Doing the assigned penance

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Arnold1N2D

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For example the assigned penance to me was to Pray:

1 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary’s, 1 Glory Be, and Act of Contrition while KNEELING DOWN in the Church.

Do you think the KNEELING DOWN portion while praying the assigned penance is part of the penance itself? 😃
 
I don’t frequent confession, though I have many friends who do. I’ve never heard of a specific posture being stated, but if I were able to I’d probably just do it while kneeling. He must have stated it that way for a reason. Unless you accidentally forgot that part and already did the prayers. In that case I don’t think you’d be obligated to repeat it.
 
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What if a person was in the middle of praying the Our Father (his part of the penance) while sitting then suddenly remembered that “Oh I need to kneel!” then he did and prayed the rest… Do you think he needed to start the prayer again or not?
 
No. He had the intent to carry out his penance and made his best efforts to.

God isn’t looking for a way to catch us out. He wants us to be reconciled to Him.
 
Arnold1N2D said:
1 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary’s, 1 Glory Be, and Act of Contrition
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Certainly nothing wrong with them, but just out of curiosity are these examples still common place? They almost seem stereotypical. I can only recall one confession in the last 10 years where a priest assigned me a penance like the examples given.

Interested in hearing.
 
Hereiam said:
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Arnold1N2D:
1 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary’s, 1 Glory Be, and Act of Contrition
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Certainly nothing wrong with them, but just out of curiosity are these examples still common place? They almost seem stereotypical. I can only recall one confession in the last 10 years where a priest assigned me a penance like the examples given.

Interested in hearing.
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Not to veer off topic, but I go to confession at least once a month, often every couple weeks, and I go to five different parishes depending on my schedule.

I rarely get any penance that is NOT what the OP describes. So yeah, at least here in the archdiocese of Denver, that sort of penance is still common place.
 
I get prayer penances, but they are usually a lot more targeted to whatever I’ve brought to the confessional that day and the advice the priest has offered to help address that issue. For instance, I might get told to pray and reflect on Christ’s suffering on the cross, or to give a prayer of thanksgiving to God. On one occasion I was asked what my favourite prayer was (rosary), then told to pray one decade of the rosary.
 
DeniseNY said:
What type of penance do you typically see?
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Most is prayer and reflection centered “spend time in prayer this week asking for God’s help with xxxx, and listening for His response”, but others are to take specific actions toward or with people you have offended that was part of the confession, “Take time out to really listen to what xxx is saying, asking God for patience and understanding”…“Make time this week to be alone with your (family member), showing compassion and concern and understanding”…
 
Do you usually go to the same priest, or couple of priests?

Some priests favor these types of more “thoughtful” penances.

Others will give you three Hail Marys and leave it at that.

I go to confession 1-2 times a month, but rarely go to the same priest twice for various reasons.
The majority of priests give either the “say three Hail Marys” variety or the slightly more creative “say a prayer to God in thanks for your blessings” type variety. It’s almost always something you can get done as soon as you leave the confessional. Very few of them ask me to take time to do things in daily life, or make time or do stuff during the week. I had one once tell me to do something nice for a certain person during the upcoming week, but that was just that one time.

This is just speculation, but I think a lot of them want to make it easy on folks by giving them a penance that can be accomplished quickly and without having to think a lot about it, so people can say there, that’s done, I am absolved and have completed my penance.
 
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If you’re a Catholic, I would reccomend going more frequently. Its an amazing fountain of graces.

to paraphrase Padre Pio “Even if a room is clean and unoccupied, you will be astonished at the amount of dust that gathers within a week.”
 
I don’t think I’ve been to the same priest twice yet. Between the changes in priests at our parish, attendance at retreats, and our pastor’s efforts in hosting “reconciliation nights” at various times through the liturgical year, there’s never any lack of choice.
 
Yes I definitely know I need to go more often. It’s a work in progress for me. Good quote.
 
Hey, we all are 🙂
Sorry if I came across as judgmental- I dodnt mean to be.
 
“As Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iv, 12), since we are composed of a twofold nature, intellectual and sensible, we offer God a twofold adoration; namely, a spiritual adoration, consisting in the internal devotion of the mind; and a bodily adoration, which consists in an exterior humbling of the body.” (Sth II-II, q. 84, a. 2, c.)

Kneeling is bodily adoration. Benedict XVI said somewhere (In his book “Spirit of the Liturgy”), that one’s spirituality is sick if it omits to kneel. The Sacrament of Penance is a healing sacrament. Wherefore, it is suitable to always grow in kneeling. Certainty when told to do so. And the counsel of the priest in confession is spiritual direction in its prime environment, according to Congregation for the Clergy. Penance is coming toward God. And the spiritual direction is the mode of operation for penance. Adoration and penance are distinct, but both are needed for health of soul.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
This is just speculation, but I think a lot of them want to make it easy on folks by giving them a penance that can be accomplished quickly and without having to think a lot about it, so people can say there, that’s done, I am absolved and have completed my penance.
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That’s exactly what any priest I’ve ever heard comment on it has said. I know my pastor fully admits that he is not creative in giving penances. But he also wants people to be able to do them right away. I know I’ve had priests in the past ask me to “offer up Mass the next time I go” for this or that intention. I much prefer something that is concrete, specific, and that I can do right awy.
 
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