Future Pennance

[expectthebest]

In Confession, can you be assigned a pennance for a sin that might be committed in the future? The reason I ask is that the last time I went to Confession, the priest assigned a pennance of taking a few moments to think of something I could do to make up for a certain sin if I was to commit it again. So, that’s what I did insofar as I came up with something I could do. Now, if I were to commit the sin again, would I be held to doing that thing that I thought of as a part of my pennance as a continuation of my initial pennance? Or was the pennance of thinking of something I could do to make up for a future sin (if it were to be committed) the end of the pennance? I guess the question is, in order to be forgiven, can you be held accountable for doing a pennance in the future if you were to again commit the sin?

 

[LilyM]

Well, strictly speaking I don’t think you are formally obligated beyond thinking of something to do, as he said. However, obedience to our confessors is always good, unless they were to tell us to sin I suppose. So I would do the suggested penance if I were to sin again.