Contrition is sorrow for having offended God through sin. There are two types of contrition, perfect contrition and imperfect contrition. When we have perfect contrition, our sorrow for sin is out of the love for God, who is all good and who out of His love created us out of nothing. Conversely, when we have imperfect contrition, our sorrow for sin is because of fear of punishment. Put another way, imperfect contrition is sorrow for sin because of the fear of the loss of heaven and the pains of hell.
Without contrition there is no remission of sins. Therefore since we are all sinners, should not our hearts be inspired to contrition when we sin? It is good to consider here that contrition is not just to be found in our emotions or our feelings, but that contrition is essentially an act of the will. Just as love is an act of the will and not just to be found in our feelings or moods. We may very well “feel” sorrow or regret for our sins, but it is through our will that sorrow or regret for our sins is expressed in contrition.
The ordinary means of the forgiveness of venial and mortal sin is through the sacrament of confession. The extraordinary means of forgiveness of mortal sin is through making an act of perfect contrition, under the strict condition that we resolve to go to sacramental confession as soon as possible. It is though required that we make a sacramental confession before we can receive Holy Communion. But in the danger of death, an act of perfect contrition along with a firm intention to go to confession (should we survive) would remit mortal sin, even if we were to die before sacramental confession.
We can learn to cultivate perfect contrition by asking God for the grace to do so and making a daily examination of conscience and praying the Act of Contrition daily, as well as by meditating on the suffering and death that our sins caused to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus. Along with frequenting the sacraments, the value of striving to cultivate perfect contrition is evident. By the practice of frequent confession we make our intention sincere to go to confession the next time we have an opportunity, because if the opportunity for sacramental confession were not a possibility, such as in the danger of imminent death, perfect contrition along with the sincere intention to make a sacramental confession, would suffice for God to grant us His mercy for the sake of our salvation.