Note 149 — Chapter I · CONTRITION

“They [adults] dispose themselves for justification when, being urged and supported by God’s grace, receiving faith by hearing, they approach God of their own free will, believing that to be true which is revealed and promised by God, and especially this, that the sinner is justified by God through His grace, through the redemption in Jesus Christ; and while they acknowledge their sins, they are led by fear of the divine justice, of which they have a wholesome dread, to the consideration of God’s mercy, and thence are encouraged to hope, so that they trust that God will be gracious to them for Christ’s sake, and they will begin to love Him as the source of all justice.” Sess. VI. cp. 6; cf. can. 3: “If any one say that a man without previous inspiration of the Holy Ghost and without His help can believe, hope, love, and do penance as is required in order to attain the grace of justification, a. s.”