Whether the Sacrament of Penance May Be Repeated?
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.
Obj. 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.
Obj. 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.
Obj. 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.
Obj. 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.
Obj. 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 Luke 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 Matt. 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 (Matt. 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
Second Part (II, Q. 24, A. 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 (Gen.
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 Paralip. 37 [*Prayer of Manasses,
among the Apocrypha. St. Thomas is evidently quoting from memory, and
omits the words in brackets.]): "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 Obj. 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 Obj. 2: Ambrose is speaking of solemn Penance, which is not
repeated in the Church, as we shall state further on (Suppl., Q. 28,
A. 2).
Reply Obj. 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 Obj. 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 Obj. 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 Obj. 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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