A King And Confession

Rex. Multoties expertus sum et in orationibus et necessitalibus meis quod habeam gratiam Dei, sed nunquam novi retinere aut servare habitam, et qualiter hoc possem facere, pater, a tua sanctitate libenter audirem. Abbas. Duo sunt quorum alterum acquirit gratiam, alterum retinet acquisitam, pura confessio oris et operis satisfactio: quum enim peccator accedit ad sacerdotem vicarium Dei, et effundit cor suum quasi aquam in conspectu altissimi, quasi ovis ante pastorem, quasi aegrotus ante medicum, quasi reus ante judicem, ex quo accusare et per confessionem damnare se incipit, judex omnium peccatorem seipsum judicantem in gratiam suam recipit, amplectitur, osculatur et annulo suae caritatis insignit : hic est enim filius ille prodigus, qui portionem suam vivendo sumptuose consumpserat, quumque de siliquis porcorum quarum copiam habere non poterat, rediret ad patrem, vides quod a longo pater cucurrit ad filium et amplexatur est eum et cecidit super caput ejus. Quid putas cogitabat miser famelicus ille filius, dum nudus et afflictus tam pia circa se sentiebat viscera paternae dulcedinis ? Hanc dulcedinem experiuntur omnes qui in vera cordis contritione ad patrem misericordiam revertuntur. Quidam tamen sunt qui erubescunt confiteri peccata sua; quos Dominus erubescet in regno suo: timent fortasse ne sacerdotes detegant eorum iniquitates, aut ne ipsos in cordibus suis propter confessionem reputent viliores. Sane ibi trepidaverunt ubi non erat timor, secreta sua garrulis et infidelibus tota die committunt, et illos quos ordo, quos sacramentum facit Christi vicarios, erubescunt. Haec erubescentia non sanal sed inquinat: non justificat sed condemnat. Jus justificari habes hoc in potestate tua : dic tu iniquitates tuas ut justificeris. Verbum prophetae est Dixi, confitebor et renuisti. Rex. Video quandoque aliquem facere confessionem et poenitentiam recipere; postea vero gravius labitur et fuerunt novissima hominis ilhus pejora prioribus. Abbas. Fili, in isto et consimilibus deprehendere potes falsam confessionem et poenitentiam simulatam ; ut autem plenius intelligas de bono fructu poenitentise meis quaeso sermonibus, non solum aures corporis sed auditum cordis appone. Rex. Libenter audio et licet magna atque ardua negotia me expectunt, ego tamen admonitionibus tuis postponam. Abbas. Novisti, rex egregie, quod nos omnes in primis parentibus fuimus vulnerati : vulnera illa in baptismo sanata sunt, sed pcr insipientiam nostram cicatrices vulnerum illorum renovaverunt, superveniente putredine et corruptione peccati. Sicut David propheta dicit: Putruerunt et cor s. c. m. a. f. ins. m. Prima medicina fuit Baptismus, secunda est Poenitentia. De hac medicina dicit Salomon : Medicinam cavit Deus hominibus et stulti despiciunt eam : medicina Baptismi lenissima est, quia non exigit gemitum neque planctum. Baptismus enim est quasi quaedam pannorum levis ablutio. Sicut autem ferri rubigo non nisi cum igne et cum quadam malleatione deducitur, ita grave peccatum non nisi gravi poenitentia aboletur, violatio vero poenitentiae talis est ac si crus vel aliud membrorum prius fractum consolidetur, et ideo periculosius iterum frangitur secundo aut tertio quod prius fuit renovatum. Rex. Multi homines hujus temporis et maxime milites agere poenitentiam erubescunt coram aliis, quibusdam enim videtur quod hoc ex quadam hypocrisi aut ex cordis defectu et pusillanimitate procedat. Abbas. Heu mihi ! quam perniciosa et pessima est illis haec erubescentia, per quam amittitur et destruitur animae medicina. Summa est insania non erubescere de vulneribus et erubescere de vulnerum ligatura: vulnera nostra sunt sermones otiosi, detractores, verba dolosa, falsa proraissa, perjuria, maledicta, ira, invidia, odium, cupiditas, gulositas, avaritia, luxuria, superbia; vulnera etiam nostra sunt quod bonos viros offendimus, quod aliquando petentes a nobis graviter exasperamus, quod justitiam vendiramus et calumniatores recipimus et oppressores pauperum sustinemus, quod injustas preces frequenter audimus, quod nec ordinem ecclesiasticum nec religiosorum vitam debita et condigna reverentia honoramus, quod testamenta morientium, quod jura viventium, quod matrimonia virginum impendimus, quod desideramus mortem hominum, quod inter amicos seminamus discordias, quod res ecclesiasticas vel alio modo illicitas usurpamus: apponatur ergo medicina vulneribus nostris, ne, si putrescere permittantur, ea cum dolore maximo vel comburi oportat vel incidi. Petrus Blenensis, Dialogus Inter Regem Henricum II et Abbatem Bonaevallensem Source:  Migne PL 207.985b-987a

