Penance: A question

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Okay, I went for confession 2 weeks ago and my priest gave me a weird penance. I confessed a sin and the penance he gave me was to not commit that sin. Now, being the fallen man I am, I did. So now, can I go for confession without completing, or in this case, failing to do my penance? And is that a mortal sin?
 
Yes, you can go to confession again to confess having broken your penance. Bottom line.
 
Let’s clarify,
you need to go to confession IF YOU COMMITTED that particular sin again, yes.
If you have NOT committed another mortal sin, you DO NOT need to go to confession.
A penance of “not doing something” is kind of weird, because a penance assigned
is usually a POSITIVE ACTION, DOING SOMETHING, like praying 5 rosaries for the relief of the Holy Souls in Purgatory or something, not simply “not committing that sin again.”
Good grief, not committing it again goes without saying, and should not be assigned as a “penance.” I too find that kind of weird.
 
And as for these weird penances, that’s not really a penance. The penance you receive is supposed to help make reparation to God for the sins you committed, as well as bestow more graces upon you and help reduce the temporal suffering due to sin.

The penance a priest gives you must be doable, hence when I returned to the Church after 10 years, before the priest could assign me to pray the rosary meditating on the sorrowful mysteries in reparation for my sins, he had to confirm with me first that I knew how and was able to.

If the priest assigns you a weird penance again, especially if it’s something like to not commit the same sin again, you can ask for another penance telling father you’re not sure you can complete that penance, especially if in the past you haven’t been able to. Furthermore, if father still assigns you such a penance, you can go to another priest and he can assign you a different penance.
 
Jaypeeto4 said:
Let’s clarify,
you need to go to confession IF YOU COMMITTED that particular sin again, yes.
If you have NOT committed another mortal sin, you DO NOT need to go to confession.
A penance of “not doing something” is kind of weird, because a penance assigned
is usually a POSITIVE ACTION, DOING SOMETHING, like praying 5 rosaries for the relief of the Holy Souls in Purgatory or something, not simply “not committing that sin again.”
Good grief, not committing it again goes without saying, and should not be assigned as a “penance.” I too find that kind of weird.
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Exactly! But now I need to know if by committing the sin, I actually committed two. 1) the sin itself and 2) not doing my penance.
 
Red_Paladin said:
Exactly! But now I need to know if by committing the sin, I actually committed two. 1) the sin itself and 2) not doing my penance.
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I would just explain the whole situation in the confessional. Mention the sin and the penance to not do the sin. The priest can advise you. (Confess to another priest if possible, since this priest just seems to be confusing you)
 
Red_Paladin said:
Exactly! But now I need to know if by committing the sin, I actually committed two. 1) the sin itself and 2) not doing my penance.
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It is not a sin to fail to accomplish a penance… even though that wasn’t a penance anyway (rather, the priest was telling you what you SHOULD be doing anyway, which is avoiding that, and all, sin in the future).

In fact, let’s say you were legitimately forgetful and failed to ever do your penance… or you became incapacitated before accomplishing it… what would happen? Well, penance is for remission of temporal effects of sin, it has a purifying aspect to it, so you might spend a little more time in purgatory because you missed out on penance, but that’s about it.

If you were going to confession with the deliberate intent NOT to do any penance, nor with any desire for purification and abstintion from sin, I would say that this would greatly call into question your contrition… but that matter is for each individual to weigh in their hearts.
 
Pennance is not required for absolution, it’s more of an act of making up for the sins you did. Not doing pennance is kind of rude, but it’s not a sin.
 
One time the priest gave me a book to read. It took a month. He did not expect me to wait that long till I receive communion.

In fact, when there is a line outside the confessional before mass and not time left. He would absolve our sins and tell us to come to confession at the first opportunity. So we could receive communion AT THAT MASS!.
 
Evan said:
One time the priest gave me a book to read. It took a month. He did not expect me to wait that long till I receive communion.

In fact, when there is a line outside the confessional before mass and not time left. He would absolve our sins and tell us to come to confession at the first opportunity. So we could receive communion AT THAT MASS!.
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Is that what is called a general absolution? Is it okay to do that?
 
TrueLight said:
Is that what is called a general absolution? Is it okay to do that?
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I don’t think it is legit:

Pastoral Norm for General Sacramental Absolution
3. Apart from the cases of danger of death, it is lawful to give sacramental absolution collectively to a number of faithful who have confessed only generically but have been suitably exhorted to repent, provided that there is serious necessity: namely, when in view of the number of penitents there are not enough confessors at hand to hear properly the confessions of each within an appropriate time, with the result that the penitents through no fault of their own would be forced to do without sacramental grace or Holy Communion** for a long time. **This can happen especially in mission lands but in places also and within groups where it is clear that this need exists.

This is not lawful however, when confessors are able to be at hand, merely because of a great concourse of penitents such as can for example occur on a great feast or pilgrimage (cf. Proposition 59 condemned by Innocent XI on March 2, 1679: DS 2159).
 
promethius said:
It is not a sin to fail to accomplish a penance… even though that wasn’t a penance anyway (rather, the priest was telling you what you SHOULD be doing anyway, which is avoiding that, and all, sin in the future).

In fact, let’s say you were legitimately forgetful and failed to ever do your penance… or you became incapacitated before accomplishing it… what would happen? Well, penance is for remission of temporal effects of sin, it has a purifying aspect to it, so you might spend a little more time in purgatory because you missed out on penance, but that’s about it.

If you were going to confession with the deliberate intent NOT to do any penance, nor with any desire for purification and abstintion from sin, I would say that this would greatly call into question your contrition… but that matter is for each individual to weigh in their hearts.
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Thank you for that. I made a good confession with a clean conscience, because of it 🙂
 
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