Can I take communion tomorrow?

[slewi]

Hello!

I went to confession today and father gave me a two part penance. Part one I will do tonight, but part two will take awhile. Can I still go to communion tomorrow morning? Thanks.

Stephen

 

[Exporter]

slewi:

Hello!

I went to confession today and father gave me a two part penance. Part one I will do tonight, but part two will take awhile. Can I still go to communion tomorrow morning? Thanks.

Stephen

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Our priests will tell you to do the penance in the front of the Church BEFORE you leave the church. I know you are to do the penance as soon as confession is over or as soon as you possibly can.

I am assuming from your post that part of your penance envolves another person or a business. I will say , for an instance, if you broke a window you must pay for it’s replacement before you finished your penance.

• What do you think Padre Pio would say? He was a good Catholic.

 

[Joseph_Bilodeau]

If you have confessed any mortal sins of which you were conscious, and have been absolved, you are in a state of Grace from that time, not from the time when you complete your pennance. So presuming you are otherwise elligible to receive Communion, and avoid any further mortal sins prior to that time, you may receive Communion. You should complete your pennance as promptly as possible, however.

One additional point, we do not speak of our participation in the Sacrament of Holy Communion in terms of taking, but in terms of receiving.

 

[slewi]

I have completedpart one of my penance. Am going to a Latin Mass tomorrow morning!

Stephen

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

slewi:

Hello!

I went to confession today and father gave me a two part penance. Part one I will do tonight, but part two will take awhile. Can I still go to communion tomorrow morning? Thanks.

Stephen

As long as you intend to complete it as soon as possible. If you are going to “put-off” the Penence then you should also consider “puting-off” Holy Communion.

 

[rcn]

Br. Rich SFO:

If you are going to “put-off” the Penence then you should also consider “puting-off” Holy Communion.

You reasoning being? I’m sorry, but that seems unnecessary and just plain incorrect to me.

 

[m134e5]

rcn:

You reasoning being? I’m sorry, but that seems unnecessary and just plain incorrect to me.

If you do not take your penance seriously, then likely you do not take the Sacrament of Reconcilliation seriously, and if you do not take either of those seriously, you certainly do not take the Eucharist seriously, and therefore should not receive Holy Communion.

If a priest gives you a penance you really cannot do, or one that is just plain unreasonable (like if he told you to practice mortification or something- only a spiritual director should advise that) explain why you cannot do it, (or if it’s a really weird one, like Padre Pio style mortifications, don’t say anything- just ask another priest who knows you better later).

If a penance is something like “give alms to the poor” or “do X amount of spiritual reading” or “pray all the decades of the rosary” or “pray the stations of the cross”, you may not be in a position to do it right then, and may have to wait a day or two to do it. You should do it as soon as possible though.

 

[JimG]

I knew of a college friend whose penance took two weeks to complete–by design. It was not necessary for him to refrain from communion during that time.