King: Many times I have tried in my prayer and necessities to have the grace of God but never do I know how to retain or guard what I have, and that I might be able to do this, father, I would eagerly hear from your holiness. Abbot: There are two different ways of possessing grace; one, to retain grace by a pure confession of the mouth and satisfactory works, wherein the sinner comes to the priestly representative of God and pours out his heart as water before the face of God, like a sheep before a shepherd, like a sick man before a physician, like a guilty man before a judge, by which accusation and condemnation of himself through confession, the judge of all, judging the sinner. receives him into his grace, embracing and kissing and distinuishing him with his own ring of love, for here indeed is the prodigal son, who having consumed his inheritance in luxurious living, unable to partake of the abundance of the swill of pigs, returned to his father, which father, you may see from afar, runs to his son and embraces him and falls upon his neck. 1 What do you think that wretched son thought while in servitude, while naked and afflicted, pondering in himself the depths of paternal piety? This sweetness all will experience who with a truthful heart turn in contrition to the Father of mercy. Certainly, however, there are those who are ashamed to confess their sins, and over them the Lord will ashamed in his kingdom. 2 Perhaps they fear lest the priests will disclose their iniquities, or that having confessed what is in their hearts they will be reputed vile. Certainly they have feared where there is no fear, 3 when every day they proclaim their secrets in chatter and breaches of trust, these who then blush before those of the order which the sacrament makes representatives of Christ. This shame does not heal but defiles, it does not justify but condemns. The right of justification you do have in your power: speak your iniquities that you be justified. The word of the prophet is: I said, I shall confess and you renewed. 4 King: Yet I see that after making confession and receiving penance, a man falls more heavily and the last state of the man is worse than the first. Abbot: O son, in this and similar things you may perceive false confession and dishonest penance, that however you have greater understanding of the fruit of pentience, I ask that you give to my own words not only your bodily ears but the hearing of your heart. King: Willingly I'll hear, and the great and weighty affairs that await me I will postpone for your instruction. Abbot: You know, admirable king, that we all were wounded in our first parents, and those wounds in baptism are healed, but by our foolishness the scabs of those wounds we renew again from which comes the putrescence and corruption of sin. As David the prophet says, 'My scabs have putrefied before the face of my unwisdom.' 5 The first medicine was baptism, the second is penance. Concerning this medicine Solomon says that God orders a medicine for men and fools despise it. The medicine of baptism is most gentle and neither groans nor weeping come from it. For basptism is as the light washing of cloth. But as rusted iron is not shaped without fire and a certain hammering, so grave sin is cleansed with heavy penance. However the violation of penance is such a thing as if a broken leg or some other limb were set badly, and therefore more dangerous it is when it is broken a second or third time than before it was reset. King: Many men of this time, especially in the army, are ashamed to do penance before others, which seems to spring from some hypocrisy, or defect of heart and timidity. Abbot: Alas, how perilous and most wretched are their blushes to them, by which the medicine of the soul is taken away from them and destroyed. It is the height of insanity not to blush over wounds and to be ashamed of the binding of wounds. Our wounds are profitless words, detraction, harmful speech, false candour, perjury, curses, anger, envy, hate, covertousness, gluttony, avarice, luxury, pride; and our wounds give offence to good men, that sometimes asking of us they are gravely exasperated that we would sell justice, and that we welcome caluminators and support the oppressors of the poor, that we frequently attend to unjust prayers, and we do not give the honour that is due and fitting to the religious and ecclesiastical life, that we would have profit from the wills of the dying, and the vows of the living and the marriages of the young, that we desire the death of men, that we sow discord among friends, that we usurp in this way or that the rights of the Church. Therefore this medicine is appointed for our wounds, lest, permitting them to become infected, these things to great grief we should burn up with or fall into. Peter of Blois, from a Dialogue Between King Henry the Second and the Abbot of Bonneval 1 Lk 15.11-32 2 Mk 8.38, Lk 9.26 3 Ps 13.5, 52.6  4 cf Ps 31.5 4 Ps 37.6