Late for penance

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StJoseph8

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I was assigned to do the Stations of the Cross on a Friday as a penance, but circumstances came up to where I would have arrived late, so I am planning to go the next Friday. Is a penance like this still validly done if I had arrived late, or was it better to wait and arrive on time?
 
You should be able to do them today by yourself. It doesn’t have to be communial unless the priest said otherwise.
 
yes, the Priest said to do it in a Church during one of the sessions
 
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@FrDavid96, would you be so kind as to give your opinion on this?
 
StJoseph8 said:
I was assigned to do the Stations of the Cross on a Friday as a penance, but circumstances came up to where I would have arrived late, so I am planning to go the next Friday. Is a penance like this still validly done if I had arrived late, or was it better to wait and arrive on time?
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Either way would be the same.

So long as you didn’t intentionally arrive late, you made the effort to be there for the Stations. Also, the issue of “how late?” might matter. If you arrived very late, such as at Station #10, I’d suggest praying them privately to complete the prayer. If you only missed the introductory prayers, or maybe 1 or 2 Stations, don’t worry.

Also, non-essential comments like “at the scheduled Stations” are typically intended to help someone along, rather than to be obligatory. In other words “your penance is to do the Stations” and the priest then adds “and by the way, to make that easy for you, we have them on Friday evenings.” So unless he said that there was a particular reason why you had to do them communally, it was probably meant to be helpful rather than restrictive. I can think of a few reasons why it might be done that way, but would rather not speculate.
 
I see, thank you very much for that info. I should probably clarify though that what happened was that I knew I was going to arrive late so I did not go and I’m going to go next Friday. Was this thought process correct you think? Thank you
 
I see, thank you very much for that info. I should probably clarify though that what happened was that I knew I was going to arrive late so I did not go and I’m going to go next Friday. Was this thought process correct you think? Thank you
 
Validity is not an issue for devotions in the Catholic Church. Devotions are not valid or invalid, they are rather practiced or not practiced. Validity applies canonically to the celebration of Sacraments.

Many people make the mistake of applying the word “Validity” to anything church related. I once saw a fellow restart the rosary because he skipped a bead and said he didn’t want it to be invalid.

Of course it is ok to join the stations if you arrive late. It’s better than missing them. Just join the group quietly.
 
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StJoseph8 said:
I see, thank you very much for that info. I should probably clarify though that what happened was that I knew I was going to arrive late so I did not go and I’m going to go next Friday. Was this thought process correct you think? Thank you
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Yes, I think that’s fine. Given that you knew you were going to be late, you went to the next scheduled ones. No problem.
 
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