The great means established by Christ for our peace are turned against us by scrupulosity. Here’s how to reclaim them.
Editor’s Notes
This is the fourth part of a serialisation of Fr William Doyle SJ’s guide for dealing with scrupulosity.
The sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion are the great means for overcoming scrupulosity – if they are used correctly. Fr Doyle gives concrete guidance how.
For more on Fr Doyle and this pamphlet, see Part I.
Scruples and their Treatment
Fr William Doyle
What are scruples? Fr William Doyle SJ’s guide for the scrupulous
Fixing the distorted vision of scrupulosity – Fr William Doyle SJ
Scrupulosity, Confession and Holy Communion – Fr William Doyle SJ
Confession
As the Sacrament of Penance is the great cure for scrupulosity, it is also the chief object of attack by the enemy. To meet these attacks the following points must be clearly grasped and kept in mind.
The first trouble that oftentimes is suggested by the devil with regard to confession is this: have past confessions been good? Ought they not to be made over again?
How far back should one examine and confess.
The answer is easy. Without either reflection or hesitation, the scrupulous soul must at once answer firmly: my past confessions were good. There is only one exception to this: when some past confession, clearly and before all examination, is seen to be bad, and this for reasons as clear as that two and two make four.
But, it may be objected, suppose these confessions, about which uneasiness is felt, should really have been bad? It does not matter very much. These bad confessions will be forgiven in the confession now about to be made, provided there is sorrow for all sins committed, known and unknown. Therefore, let the scrupulous soul obey God, Who, in the person of the confessor, forbids these former confessions to be repeated, and Who takes everything on Himself.
Examination of Conscience before Confession
To a scrupulous soul examination of conscience is a perfect anthill of anxieties and a real torture. This is true, whether the scrupulous soul is innocent, or has contracted habits of grievous sin, before which last is by no means rare. For the devil can mingle scruples with grave matter, while littleness of mind, joined to a timid and impressionable character, which is the source of scrupulosity, does not exclude vicious inclinations. In both cases the examination of conscience should be as simple as possible.
For the good scrupulous soul, a rapid glance over the past, since the last confession, will be sufficient and best. If grievous sin has, in the interval, been committed, it will thus be immediately perceived. This done, the obligatory examination ends, as the obligation extends to mortal sins alone. The confessor may, indeed, allow two or three minutes extra for the examination of venial or doubtful mortal sins, but the penitent must promise the confessor that he considers this a work of supererogation and in no wise of obligation.
But how is this examination to be simplified for the scrupulous sinner, that is to say, for one who falls more or less often into mortal sin? Briefly as follows.
Having first ascertained the kind of mortal sin or sins into which the penitent usually falls, the confessor will bid him consider this class or classes of sin for a few seconds, and to decide at once the probable number of times these mortal sins have certainly been committed. As has been said, this rapid glance is, for such a soul, the surest intuition of the truth, and the one least subject to perplexities. After this rapid examination on each of the habitual mortal sins, the confessor will allow his scrupulous penitent to examine for a moment as to whether he may have fallen into any other certainly grievous sins. This done, the examination of obligation is finished. If a few minutes be added for examination of venial sins, it would be well, but this is by no means of obligation.
Contrition
There is no forgiveness of sin without sorrow for sin. This sorrow is of two kinds: perfect contrition, which is sorrow for having offended God because He is so good in Himself; simple contrition or attrition, which arises from some less perfect motive than the love of God, such as the fear of hell, the loss of heaven, etc. Perfect contrition is not necessary for the Sacrament of Penance. An act of attrition is sufficient.
As the following questions relating to sorrow for sin often trouble scrupulous souls, they will be here briefly answered.
1. Is it necessary to feel sorrow?
The act of contrition is an act of the will resolved not to sin mortally. It in no way consists, therefore, either in affectionate regret or in tender feelings in the sensitive part of the soul. A dry, but firm and sincere act of the will is all that is necessary for contrition.
2. Is it necessary to have the firm purpose of avoiding all venial sin?
No attention to venial sin is necessary for contrition. Strictly speaking, every mortal sin might be forgiven without the pardon of a single venial sin. To obtain pardon of venial sin there must, of course, be sorrow for them, but venial sins for which we have either contrition or attrition may be forgiven without pardon being granted for those for which we have no sorrow.
3. Should the act of contrition apply to each mortal sin in particular?
No; any act of contrition embracing all one’s mortal sins taken together is sufficient.
4. Can contrition be sincere when one is certain of falling back again into particular mortal sins?
However great our weakness or the force of temptation, we are never absolutely certain of falling back into mortal sin. On the contrary, faith teaches that we shall always have grace sufficient to resist, if we so will.
But no matter how sure we may feel that we shall fall back again into sin, our actual sorrow is none the less good, provided that at the present moment our purpose of amendment is sincere. If we are prepared here and now never to commit mortal sin, our will is right, and anything that comes later to turn it in the wrong direction does not interfere with its present proper disposition.
5. When should the act of contrition be made?
The penitent should make his act of contrition during his preparation for confession, since at the moment of absolution a scrupulous soul is usually so troubled that the act of sorrow is not made attentively.
Accusation
The accusation must be made short, for it is here that fancies and scruples are apt to multiply. The rule of despising doubts must be applied in a broad-minded manner, the confessor imposing brevity, obeyed, and the longing for a fuller accusation in order to secure greater security mortified. Let the penitent accuse himself honestly, and tell everything simply as it appears in the mind. Let him not go back on what has been said, even if it is perceived that inadvertently the exact truth has not been told.
According to the Council of Trent and the surest theology, one is only obliged to confess sins which one is certain are mortal, that is to say, the grave guilt of which is as certain as it is that two and two make four. Sins, mortal in themselves, but which are committed in doubt, are not necessary matter for confession. In the same way sins clearly mortal and clearly committed, but probably already confessed, need not be mentioned. Finally, one is not obliged to confess any aggravating circumstances, no matter how great, unless it change the nature of the sin.
Absolution
May a scrupulous soul refuse absolution? Nothing is more diabolical in a scrupulous soul than the refusal of absolution. Absolution is consented to at times, but on condition that the confessor allow this or that caprice. It is thus the demon becomes the “judge” of this most necessary sacrament, for is it not he who excites the imagination of the poor soul, and fills it with terror? He attaches tremendous importance to this prerogative of judge of absolution which is so foolishly given him, because it gives him a ready means of entangling the scrupulous soul still more hopelessly in his nets, besides depriving it of pardon and grace.
Why should absolution be feared when God, by the mouth of His priest, commands its reception, when He asserts its validity, when He takes all the responsibility, and declares that to refuse it is contrary to common sense?
After Confession
A victory is changed into defeat if, by a skilful manoeuvre, the opposing general should succeed in leading the victorious troops to imagine the battle lost. This is what often happens to the scrupulous soul after a really good confession. It is lost if it lend an ear to Satan, who will try to transform into a sacrilege the excellent confession made.
In fact, leaving the confessional is for the scrupulous soul like walking into an ambush where the enemy lies waiting. The preparation for confession, the examination of conscience, the accusation, the words exchanged with the confessor, the contrition, the absolution, in short, everything which goes to make up the sacrament becomes a flock of scruples, which Satan stirs into dangerous activity at the least examination imprudently made. There is no foolish longing the evil one does not excite, no false motive he does not suggest, in order to lead the poor soul to examine into the confession just made.
A decisive battle is then fought. If the soul remains in peace and decides that his confession was good, he is saved; an absolution received and believed valid through obedience is a long step towards the overthrow of scrupulosity. If, on the contrary, the confession is condemned as “invalid”, or at least if the poor soul remain tormented by the thought of sacrilege, the evil will become worse; he will fall into despair, because in his eyes the only efficacious remedy for his trouble, which is confession, has been changed into poison.
Consequently, on leaving the confessional, let the scrupulous soul observe the two following directions:
To refrain from any examination under any pretext whatsoever, either as to the confession itself, or any of its accompanying acts, such as preparation, contrition, etc.
In spite of the “gravest reasons” he may have for suspecting the validity of his confession, contrition, etc., once he is not as evidently certain as he is that two and two make four, that this sacrament was unworthily received, he must boldly decide, and this without examination, that his confession was entirely good in spite of contrary impressions.
