My penance fulfilled? Scrupulous worry or valid concern?

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For penance the priest asked me to pray a psalm from the Bible, any psalm I chose. After confession I found psalms listed in the song book, so I chose a psalm and prayed it as penance. Soon after, the vigil mass (that counts as Sunday mass) started and I received the Eucharist. I was wondering however; did I do the penance correctly, or did I not and therefore commit a mortal sin by receiving the Eucharist at mass afterword? The instruction of “pray a psalm from the Bible” could be understood several ways: to pray a psalm (“from the Bible” meaning as all psalms are from the Bible); or to hold the Bible in one’s hands and pray directly from the Bible. Again, I just selected a psalm from a song book, which had obviously gotten the psalm from the Bible. Please tell me I’m being scrupulous, and that reading the Bible psalm (what ever translation it was) was ok, and that I didn’t have to actually read/pray it straight out of the Bible.
 
First of all: did you do what you did believing that you were acting as the priest told you to? If yes, you did your penance.

Second: if you are still scrupolous (which I believe you are), just take the Bible and pray a Psalm from the Book of Psalms.

Third: I think praying a psalm fron the songbook is fine, they all come from the Bible 😉

Fourth: If you cannot (because of lack of time or occasion) do full penance immediately after confession, but you have the firm intention to do it as soon as possible, you can receive communion.

Fifth: based on your previous posts, I think you need to consult a priest (in confession, or by appointment) about your scrupolosity as soon as possible. It is something that can seriously harm your spiritual life, and can be a serious block between you and God.

God loves you. His mercy has no end, and He knows you better than you know yourself. Please, do talk to a priest, and be a little more cheerful. 😉
(Take this from a depressed person…)
 
Margita said:
First of all: did you do what you did believing that you were acting as the priest told you to? If yes, you did your penance.
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I did the best I could. I wasn’t 100% sure if the priest meant to literally read the psalm from the Bible, or to read a psalm of the Bible. Anyway, I saw that the 23rd psalm as listed in the song book was complete, so I prayed that as penance. It was an odd translation, perhaps New American (wordy). But I prayed it. Then I stayed for the Sunday vigil mass and received the Eucharist. When I went home, I picked up my Bible and prayed the 23rd psalm.
Margita said:
Fourth: If you cannot (because of lack of time or occasion) do full penance immediately after confession, but you have the firm intention to do it as soon as possible, you can receive confession.
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Do you mean confession, or communion?
 
I have been in similar situations earlier - I couldn’t hear what a priest said perfectly, or couldn’t understand which decade of the rosary he told me to pray - I did as well as I could. I had my mother and my spiritual director to ask about it - that helped. So I would suggest that you find a good, patient pastor to talk to about such things on a regular basis. Scruples die hard…
 
Margita said:
Of course, communion. Sorry. I have already edited my post.
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Ah, I thought that’s what you meant :). I think I remember thinking to myself that I could go home and also pray a psalm directly from the Bible as well, which I already have. But I was confused about if he really meant for me to literally hold the Bible and read from it, or to just choose a psalm from the Bible. I knew the 23rd psalm was from the Bible, so I chose it, although it was out of a prayer book that had taken it from the Bible. My guess it that it’s okay, I just want to make sure. I want to be perfect for Jesus ;).
 
I am really concerned for you OP. You sound like such a wonderful person but filled with agony as if Jesus is a horrible taskmaster!:eek:

I am not making light of this at all, but I am hoping you dont see it this way, and you see that he is not itching to send you to Hell.
 
La-Petite-Fleur said:
For penance the priest asked me to pray a psalm from the Bible, any psalm I chose. After confession I found psalms listed in the song book, so I chose a psalm and prayed it as penance. Soon after, the vigil mass (that counts as Sunday mass) started and I received the Eucharist. I was wondering however; did I do the penance correctly, or did I not and therefore commit a mortal sin by receiving the Eucharist at mass afterword? The instruction of “pray a psalm from the Bible” could be understood several ways: to pray a psalm (“from the Bible” meaning as all psalms are from the Bible); or to hold the Bible in one’s hands and pray directly from the Bible. Again, I just selected a psalm from a song book, which had obviously gotten the psalm from the Bible. Please tell me I’m being scrupulous, and that reading the Bible psalm (what ever translation it was) was ok, and that I didn’t have to actually read/pray it straight out of the Bible.
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This does not count. You must kneel on broken glass for one our for this admonition! 😃

Just kidding of course!

All Psalms are from the Bible, regardless of were you read it.

So you in fact fulfilled your penance.

When I visited the National Shrine of Divine Mercy, I was given as a penance, to read a particular verse from the Bible. Well, I didn’t have a Bible with me, so I ran downstairs to the gift shop and read the verse from one of the Bibles on the self.

The purpose of the Penance wasn’t the mere reading of the Scripture, but to receive the profound meaning of it, in relation to what I had confessed.

This is generally the purpose of Penance. Its to help you grow, not punish you.

Go in Peace
Jim
 
if you suffer from scrupulosity, as this and some of your previous posts indicate may be a problem for you, this is the classic spiritual advice: find one priest as your regular confessor, go only to him and only as often as he suggests, let him know of your problem and concerns, and follow only his advice. Do not ask advice of any other person, especially anonymous strangers on the internet. Do not discuss your spiritual life with anyone else, other than a spiritual director assigned by your confessor. There is nothing to be gained and a lot of potential danger in discussing each least concern like this with outsiders. You did your penance. Even if you did not, it would not have been a mortal sin and no barrier to the Eucharist. These questions are to be addressed to your confessor, and to no one else. it is beyond your capability to become perfect on your own initiative, it is for you to entrust your perfection to Christ. he makes you perfect, you do not make yourself perfect for him.
 
puzzleannie said:
You did your penance. Even if you did not, it would not have been a mortal sin and no barrier to the Eucharist.
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Just to expand on this part for the OP, your sins were forgiven when the Priest absolved you. Performance of your penance does not affect the validity or cause the absolution from the past Confession.
You could have went to Confession, went to Mass and recieved the Eucharist and then did the Penance and it would not have been a mortal sin

From AaA
Can a person who has comitted a mortal sin, confessed, received absolution but is supposed to take certain steps to rectify the mortal sin receive Communion? Should not a person be able to walk out of confession ready to receive Communion?
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A person who has been absolved of a mortal sin and thus restored to sanctifying grace can receive Communion again as soon as he is absolved. If he has been given a penance to perform to rectify his mortal sin, it is presumed that he will do it as soon as he is reasonably able to do so, but he may certainly receive Communion in the meantime.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=57512
 
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