I have problems doing penance

[estevansilva]

hi, i am 15 years old and i always feel awkward when i apoligize to my family. i don’t know why but i do. one time i had a penance to apolgize to my mother for calling her a bad mom because she wanted to give away my dog. (lol i know it sounds a bit odd). i was literally stuggling to apoligize and i really did not want to do it but my first communion was the day after, so i had to do it. and i did it lol and it turned out she wasn’t listening when i called her a bad mom. then i had a penance where i had to apoligize to my brother for calling him names, so i pushed him and he fell and i said i’m sorry for everything, and i thought i was free from the penance lol. then i had a penance where i had to pray at the “chapel” which i don’t know where that is to this day. i am not a perfect catholic but i am aware that not doing a penance is bad. what do y’all think?
.

 

[Trishie]

Please don’t be too hard on yourself.
It’s a terrible thing to have to give your dog away.
It would break anyone’s heart.
Of course, it was difficult to say sorry, when your mother was giving away your companion, and your reaction to her wasn’t surprising. You were very upset and anyone who loves animals will understand why.
It was strong of you to say sorry anyway, and God bless you for that!

One’s own family can bring out the strongest emotions, including siblings. And sometimes a brother or sister can drive one to distraction, so yes, where you have responded in an unkind way from frustration, it’s right to say sorry, because even if the other person also is wrong, we need to say sorry for what we do wrong.

If the priest didn’t explain and you forgot to ask or were too nervous to ask where the chapel was, then if you said your penance in the church that was fine. Sometimes the ‘chapel’ isn’t really a separate chapel but in the Tabernacle area.

God bless you and keep you and your family safe. May God lead you to be a dedicated and faithful Catholic.

And I do hope you will have a dog of your own again some day.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

If it was easy or fun to do penance then it would be called “easy stuff” or “fun times” and not penance.

Penance is supposed to be at least a little difficult.

As for not knowing where the “chapel” is, you can easily use your mind to think of a good “chapel substitute” such as any church. Or you could ask the priest, “Where is the chapel, please?”

You should get used to being able to apologize to your family. It’s a good skill to have. I understand about being sad over the dog, but it doesn’t make your mom “bad”. My mom gave away my dog when I was a kid because she didn’t think she could handle caring for it and I was too young to handle the responsibility. She felt bad about it later and it didn’t make her a “bad mom” as she was trying to do what was in her family’s best interest and the dog’s best interest too. Maybe your mom had similar motives.

 

[Annie]

Apologizing is hard because it is admitting that we did the wrong thing. I do so hate to admit that, but apologizing is also repairing a relationship, which is a more important than acting like we can’t ever do anything wrong, no?