The Point/Role of Penance

[blackforest]

A Protestant recently asked me what the point was of penance when the Bible already makes it clear that Christ forgives those who asks. What is the best Catholic response?

 

[Mtatum1958]

The point is to make atonement for our sins. I don’t think that will go far with your friend unless they have a good grasp on the meaning, however.

 

[blackforest]

Yea, her claim was that atonement through penance is unnecessary once you confess. Penance has never been a big deal for me. On the contrary, I love the sense of closure that it provides. I just didn’t know how to respond to her and was honest about that, telling her I’d look into the official Catholic response and get back to her.

OK, this helps. I’m looking at the CCC, and it uses “penance” and “confession” interchangeably. Maybe it’s just semantics?

 

[Vico]

Forgiveness of guilt of sin is conditional upon repentance. This forgiveness is given in baptism, but sins after that requires more.

Catechism of the Catholic Church (second edition)

1430 Jesus’ call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him, does not aim first at outward works, “sackcloth and ashes,” fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion. Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however, interior conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance. 23

1459 … 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.”

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

Generally there are four general grants for indulgences:

1. Raising the mind to God with humble trust while performing one’s duties and bearing life’s difficulties, and adding, at least mentally, some pious invocation.
2. Devoting oneself or one’s goods compassionately in a spirit of faith to the service of one’s brothers and sisters in need.
3. Freely abstaining in a spirit of penance from something licit and pleasant.
4. Freely giving open witness to one’s faith before others in particular circumstances of everyday life.

 

[Thom18]

A Protestant recently asked me what the point was of penance when the Bible already makes it clear that Christ forgives those who asks. What is the best Catholic response?

Do you mean the sacrament of penance (confession), or the act of penance given by the priest before absolution?

 

[blackforest]

I think she was referring to the latter.

 

[Inquiry]

Let’s say you are on your way to meet a friend and you decide to take a detour and you plow your car into a tree. Now you are separated from your friend and you have damaged your ability to get to him.

Now let’s say you call your friend and tell him what happened and he wires you the money to get your car fixed. Hooray! You can get to him again. You still have to drive to him though, though. Your journey didn’t stop being a thing. And your detour added to the distance so you have to drive a bit further than if you never made it. Fixing your car doesn’t do anything to change that.

That’s what’s going on. Sin damages your ability to get to God and it separates you further from Him. He helps you out so you can get to Him, but you still have to finish the journey. You still have to cross the distance between who you are now and the Saint He calls you to be. You always had to do that, even if you never sinned.

Sometimes I think the punishment terminology is a bad fit for this day and age. God hasn’t changed, but our culture and the way we think about things has.

 

[Genesis315]

Steal five dollars from your friend’s wallet. Then say you’re sorry to Jesus. When your friend asks for his money back, say, “Christ forgave me and paid the price of my sin” and walk away. That should make the point.

Scripture says we must repent and then “bring forth fruits worthy of repentance” and “do works worthy of repentance” (cf. Luke 3:8; Acts 26:20, etc.). This is done after we are freely forgiven by the priest by virtue of the power delegated him by Christ (cf. John 20:23).

In the example above, the work worthy of repentance would be to return the ill-gotten gain–that stain of injustice we still have with us after being forgiven–or, if that were not possible, to give it as alms.

Every sin carries with it some kind of stain of injustice, even if intangible, like honor we should have given to God which we did not (as is the case with all sins). Most priests assign prayer as a penance immediately after confession for this reason, since by it we give some honor and love due to God that we failed to give when we sinned. But the Church also has days and seasons when we are especially encouraged to do other penances like almsgiving and fasting (traditionally, almsigiving is associated with sins against neighbor, fasting with sins against self, and prayer with sins against God, which all are).

Often we cannot really completely repair what we have done, but our best attempt to do so is called “satisfaction.” It suffices by the mercy of God and merits of Jesus.

In addition to this, penance helps us discipline ourselves to bring us closer to God and generally helps us put on the new man (cf. Eph. 4:24).