REPARATION. — In ascetical usage, besides the reparation of the individual (the restoration of man to his original integrity, the passage from corruption to incorruption), it commonly denotes the meritorious principle by which, associating men with the expiation (v.) and satisfaction (v.) offered by Jesus the Redeemer, it tends to compensate 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, for the love of God, embraces the temporal punishment of sin. This reparation reaches the degree of sacrifice in immolation, whereby man offers himself to the divine sanctions. In the elect of grace, sin carries with it a mystery of malice and decay that cannot be suitably repaired except by 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, the Redemption (v.), remains exclusively personal to the Incarnate Word; yet, incorporated in Him, all the faithful contribute personally 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 mingled with the wine destined for the Holy Sacrifice (Council of Trent, sess. XXII, cap. 7). To be fit for this reparation, Christians receive, in the sacramental character, a graduated participation in the priesthood of Christ (per Christum; Sum. Theol., 3° q. 63, a. 3); to be well-disposed, they receive in sacramental incorporation (Sum. Theol., 3° q. 62, a. 1) a spiritual association with the minister of Christ (cum Christo), and in sacramental grace (Sum. Theol., 3° q. 62, a. 2) they receive the sufficient energy to be able to immolate themselves (in Christo).
The substance of reparation (whether effective or formal) is the "superabundant" charity (Eph. 2, 4), compensatory, victorious, which flows from the open heart of the Divine Redeemer toward the safeguarding of the structure of ecclesiastical life, to conform it to the consummate example of reparative action (Eph. 4, 11-16; Gal. 6, 14). The reparative will finds its verbal expression in the "acts" or formulas of reparation (Acts 4, 24-31), and its affective expression in compensation for the sufferings of Christ (1 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. Council of Trent, sess. VI, cap. 7; sess. XIII, cap. 8.