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AJ85
Guest
I went to confession yesterday, and the priest told me to read the epistles of Paul. I’m about 55 pages in, and I probably won’t have it all read before Mass tonight. What should I do in this situation?
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baltobetsy
Guest
You don’t need to complete your penance before Mass or Holy Communion. Your sins were forgiven at the time of the absolution, so you are ready to receive Holy Communion.
You probably won’t get much out of your penance if you rush through the reading in order to finish today. Take your time with the reading and see what message there is for you in it.
People who receive a short penance, like a few prayers, do it immediately so they don’t forget, but it’s not strictly necessary. As long as you don’t put it off unnecessarily, you’re fine. Since you’ve already started, you have shown that you’re not going to blow it off. Now take your time and squeeze the most out of it.
Betsy
You probably won’t get much out of your penance if you rush through the reading in order to finish today. Take your time with the reading and see what message there is for you in it.
People who receive a short penance, like a few prayers, do it immediately so they don’t forget, but it’s not strictly necessary. As long as you don’t put it off unnecessarily, you’re fine. Since you’ve already started, you have shown that you’re not going to blow it off. Now take your time and squeeze the most out of it.
Betsy
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puzzleannie
Guest
keep reading until you have finished. it may take days or weeks depending on how much time you have for it. there is no law that says your penance must be complete before you attend Mass and receive communion. are you quite sure the priest did not specify one particular epistle?
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The_Otaku
Guest
You were absolved from your sins if the priest gave you absolution, so if the question is really ‘can I go and receive communion even though I haven’t completed my penance’, the answer is yes.
The penance is to be completed within a reasonable time frame, in your case, I would imagine. Unless the priest gave you a specific time frame just continue your penance at the next available time after mass until it’s complete.
The forgiveness of your sins is not contingent on the completion of penance. This is why absolution and penance are performed in the order that they are. If it wasn’t, Holy Communion wouldn’t be as accessible and the goal here is to get people back into a state of grace as soon as possible and able to receive communion as soon as possible. In the old Church, some penances could last weeks, months, or even years and people wouldn’t go to communion.
It’s nice that you bring this up, since our parish priest was actually talking about this last night in his homily.
As long as you got Absolution, you’re fine. Just complete your penance at the next available time. =3
The penance is to be completed within a reasonable time frame, in your case, I would imagine. Unless the priest gave you a specific time frame just continue your penance at the next available time after mass until it’s complete.
The forgiveness of your sins is not contingent on the completion of penance. This is why absolution and penance are performed in the order that they are. If it wasn’t, Holy Communion wouldn’t be as accessible and the goal here is to get people back into a state of grace as soon as possible and able to receive communion as soon as possible. In the old Church, some penances could last weeks, months, or even years and people wouldn’t go to communion.
It’s nice that you bring this up, since our parish priest was actually talking about this last night in his homily.
As long as you got Absolution, you’re fine. Just complete your penance at the next available time. =3
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Genesis12345
Guest
I would have still gone to Communion because you had the intention of finishing the Epistles.
This was must have been pre-Vatican 2.
I never hear of such a penance.
I know that I went once, but the priest told me to read a chapter for Mark, which was fine. It is better than the usual One Our Father and One Hail Mary. And the chapter he told me to read did correlate with my confession.
This was must have been pre-Vatican 2.
I never hear of such a penance.
I know that I went once, but the priest told me to read a chapter for Mark, which was fine. It is better than the usual One Our Father and One Hail Mary. And the chapter he told me to read did correlate with my confession.
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rpp
Guest
That is one heck of a penance! Are you a Wall Street banker?
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