Penance from Early Christianity up to now

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DonQuichote1235

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Hi all,

I have been reading on penance given in the past ages. It struck me that penance received at Confession was much more severe than it is in these days. Can someone explain why penance has become very mild nowadays (Our Father, 2 times hail Mary for example) compared to earlier times? Thanks!

Greetings DonQuichote.
 
It’s the times we live in - pamper - and console - sad.

( and heavily medicate - with prescribed drugs from outside doctors )
 
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because we are living in weak times.

Fasting laws used to much more strict in the Early Church as well, but again, we are living in weak times.
 
Yes, the nature of the Sacrament of Reconcilliation has changed. With the change has come a different view of penance .
 
It has nothing to do with the times we live in, weak times etc.

Its the nature of change in the Sacrament itself.
 
Perhaps it is to coax some of us who have not been to confession in a long time to come back and to ask for forgiveness.
It is not so much about the penance as it is God’s forgiveness.
I believe God wants to forgive us, not to punish us.
 
DonQuichote1235 said:
Hi all,

I have been reading on penance given in the past ages. It struck me that penance received at Confession was much more severe than it is in these days. Can someone explain why penance has become very mild nowadays (Our Father, 2 times hail Mary for example) compared to earlier times? Thanks!

Greetings DonQuichote.
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The penance given is a reparation for sin, but more reparation is needed to satisfy for temporal punishment (which is from any sin and is due to unhealthy to attachment to creatures). Penance allows us to suffer with Christ.

Catechism
Satisfaction

1459 Many sins wrong our neighbor. One must do what is possible in order to repair the harm (e.g., return stolen goods, restore the reputation of someone slandered, pay compensation for injuries). Simple justice requires as much. But sin also injures and weakens the sinner himself, as well as his relationships with God and neighbor. Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused.62 Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for the sin: he must “make satisfaction for” or “expiate” his sins. This satisfaction is also called “penance.”

1460 The penance the confessor imposes must take into account the penitent’s personal situation and must seek his spiritual good. It must correspond as far as possible with the gravity and nature of the sins committed. It can consist of prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices, and above all the patient acceptance of the cross we must bear. Such penances help configure us to Christ, who alone expiated our sins once for all. They allow us to become co-heirs with the risen Christ, "provided we suffer with him."63
The satisfaction that we make for our sins, however, is not so much ours as though it were not done through Jesus Christ. We who can do nothing ourselves, as if just by ourselves, can do all things with the cooperation of “him who strengthens” us. Thus man has nothing of which to boast, but all our boasting is in Christ . . . in whom we make satisfaction by bringing forth “fruits that befit repentance.” These fruits have their efficacy from him, by him they are offered to the Father, and through him they are accepted by the Father.64
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1473 The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the “old man” and to put on the "new man."85
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Do you have documents of that? I’m just wondering because that would seem like it’d leave out all the sins of later life.
 
With regard to making satisfaction, we focus mostly nowadays on liberally granted indulgences and patiently bearing the sufferings and trials of life. There’s a good discussion on this apparent laxity here from Cardinal Lepicier’s treatise on indulgences (written in the early 20th century):

Start on page 344 of the book (368 of the browser viewer), paragraph 7 and continue a couple pages:

 
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In the early days there was debate about whether some sins could even be forgiven by the Church. Of course all sin can be and those who said otherwise were wrong. But it is evidence of the more severe attitude concerning post baptism sin.

What ended up happening was many delayed baptism until the end of life. That wasn’t good.

I think the Church is in a sense easier on sin. But it is also meeting people where they are. We live in a softer world. The has always been in the Faith the idea of leading people from where they are to perfection. There has also been the idea that from those who have been given much much will be expected. Ultimately when we die God is the judge of our soul. If the Church was especially merciful and yet we still chose sin then the particular judgment may not go so well for us.
 
YourNameHere said:
Perhaps it is to coax some of us who have not been to confession in a long time to come back and to ask for forgiveness.

It is not so much about the penance as it is God’s forgiveness.

I believe God wants to forgive us, not to punish us.
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It is true that there is a much greater emphasis now on the mercy and love of God than in us being miserable sinful wormy creatures who deserve to be destroyed and need to mortify ourselves with very severe penances for our sins.

Also more emphasis on the frequent reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation in order to stay in a state of grace and receive the Eucharist frequently.

In olden times, people’s confessions were more spaced out in time and many people rarely received the Eucharist because the feeling was that unless you were a super holy saint, you probably weren’t good enough to receive Our Lord.

People had some wrong ideas in the past, that more recent saints and Popes have tried to remedy.
 
Genesis315 said:
we focus mostly nowadays on liberally granted indulgences and patiently bearing the sufferings and trials of life
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As the treatise discusses, I don’t like the idea of saying some prayer just to get an indulgence for myself. It takes away from what should be the real motivation of the prayer - love and worship of God and building a relationship with him, etc.

That is why I prefer to give all the indulgences away. I maybe keep one once a year if I feel like I really need some help. But I’m sure i go commit more sins anyway. It’s better to just give all your indulgences and offerings for the poor souls and then throw yourself on God’s mercy. As St. Therese said, we’re likely never going to be able to give satisfaction for every one of our sins anyway - nothing we could do would be enough to cover it all.
 
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Very insightful. “It is not…” I would believe the penances are not about punishment, and therefore don’t need to be harsh, yet are ways of conversion. Conversion of the mind, heart, and spirit.
 
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