REPARATION. — In ascetical usage, besides actual reparation (the restoration of man to his original integrity, the passage from corruption to incorruption), reparation generally indicates the meritorious principle which, by associating men with the expiation (v.) and satisfaction (v.) offered by Jesus the Redeemer, tends toward compensation for the glory of God outraged by sin (formal reparation).
To the love of God disregarded by the sinner corresponds the expiatory offering, in which man embraces, out of love for God, the temporal punishment of sin. This reparation reaches the degree of sacrifice in immolation, whereby man offers himself to divine sanctions. In one elected to Grace, sin entails a mystery of malice and degradation that cannot be suitably repaired except through the priesthood, ministry (Hebr. 8, 2), and immolation of the God-Man (ibid. 2, 10-15). It is true that the principal act of reparation, Redemption (v.), will remain exclusively personal to the Incarnate Word; but, organized in him, all the faithful will personally contribute to the complementary reparation of the Church, the Bride of the Lamb (Col. 1, 24; Phil. 2, 17). This participation is symbolized by the drop of water poured into the wine destined for the Holy Sacrifice (Conc. Trid., sess. XXII, cap. 7). In order to be suited to this reparation, Christians receive, in the sacramental character, a graduated participation in the priesthood of Christ (per Christum; Sum. Theol., 3ª q. 63, a. 3); in order to be properly disposed, they receive, through sacramental incorporation (Sum. theol., 3ª, q. 62, a. 1), a spiritual association with Christ’s ministry (cum Christo), and in sacramental Grace (Sum. Theol., 3ª, q. 62, a. 2) they receive sufficient energy to be able to immolate themselves (in Christo).
The substance of reparation (whether actual or formal) is the “superabundant” charity (Eph. 2, 4), compensatory and victorious, which from the open heart of the Divine Redeemer pours through the entire structure of ecclesiastical life, shaping it according to the consummate exemplar of reparative action (Eph. 4, 11-16; Gal. 6, 14). The reparative will finds its verbal expression in the “acts” or formulas of reparation (Act. 4, 24-31), and its affective expression in compassion for Christ’s sufferings (I Cor. 12, 26): formulas and sentiments cultivated in devotion to the Sacred Heart
and inculcated by the encyclicals Miserentissimus Redemptor (8 May 1928; AAS, 20 [1928], pp. 165-78) and Caritate Christi compulsi (3 May 1932; AAS, 24 [1932], pp. 177-194). Cf. Concilio Trid., sess. VI, cap. 7; sess. XIII, cap. 8.