When I was a youngster I was taught the Act of Contrition first by the Sisters of St Joseph and later by the Marist Brothers. It ran:
I am very sorry that I have sinned against you
because you are so good and,
with your help,
I will not sin again.
Those children, and often adults, who still remember how to make an Act of Contrition now seem to say:
and, with your help,
I will try not to sin again.
I confess this really annoys me big time. What people seem to have forgotten is that when we say 'I will not sin again' we are stating our intentions. In other words, I intend not to sin again. We have to do here with a present intention - not future behaviour.
Can you imagine the loving couple at the altar exchanging vows: 'I, Betty, take you, John. I will try to love you and I will try to honour you for the rest of my life?'
Or the witness in the court trial: 'I promise to try to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?'
When it comes to stating intentions we are not foretelling future behaviour and we should not reduce the fullness of our intention not to sin again to the possibility that, one day in the future, we may sin again.
