Oratio Latina · Translatio
Sorrow for sin because it offends God, with a firm purpose of amendment.
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Deus meus, ex toto corde paenitet me omnium meorum peccatorum, eaque detestor, quia peccando non solum poenas a Te iuste statutas promeritus sum, sed praesertim quia offendi Te, summum bonum ac dignum qui super omnia diligaris. Ideo firmiter propono, adiuvante gratia Tua, de cetero non peccare et proximas peccandi occasiones fugere. Amen.
O my God, I am heartily sorry for all my sins and I detest them, because by sinning I have deserved the punishments justly appointed by Thee, but most of all because I have offended Thee, the supreme Good, worthy to be loved above all things. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin. Amen.
Perfect contrition includes the resolve to seek sacramental confession as soon as possible; it is not a way of deciding that confession no longer matters. Imperfect contrition disposes a person to receive forgiveness in the sacrament but does not by itself remit grave sin. See Catechism §§1452–1453.
Trent, Session XIV, chapter IV, joins sorrow for past sin with the purpose of amendment. Read the prayer’s final promise in that light: dependence on grace and a sincere change of intention belong together. If a recurring doubt makes prayer a cycle of repeated checking, bring the difficulty to a regular confessor rather than measuring sincerity by the number of repetitions.
