Nurture a Habit of Contrition

Amanda Lawrence shares five ideas to contemplate as you seek to cultivate a contrite heart.

Imagine having your very own chapel!

For Isabella Stewart Gardner, that dream was a reality. Mrs. Gardner was a devout Anglo-Catholic from New York. I spent the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary at her glorious museum in Boston. The building surrounds a glass-covered garden courtyard. When my son entered the chamber for the first time, his eyes went wide and his mouth agape.

“Wow,” he said with an expression of surprise and admiration found on the faces of anyone encountering God in the wild. Radical amazement like that is a divine gift that requires childlike faith and a contrite heart. My teenager is a blessing whose presence frequently reminds me of this fact.

I relished his reaction until I arrived on the museum's third floor. It took my breath away.

A consecrated altar sits at the far south end of the Long Gallery. Mrs. Gardner directed in her will that a memorial Mass takes place in that sanctuary each year on her birthday, April 14. This has occurred every year since Mrs. Gardner's death in 1924.

Inside Mrs. Gardner’s God-filled chapel, among portraits of Christ, I meditated on that morning’s Gospel readings before a magnificent Gothic stained-glass window from the cathedral of Soissons in France.

In Matthew 23:13-22, Jesus experiences major frustration with critics who just don’t get His message and, in doing so, are hurting others. I thought about times I might be a cause of the Lord’s annoyance. And the people I know attempting to padlock heaven with their ideas and desires. I couldn’t help pondering how regularly I’ve encountered it. How frequently are we, ourselves, the blind fools leading our peers astray? More often than not, unfortunately.

Apologizing isn’t always easy. It requires swallowing one’s pride, accepting fault, and striving to do better next time. Whether confessing for the first time or the four-hundredth, admitting wrongdoing can be challenging. Still, forgiveness is necessary, and people deserve to know we’re remorseful for our actions. A sincere apology is one of the most profound gifts anyone could give me. God is no different. Our sins hurt Him, so we encounter His grace in the Sacrament of Confession.

Rather than stewing on the wrongdoings of hypocrites in my life, I switched gears and meditated through a contemplative lens of Gospel readings on five simple facts.

Being a child of Gehenna is easier than we think.

Choosing Hell isn’t hard. All it takes is not desiring God.

God knows why each of us struggles. He arms us with grace and endless opportunities to choose Him in our brokenness. Nevertheless, not everyone will embrace Him. Ask yourself: Am I doing God’s will? And when I fail, do I seek repentance in the confessional?

God manifests His goodness within us while we’re alive. And sometimes, as with Isabella Gardner, even after our death!

God gifts us grace and glory before sending us into the world for a reason. We cherish others because He loved us first. It’s never hard to find God when things are going great, and we feel happy, healthy, and safe. But during the days when we don’t feel loved, or our cherished ones are struggling, it’s not so easy.

Sometimes we have to squint really hard to see God through the turmoil, but He is always there, often gazing at us through the eyes of someone we’ve let down or rejected. Perhaps that person was a gateway to grace that we overlooked. When we cannot see good in the world, we must strive to emulate Christ and be the good we lack. That way, others see what we believe.

Heaven's blessed and majestic beauty awaits those who work for it.

Think about the calmest, most beautiful moment of your existence. Whether it’s a warm summer day or a brisk winter night, that’s a tiny glimpse into the eternal tranquility of heaven. Spiritual growth isn’t easy; it’s full of frustration, anxiety, and sin. We can’t force it. We must work for it daily.

However, many neglect heavenly peace to please others. They become too worldly, too political, or too interested in anything other than God. Human vanity and contemptible earthly matters are constantly impeding Heaven’s treasures. Contrition, mercy, and love line us up for the pearly gates.

Ask yourself: do I allow worldly things to impede God’s grace?

Death is imminent and shrouded in uncertainty.

Death is one definite thing humans have in common. The rich and poor, the famous and the reclusive, the editors, writers, painters, and poets; we are all destined to die. Nobody knows when or how, and while that may seem a morbid contemplation, it’s one that repeatedly humbles me enough to embrace my struggles with a veil of gratitude—because I’m alive to experience them.

God desires to spend eternity with us.

Eternity is our choice. We can spend it with or without God.

However, He is always urging us on with countless graces to focus our attention on repentance. In sin, we turn away from Him; in the sacrament of reconciliation, He welcomes us back with open arms.

Confession restores our relationship with God and His Church.

When we know we’re forgiven, it’s easier for us to forgive others.

Perfect contrition for our sins allows us to grow in intimacy with God. When we accept God's forgiveness, we absolve others readily and more completely. And in doing so, we choose eternity with the Lord in His prepared paradise.

Hell’s worst suffering is separation from God.

Meditate on that whenever life feels too busy for a trip to the confessional!

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Perfect contrition for our sins allows us to grow in intimacy with God. #catholicmom

Copyright 2022 Amanda Lawrence
Images: Canva