Confession and penance

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NatashaAS

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If a person does not perform their assigned penance after confessing mortal sins, do those sins remain forgiven?
 
First, this is from someone who is NOT A PRIEST but simply a fellow Catholic of long-standing. It’s my considered opinion, and you will note that the person you really need to speak to is, in fact, a priest, with any of the concerns noted.

Normally the sins are forgiven whether you do the penance or not in venial sin (although you really should do the penance) and MOSTLY for mortal sin but there are a couple of possible instances where you should seek the counsel of a priest.
  1. If part of that penance involved restitution (for example, you stole $500 from your mother), and you don’t do it, one could argue that you had not really demonstrated remorse. Sure, you SAID you were sorry, but your mother is still out $500 and YOU have had the use of the money. Definitely one for the priest to determine if that first ‘confession’ regarding the stealing demonstrated true repentance if you haven’t fulfilled the other part, giving the money back.
  2. You’re being specific regarding ‘mortal’. So. . .if you ‘confessed’ a ‘mortal’ sin–something which would ‘damn’ you, unconfessed, and then felt, “hah, I’m okay now for salvation, and I am not going to BOTHER with penance because I’m not sorry I sinned, I just want to make sure I don’t go to hell for not confessing”-- well, you probably aren’t really sorry at all for the SIN. Again, something for the priest to counsel you on.
(of course all this ‘you’ doesn’t mean you PERSONALLY).
  1. Finally, some people really honestly forget their penance (they are so happy to be forgiven, they get distracted by having to attend to a crying child, or get caught up in things outside their control.) That isn’t sinful. And some people get ‘scrupulous’ and think the priest didn’t give them ENOUGH penance, so they don’t do the priest’s penance but make themselves do even MORE. And a few think the priest was too HARD on them and do less.
If you just forget. . .no harm.
If you think the priest wasn’t hard enough. . .talk to him. You don’t want to be scrupulous.
If you think he was too hard. . .do the penance anyway, offer it up to God, and consider either seeing another priest if possible (not ‘shopping’ for the easy priest, either, but because you truly want not to get so wrapped up in assuming the priest is ‘down on you’).
 
Performing or not performing your penance has NOTHING to do with your sins being forgiven. As long as you are honestly sorry for your sins and the priest absolves you of your sins, your sins are forgiven even if you don’t perform the penance.

That said, it has been revealed by certain apparitions that we can pay our debt for sin in this life for pennies on the dollar compared to what will be expected of us in the afterlife.

Any debt that remains unpaid will be expected of us in the afterlife. Even if you were given the most difficult penance that you can imagine, that penance will seem like a peace of cake compared to what will be expected of us in the afterlife.

As I said, we can pay our debt in this life with pennies on the dollar compared to what will be expected of us in the afterlife on any unpaid debt.

For THAT reason, it would be really foolish not to perform the penance that we receive during confession.
 
God does not take back what He gives. When your sins are forgiven, they are forgiven. Forgiveness does not depend on you doing your penance. We can not earn forgiveness.

Not doing your penance for whatever reason might be something to mention at your next confession, but it does not negate your confession and absolution.
 
Since the Sacrament generally requires 4 components: contrition, confession, satisfaction and absolution, if someone goes to Confession with the intention of not fulfilling the penance, it would seem that an integral component of the Sacrament is lacking and therefore the sin is not remitted.

On the other hand, someone who intends to fulfill the imposed penance, but who forgot, culpably or inculpably, would still have had a valid absolution.

If the priest imposes a penance that you cannot imagine how you could fulfil, please ask the priest for another penance.
 
Sir_Knight said:
Performing or not performing your penance has NOTHING to do with your sins being forgiven. As long as you are honestly sorry for your sins and the priest absolves you of your sins, your sins are forgiven even if you don’t perform the penance.

That said, it has been revealed by certain apparitions that we can pay our debt for sin in this life for pennies on the dollar compared to what will be expected of us in the afterlife.

Any debt that remains unpaid will be expected of us in the afterlife. Even if you were given the most difficult penance that you can imagine, that penance will seem like a peace of cake compared to what will be expected of us in the afterlife.

As I said, we can pay our debt in this life with pennies on the dollar compared to what will be expected of us in the afterlife on any unpaid debt.

For THAT reason, it would be really foolish not to perform the penance that we receive during confession.
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Sort of like the mechanic who said,“You can pay me now, or you can pay me later”. Actually, penance has come a long way in the history of the Church. At one time, it was prolonged and rather public. A decade of the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament can’t be all that bad.
 
PhilipCal said:
A decade of the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament can’t be all that bad.
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How about laying down in the middle isle of a church for the entire mass with your arms outstretched in the form of a cross?
 
Cool, glad to hear that I am still forgiven, but doing penance seems right and would make me feel better. I didn’t intentionally not do penance. I actually forgot, but I felt guilty about forgetting. I wondered if I cared would I forget. If I go to the priest again, maybe he’d feel the same way.
 
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