Cure of Scruples by Receiving Holy Communion
When there is question of levelling a newly made road, the coarse stones are crushed by a steamroller. Such a levelling or crushing in the case of a scrupulous soul is best accomplished by frequent Communion. Because each Communion means a definite victory over a scrupulous disposition disposed to throw a thousand difficulties in the way; it means a casting aside of vain fears, a gain in trust and confidence in God, a strengthening of the will in whose proper use complete victory must finally lie.
Again, the repeated reception of the Blessed Eucharist by scrupulous souls produces other good effects. It gives joy to the heart, and a delightful consciousness of its union with God. This does away with sadness and the false impression that the soul is not right with its Creator, an impression, which scruples frequently produce. Lastly, the facility with which Holy Communion is often received is the surest and most consoling sign that scrupulosity is killed forever.
The scrupulous soul, therefore, should receive Holy Communion as often as his confessor directs. Let him obey blindly, treading under foot all uneasiness and uncertainty, however great it may be, of having perhaps sinned mortally since absolution. He must go to the altar rails after making a simple act of contrition, as he has been ordered, without seeking any other confessor. The promptitude of his cure and a delightful peace will soon be the reward of his obedience.
Storm the Forerunner of Lasting Calm
The scrupulous are nearly always inclined to discouragement, and even to despair, in the course of the treatment just explained.
“I have been promised solid peace,” they say, “as the reward of this painful treatment, but instead of calm it has greatly increased my disquiet of soul.”
They speak quite truly. The uneasiness and trouble of soul they complain of are inevitable in the beginning of the treatment, and even when it is almost ended. But these storms foretell a lasting calm which will soon follow. A little thought will convince of this, besides explaining the painful process through which the scrupulous soul is passing to peace.
All the treatment to be undergone by the scrupulous person is of a nature to produce at first great agitation. How could it be otherwise? How could the supports, on which his sickly security leant since childhood, be cut away without pain? How could he renounce everything that brought peace, such as it was, without feeling it intensely; for instance, exaggerating faults, repeating the same accusations, keeping away from Holy Communion for greater security, etc.?
Besides, Satan is on the watch to make sin of, to turn into horrible acts, the most lawful liberties. The devil knows that all is now at stake; he is conscious that his victim is slipping from his grasp. Feeling that his long tyranny over this poor soul is about to cease, seeing himself driven from a house where he was master so long, is it wonderful that he should shake it to its very foundations, just as he shakes and convulses the body of a possessed person out of which he is driven by an exorcism?
In almost every undertaking, be it human or supernatural, we must, according to the words of the Psalmist: “Sow in tears to reap in joy” (Ps. 125:5). And St. Paul says:
“Now all chastisement for the present indeed seems not to bring with it joy but sorrow; but afterwards it will yield to them that are exercised by it the most peaceful fruit of justice.” (Heb. 12:2)
The first effect of a serious operation is an increase of pain and discomfort. Now, the treatment of scrupulosity is equivalent to a series of painful amputations. It lops off one by one those foolish safeguards with which the scrupulous soul had surrounded itself, and which had become a kind of second nature to it. Small wonder, therefore, that pain and distress should result.
Yet this suffering which is experienced is the very best sign that the evil malady is being removed and that a cure is being effected. Consequently, instead of losing courage, the penitent should only redouble both efforts and confidence, assured that the treatment is producing lasting effects, effects foreseen and foretold by those who understand the spiritual life.
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Scruples and their Treatment – Fr William Doyle
What are scruples? Fr William Doyle SJ’s guide for the scrupulous
Fixing the distorted vision of scrupulosity – Fr William Doyle SJ
Scrupulosity, Confession and Holy Communion – Fr William Doyle SJ
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4. Can contrition be sincere when one is certain of falling back again into particular mortal sins?
It's surprisingly simple to overcome this, and all that needs be done is ask a simple question.
Do you think you are going to lose the game, or are you planning to throw the game?
If you're planning to throw the game, you don't have contrition. But no matter how certain you are you are about to lose - even if you feel like a toddler going into a match with a national-level player - as long as you're planning to play the game, you have contrition.
Fr Doyle is so good, great series, thank you.
Somehow I wonder what he would have advised a penitent who harbored doubts about the validity of the confession, not for the reasons enumerated, but because of doubt about the validity of the confessor's orders.