Penance Question

[Riman643]

Hi all, I had my first confession in around 12 years on Thursday and my priest told me to spend about 10 minutes for the next four days (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) and thank God and talk with God about 10 different things I’m thankful for before I go to bed. Last night I attended Saturday Night Vigil and and forgot to do this before I went to bed and I feel really horrible and depressed about it. I was going to say twenty things tonight about what I’m thankful for but I’m not sure if this will count. If I don’t fulfill my penance will I not be able to receive communion? Thanks for your replies!

 

[Roseeurekacross]

So happy for you getting back into the Confessional.

Add another session to make up for the missed one perhaps?

Your sins were absolved. You will be able to
Have Communion.

 

[fbl9]

Hi all, I had my first confession in around 12 years on Thursday and my priest told me to spend about 10 minutes for the next four days (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) and thank God and talk with God about 10 different things I’m thankful for before I go to bed. Last night I attended Saturday Night Vigil and and forgot to do this before I went to bed and I feel really horrible and depressed about it. I was going to say twenty things tonight about what I’m thankful for but I’m not sure if this will count. If I don’t fulfill my penance will I not be able to receive communion? Thanks for your replies!

To my limited knowledge you should be eligible to receive.
To me it seems that by doing twenty things to make up for the lost time gives the impression that one may be treating the penance as a task to be strictly carried out. One can miss the spiritual medicine offered in penance. Me personally i would just do ten and carry it out an extra day.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

Hi all, I had my first confession in around 12 years on Thursday and my priest told me to spend about 10 minutes for the next four days (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) and thank God and talk with God about 10 different things I’m thankful for before I go to bed. Last night I attended Saturday Night Vigil and and forgot to do this before I went to bed and I feel really horrible and depressed about it. I was going to say twenty things tonight about what I’m thankful for but I’m not sure if this will count. If I don’t fulfill my penance will I not be able to receive communion? Thanks for your replies!

Sigh. This is why I always discouraged this sort of tactic on the part of giving penances by our young priests. It is always better to give a penance that the penitent can fulfill upon stepping out of the confessional and have accomplished or, if they need delay it, do in a moment and not have it occur in stages or give direction about doing it at specific times. People forget or become busy or confused,

In any event, regarding the matter at hand: the penance will have been substantively fulfilled by either the method of doing what you propose, which makes up for the forgotten session, or of simply adding an extra day – Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday.

Please do not feel horrible or depressed. You forgot. And in the extraordinary context of the Easter Vigil. Human beings do that and with great ease.

You have a real obligation to fulfill the penance on the one hand but, assuredly in such a circumstance, you do not have to omit receiving the Eucharist…you can go ahead and receive Communion as the penance is being resolved.

If the penance could not be fulfilled for some reason – such as a penance of fasting that would be medically injurious – the resolution is simply for the penance to be commuted to something else by the same or another confessor. This circumstance does not call for this resolution, however. Having remembered it, you are going back to do it.

Welcome back.

 

[57classic]

Sigh. This is why I always discouraged this sort of tactic on the part of giving penances by our young priests. It is always better to give a penance that the penitent can fulfill upon stepping out of the confessional and have accomplished or, if they need delay it, do in a moment and not have it occur in stages or give direction about doing it at specific times. People forget or become busy or confused

When I returned to the Sacraments after 30+ years, my confessor gave me the penance of saying the morning Prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours for a week. ( He had asked me what prayers I was praying first and he knew I was familiar with this) Perhaps the OP had discussed gratitude in some form and that is why the priest chose that particular penance.

It’s not as bad as having to choose your own penance, UGH! That from a retired priest, with a twinkle in his eye after I had confessed to acedia. I was a lot harder on myself than he ever would have been. The good part was that I did get the basement clean before family descended on me for a holiday.

 

[Blessedwithfive]

When I returned to the Sacraments after 30+ years, my confessor gave me the penance of saying the morning Prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours for a week. ( He had asked me what prayers I was praying first and he knew I was familiar with this) Perhaps the OP had discussed gratitude in some form and that is why the priest chose that particular penance.

It’s not as bad as having to choose your own penance, UGH! That from a retired priest, with a twinkle in his eye after I had confessed to acedia. I was a lot harder on myself than he ever would have been. The good part was that I did get the basement clean before family descended on me for a holiday.

Ok I had to look up acedia…and thought to myself, “THAT’S A SIN?” hard to believe that warranted a basement clean out…maybe a few Hail Mary’s…

 

[57classic]

Ok I had to look up acedia…and thought to myself, “THAT’S A SIN?” hard to believe that warranted a basement clean out…maybe a few Hail Mary’s…

It was out of control which is the point. Procrastination leads to chaos when you haven’t done what needs to be done whether it’s getting ready for something or putting off tax prep or even cleaning out the fridge when it needs it! Another word is sloth, which is one of the seven deadlies!