light penance

  • Thread starter Thread starter ForwardProgress
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

ForwardProgress

Guest
If you receive a light penance in confession, does it mean that your sins were not very grave? I don’t consider 10 Our Fathers very harsh…
 
there is very little relation between the gravity of the sin and the severity of the penance, which is only a token in any case.
 
ForwardProgress said:
If you receive a light penance in confession, does it mean that your sins were not very grave? I don’t consider 10 Our Fathers very harsh…
Click to expand...
My personal experience is that there seems to be an inverse relationship between my penance and the severity of my sins. If I don’t have much to confess, I get long sections of Scripture to read, but if I have a list of sins against the Ten Commandments, I get maybe a few Hail Marys and Our Fathers. 🤷

I think the best thing is just to do the penance and don’t worry about it.
 
Whenever I receive a lighter penance than I think that I deserve, that is when I really feel the mercy of God extended to me and it motivates me even more to avoid sin in the future.
 
I had one priest who would never give me more than one Our Father. Another priest gave me a rosary for a very similar confession…😛
 
ForwardProgress said:
If you receive a light penance in confession, does it mean that your sins were not very grave? I don’t consider 10 Our Fathers very harsh…
Click to expand...
I suggest that after the Priest gives you penance and you think it’s not harsh enough or too harsh, ask him before you leave the confessional, after all, he should be able to justify why the penance he gave you was suitable or not. Try to remember that he is human also.
 
Sir_Knight said:
Whenever I receive a lighter penance than I think that I deserve, that is when I really feel the mercy of God extended to me and it motivates me even more to avoid sin in the future.
Click to expand...
What a great way to assess the situation, I never gave that consideration.
 
nor336 said:
I suggest that after the Priest gives you penance and you think it’s not harsh enough or too harsh, ask him before you leave the confessional, after all, he should be able to justify why the penance he gave you was suitable or not. Try to remember that he is human also.
Click to expand...
WRONG! Why would you second guess the man who just gave you Jesus’ forgiveness in the sacrament of penance? Absolution is not dependent on the severity of the penance. Why not say a prayer of thanksgiving? You’re free to pray as much as you want, but I certainly wouldn’t run the risk of offending your priest.
 
My Priest ALWAYS ALWAYS gives me 10 Our Father’s to say as penance…I’m guessing he does this to everyone!
 
Timothysis said:
WRONG! Why would you second guess the man who just gave you Jesus’ forgiveness in the sacrament of penance? Absolution is not dependent on the severity of the penance. Why not say a prayer of thanksgiving? You’re free to pray as much as you want, but I certainly wouldn’t run the risk of offending your priest.
Click to expand...
Wrong? You’re very judgemental. Did I say you should second guess him? I just made a suggestion. How is asking a Priest a question offending him?
 
nor336 said:
Wrong? You’re very judgemental. Did I say you should second guess him? I just made a suggestion. How is asking a Priest a question offending him?
Click to expand...
Read your own words:
nor336 said:
I suggest that after the Priest gives you penance and you think it’s not harsh enough or too harsh, ask him before you leave the confessional, after all, **he should be able to justify why the penance he gave you was suitable or not. ** Try to remember that he is human also.
Click to expand...
I don’t think that priest has to justify penance to anyone, since he is the one who determines whether it was “suitable or not.” If someone suggests that their penance is “too light,” that would probably be a good indication to the priest that this person has problems with scrupulousness. What is it with people on this forum who insists on finding sin where it isn’t? Anyway, let’s leave it to the priest’s discretion, huh?
 
I have gone to confession where I was not asked to make an act of contrition and was not given a penance, only given absolution.
 
Once when I received a penance I thought was too light I asked the priest before I left if it was really strong enough. I felt like I deserved to do more. Because of the nature of my sins, he told me I had already beat myself up enough about the sins before I even came into the confessional and so he felt a lighter penance was enough.

It really made sense to me and let me know that he was really being very pastoral with me. Now, I thank the priest from the bottom of my heart for whatever penance I’m given…even if it is only three Hail Mary’s.

🙂
 
my two cents - I think it depends on the priest and the sin(s). Once the penance was to attend a particular parish function, another time one was to say a decade of the rosary for a VERY serious sin (and I got deservedly yelled at for that one), usually it’s a mix of Hail Marys and/or Our Fathers, sometimes, and these are always my favorites for some reason, it’s a sort of slogan to repeat to myself all week, like “God is always with me.” Another time I had to write a check to somebody.

Variety is the spice of life I guess.
 
My current confessor once asked me, “What do you think your penance should be?” I replied, “Something hard…something that will help stop me from repeating this sin.” He said, “Whenever someone asks for a hard penance, I give them something easy. Whenever someone asks for an easy penance, I give them something hard.”

His point was that when we are really down on ourselves and think we can’t get any lower on the sin scale, is when he gives something easy so we can realize God’s mercy a little better.

I have found I get much “tougher” (I’ve never been given anything truly difficult) penances when my sins are more venial in nature.
 
My take on this is NEVER second-guess your priest confessor as to penance. Whatever penance he imposes, accept it and fulfill it. If you want to add to it later, one is most welcome, but in all cases, obey. This goes double for the scrupulous, and I wouldn’t discount at least a small amount of scrupulosity in anyone who questions a penance.

Obey your confessor and rejoice in the forgiveness of God.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top