Should We Keep Our Sins in Mind?

If we drive every memory of our faults out of our hearts, how can this holy and saving contrition, which comes from being humbled, be stirred up in us? It is described as follows in the person of the penitent: “I have acknowledged my sin, and my unrighteousness I have not hidden. I said, I will acknowledge my unrighteousness against myself to the Lord.” And we want to be able to say with effect what follows too: “And you forgave the wickedness of my heart.” Or how, when we kneel in prayer, will we be able to stir ourselves to tears of confession, by which we may obtain pardon for our offenses, as in these words: “Every night I will wash my bed; I will water my couch with my tears”? On the contrary, we are told to keep the memory of our faults carefully, as the Lord says: “And your sins I will not remember; but you, remember them.” That is why, not only when I am at work but also when I am at prayer, I deliberately try to call the memory of my sins back to mind, so that I may be moved more effectively to true humility and contrition of heart, and may dare to say with the prophet: “Look upon my humility and my labor, and forgive me all my sins.” [a]