(b) Servile fear of God in itself is good and supernatural (1050), and the sorrow for sin or attrition based on such fear is also good; and if it includes a resolution of amendment, it suffices for justification with the Sacraments. The end (i.e., to escape punishment) is good (Matt., x. 28); the means (i.e., sorrow for sin) is good; and the use of the means for the end is good, for desertion of sin is the way to escape unhappiness (Luke, iii. 7, 8). Nor is it wrong to make a nobler good (such as avoidance of sin) a means to a lesser good (such as escape from punishment) when the lesser good is not made the last end, but only the immediate end, of the greater good. Thus, when we pray for temporal goods, we make a spiritual thing a means to a material end, but the Last End of the prayer is God Himself. Servile fear, unlike slavish fear (_timor serviliter servilis_), does not make self the last end (Denzinger, 818, 1146, 1525).
2732. Attrition in the Sacrament of Penance.—Must attrition based on fear of punishment be joined with love of God to justify in the Sacrament?
(a) Some form of love is required, for all contrition is detestation of sin, and sin is not hated unless its opposite is loved. Hence, just as attrition must be accompanied by faith and hope, so it must also be accompanied by some form of love of God (2718).
(b) Disinterested love is not required. This is certain as regards love of friendship, for even the smallest degree of that love is charity and justifies even without the Sacrament (1112, 2730). This is commonly held in reference to love of benevolence, which seems practically to be always united with love of friendship or charity. A love that inclines to God for His own sake but that does not predominate over other loves is held by some to be necessary, but it is difficult to understand such a love or to see its possibility.
(c) Interested love (the love of concupiscence or of hope) is therefore necessary. The common opinion today seems to be that it also suffices, and that it need be only virtual or implicit. In other words, the prevalent view is that every attrition prompted by fear of punishment contains an initial love of God which suffices to turn the sinner to God and to remove any obstacle to the action of the Sacrament. For “the fear of God is the beginning of His love” (Ecclus., xxv. 16), the hope of pardon is a beginning of love of the Author of pardon and justice, the resolve to amend is an inclination to keep the great command of love of God (1556).
2733. The Conditions for Valid Contrition and Attrition.—(a) It must be internal, for contrition is an act of repentance and must be in the heart. Merely pretended sorrow, and sorrow which one mistakenly thinks one has, are insufficient.
(b) It must be supernatural, for contrition is a disposition for the reception of the supernatural habit of grace. Sorrow for sin induced by natural motives, such as the punishments inflicted by human agencies, if these are not viewed in the light of faith, is not sufficient.
(c) It must be universal, that is, there must be sorrow for all mortal sins not yet forgiven, for it is impossible to be really sorry for one serious sin while retaining affection for another. But it is not necessary to repent of all venial sins before one is forgiven (see 2724).
(d) It must be sovereign, that is, if the contrition is perfect, God must be loved above every other good; if it is imperfect, sin must be hated above every evil that could lead to sin. If the sinner does not detest his dishonesty more than the privation he will suffer by being honest, he is not really contrite. It is, however, not necessary that contrition be sensibly felt, or be of supreme intensity, or that its act be of long duration; and it is rash to call to mind the kinds of evils or torments one would prefer to suffer rather than commit sin (see 1556).
2734. Valid and Fruitful Reception of the Sacrament.—Some theologians, distinguishing between contrition as matter of the Sacrament and contrition as a disposition of the penitent, hold that it is possible to have a valid but unfruitful reception of the Sacrament, and that revival of its grace is possible. They explain thus: