New words and old words in the Order of Penance

Been to Confession yet this Lent? There are a couple of changes in the lead-in to the words of absolution that might escape notice.

Starting on Ash Wednesday, this prayer was tweaked in ways that may seem insignificant at first. The changes result from a vote of the U.S. bishops in 2021 to revise the English translation of the Order of Penance and subsequent approval from the Holy See last year.

Whereas the priest used to pray that “God, the Father of mercies, … sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins,” he now says poured out rather than sent.

That may be a more vivid term. Sent works, but poured out connotes a generous abundance, as in an outpouring of the Holy Spirit or an outpouring of grace. It’s an apt image for the forgiveness of sins obtained in the Sacrament of Penance.

The second tweak comes a line later. Whereas the priest formerly asked “may God give you pardon and peace,” the word give has been changed to grant. God gives grace freely, but grant more strongly suggests God’s response to our petition for mercy.
 
Still, these changes may fly under the radar for all but the most alert observer.
 
Interestingly, the Holy See also has approved an 11th form of the Act of Contrition — one that has been in use in the United States at least since the Baltimore Catechism was published in 1885:

O my God,
I am heartily sorry for having offended you,
and I detest all my sins because of your just
punishments,
but most of all because they offend you, my God,
who are all good and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace,
to sin no more
and to avoid the near occasions of sin.
Amen.

I have used this form (using thee and thy) exclusively since my first Confession in 1967 without realizing it lacked formal approval. No matter: penitents have long been permitted to express contrition in their own words anyway.
 
Its language is rather inaccurate in my case. My contrition is perpetually imperfect, much more out of fear of hell than pure love of God. Do I therefore sin a little every time I recite it as written, or is that just me being overscrupulous?

My favorite Act of Contrition is one I pray dozens of times each day, a form of the Jesus Prayer: Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I’ve yet to use it for the sacrament, however. It seems too quick and easy, and it lacks the statement of firm resolution that I find so essential to a good Confession.

However one expresses contrition, the key is to confess frequently, ask and receive absolution through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and firmly resolve to "sin no more."