no penance

[alice.magooey]

I am in a new Parish… I have been to the sacrament of Reconciliatiion twice.

The Priest does not give a penance.

I asked him about this and he said that he thought that i had performed sufficient penance preparing for a good confession ( which is true… i do prepare and really ‘sweat it out’ to make a good confession and reflect on my sins)…But is the sacrament valid if not Penance is exacted ??

I do believe i made an act of Contrition, and i did receive the Absolution from my sins in the usual way, with all the requirements i know to make the Sacrament valid, but i just was wondering if a Penance is required.

thanks
alice

 

[Joannm]

I had a priest tell my that I had done penance enough in preparing for the sacrament (it was a difficult confession). He simply told me to say an Our Father or some other prayer in thanksgiving.

 

[Saintlucy]

I think it depends upon the priest and how he judges how you prepare for confession. Penances do seem to be less harsh than they used to be. I was once given (30 years ago) a whole decade of the Rosary to say as a penance and I can’t say it was for a mortal sin. It did me good.

 

[chevalier]

Sometimes penance is not given.

But if you want big, just find an elderly Polish priest!

My father once said that it was a lesson in humility sometimes to get a light penance. As in, one would imagine a hard penance for something relatively trivial because one’s supposedly so perfect it really, really shouldn’t have happened… and then one is told to say a Hail Mary.

There was also a Polish legend (very possibly false) about a powerful regional noble from 12th century, second after the princes, who was told to build 3 churches and 7 monasteries. So he built 30 and 70 because he could afford it and he wanted to overdo himself. But his illness, being his punishment, did not cease as a result. A monk or similar figure explained to him what 3 and 7 stood for and 30 and 70 did not. I think he had to erect another 3 & 7 to be healed!

I also remember priests mentioning prescribing good deeds as penance instead of verbal prayers or attendance at additional services or some other classical penance.

 

[Joannm]

I think it depends upon the priest and how he judges how you prepare for confession. Penances do seem to be less harsh than they used to be. I was once given (30 years ago) a whole decade of the Rosary to say as a penance and I can’t say it was for a mortal sin. It did me good.

A decade is 10 Hail Mary’s. I would not call that a harsh penance. I sometimes get a whole mystery or the Divine Mercy Chaplet, or to do the Stations of the Cross…but I would not call that harsh either.

 

[Saintlucy]

A decade is 10 Hail Mary’s. I would not call that a harsh penance. I sometimes get a whole mystery or the Divine Mercy Chaplet, or to do the Stations of the Cross…but I would not call that harsh either.

I was only saying what I thought. I guess I’ve only been to priests who either give very lenient penances or think I just deserve an Our Father and a Hail Mary…

 

[damooster]

I am in a new Parish… I have been to the sacrament of Reconciliatiion twice.

The Priest does not give a penance.

I asked him about this and he said that he thought that i had performed sufficient penance preparing for a good confession ( which is true… i do prepare and really ‘sweat it out’ to make a good confession and reflect on my sins)…But is the sacrament valid if not Penance is exacted ??

I do believe i made an act of Contrition, and i did receive the Absolution from my sins in the usual way, with all the requirements i know to make the Sacrament valid, but i just was wondering if a Penance is required.

thanks
alice

Penance is not required for absolution.

 

[puzzleannie]

I
The Priest does not give a penance.

I asked him about this and he said that he thought that i had performed sufficient penance preparing for a good confession (

so you did have a penance after all

yes it is part of the sacrament, no it is not invalid if the priest does not assign a specific penance. Our priest would tell you in such cases to make a slow, meditative, prayerful, sincere recitation and reflection on the Our Father. It is not “just an Our Father”. Read the entire last section of the CCC which is based on this prayer. Such a meditation could easily take an hour for some people.

 

[Prague]

After one of my confessions, the priest told me for my penance to go home and kiss my husband…