Faithful to offer reparation for sins against God, others

Published: April 6, 2024

By Kelli Nugent
St. Edward Church, Texarkana

As a catechist who prepares young people for the sacraments of reconciliation and holy Communion, part of the lesson includes a discussion of what reparation is and what it entails. Reparation is part of the sacrament of reconciliation.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that the sacrament of penance consists of three actions on the part of the confessor, in addition to the priest's absolution. The confessor’s three acts are repentance, confession and the intention to do works of reparation. (no. 1491)

Repentance, also known as contrition, goes hand in hand with reparation. Repentance is having true sorrow for our sins, which should lead us to the desire to make and do actions of reparation. The priest assigns a penance, which is usually prayers or a particular action, intended to help repair the brokenness caused by sin.

Reparation, then, is repairing or making amends for an injury or wrong. My sinful choices caused harm, division and loss first to my relationship with my loving Father, to whom I owe everything, then with others, within myself and with the world. I am responsible, as much as I am able, to restore the loss suffered by the one I have offended. 

The first to whom I owe reparation is the Lord God. This is true at all times. In one of my prayer aids, I have begun to regularly pray the Litany of Reparation to the Blessed Sacrament — at times on behalf of others, sometimes for myself — always as an intentional act of making amends to the Lord for the ways I and others have offended him.

I am particularly drawn to this litany during the Good Friday services at the time of the veneration of the cross. It seems most appropriate that on this day of atonement by Jesus Christ, I should also make an intentional reparation to him for my sins and “those of the whole world,” as St. Faustina says. 

So I bring my pamphlet, and I find that there is time for me to intentionally pray this litany. Similar to the solemn intercessions earlier in this liturgy, I can offer reparation for those whose particular needs or situations I know. During eucharistic adoration, I find that I am drawn to pray in reparation for those who are near death or who have died.

While researching, I learned that on May 8, 1928, Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical "Miserentissimus Redemptor" ("Most Merciful Redeemer"), where he decreed that on the feast of the sacred heart, a prayer written by him be solemnly recited each year. That prayer was “An Act of Consecration and Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.” After the Second Vatican Council, the praying of many prescribed prayers like this one and the Leonine prayers fell away.

Readers may be interested in seeking out the "Fatima Chaplet of Adoration and Reparation," various act of reparation prayers and one titled "Shorter Prayer of Reparation" that can be prayed at night.

The church militant remains in great need of making reparation to our triune God, begging for his endless forgiveness and mercy for ourselves and others, for the countless ways we have offended him. Lord, have mercy on us! Lord, hear our prayers.

Kelli Nugent is the director of faith formation at St. Edward Church in Texarkana. She has a bachelor’s degree in theology from St. Gregory University in Shawnee, Okla. This article was originally published in Arkansas Catholic April 6, 2024. Copyright Diocese of Little Rock. All rights reserved. This article may be copied or redistributed with acknowledgement and permission of the publisher.