Catechesis: Repentance

The Holy Spirit does not permit sin to have dominion, to gain the upper hand so that it can be carried out, but represses and restrains it from doing what it wants. If sin does what it wants, the Holy Spirit and faith are not present. For St. John says, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning…and he cannot keep on sinning.” And yet it is also true when St. John says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”—SA III, III, 44, 45.