through prayer and hope, and it is expressed in the fervor of devotion… Further, it is attentive and full of affection, and its purpose is to resist, reject, and prevent past and future evils” (Treatise on the Love of God, 1, 11, 21).”Our imperfections are an important part of humility and lead to generosity and confidence” (Letter 449).
The duty of giving satisfaction is the principal
lever of true penance. According to St.
Anselm, satisfaction consists in giving God due honor. For St. Augustine, satisfaction is to uproot
the causes of sin, and to give no opening to suggestions to sin St. Thomas (St.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica,
suppl. 12, a. 3) explains these two different definitions and reconciles them
in an admirable manner. But whatever be
the definition, satisfaction will always indicate the path that our
shortcomings should travel in order for us to benefit from them.
If we realize how much we have offended God by even
the smallest of our sins, then we should also recall what fervor would be
necessary to compensate for the offense caused to his Divine Majesty! Should not our faults move us to greater
fidelity in proportion to their gravity and number? This outcome would be in keeping with the
words of the prophet: Turn to him in the
measure of your having revolted (see Is 31:6).
Will not all the creatures who have schemed in our evil now use their
voices to cry out at the sins that they made us commit? Get
behind me and do not touch me. Or,
at least do not make use of me in the future, unless it is to correct your
criminal past! And should we not feel
the need to double and triple the hours God still gives us in order to make up
for lost time? From here on, let us be
patient in bearing the excruciating consequences of our sins. By hard and pious work, through
mortification, let us avenge within us the rights of God we have violated. From here on, with jealous impatience, we
will devote all our faculties and every one of our moments to him.
Hence, may you and I do
as suggested above. On Monday, the 26th,
there will be Masses in many parishes in honor of St. Josemaria, Founder
of Opus Dei. I am sure you and I will
find our way around on this day and we can ask the Saint of the Ordinary to
intercede for us in this challenge we are about to venture into: to seek
Christ, to find Christ, to love Christ in the middle of the world in our ordinary
life each and every day.
See
you in the next post, “May tomorrow be a perfect day; may
you find love and laughter along the way; may God keep you in his tender care;
‘til He brings us together again.”
Affectionately,
Guadalupinky
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