Valid Penance for Confession?

[Super58]

Dear Catholic Answers Community,

This morning I went to Confession at 7:15am after chaperoning an all night event at my school. I confessed all my sins, had true contrition, and was properly absolved. For my penance, the priest asked me to spend some time in personal prayer, but when I exited the confessional, I couldn’t remember what he asked me to pray about! I vaguely remember it has something to do with “thanking God,” “grace,” or “love.” I spent some time in prayer doing the best I could based on what I remembered, but since it wasn’t a specific prayer like the Hail Mary or a numerical prayer, I had a lot of trouble. Do you think I fullfilled my penance and had a valid Confession?

Thanks a Million!

 

[jwinch2]

If you have any concerns I would suggest contacting the priest or simply bringing up the next time you receive the sacrament of reconciliation. As for a valid confession, someone else who is more knowledgeable than I on canon law will have to chime in.

 

[MarkThompson]

Dear Catholic Answers Community,

This morning I went to Confession at 7:15am after chaperoning an all night event at my school. I confessed all my sins, had true contrition, and was properly absolved. For my penance, the priest asked me to spend some time in personal prayer, but when I exited the confessional, I couldn’t remember what he asked me to pray about! I vaguely remember it has something to do with “thanking God,” “grace,” or “love.” I spent some time in prayer doing the best I could based on what I remembered, but since it wasn’t a specific prayer like the Hail Mary or a numerical prayer, I had a lot of trouble. Do you think I fullfilled my penance and had a valid Confession?

Thanks a Million!

It is a common misunderstanding to think that the absolution of sins only becomes activated one you have completed your assigned penance. This is not true – the absolution of sins is done when the priest says, “I absolve you.” If you are assigned ten Hail Marys, but walk out of the confessional and are immediately killed by a heart attack before you have the chance to say them, your sins have already been forgiven, no worries.

So forgetting or being unable to perform your assigned penance has no bearing whatsoever on whether you have had a “valid Confession.” The Confession was valid or invalid at the time it took place. Perhaps if you walking into Confession planning to ignore any penance that would be assigned, that might call the validity of the sacrament into question, I’m not sure (I am inclined to think not, though). But if you planned to do the penance and then simply forget about it, that’s just one of those things. To be sure, if you were culpable in the forgetting (say, by deliberately putting it off until you forgot about it altogether), then that might be an independent sin, but it would still not retroactively invalidate your absolution. Anyway, try harder next time – perhaps repeat back to the priest your penance when he gives it to you – and if you like you may mention to him that you were unable to remember exactly what your previous penance was and would like to be assigned a little bit more to make up for it.

That is a long way of saying, there is absolutely no question but that the absolution you received is, indeed, valid, and you do not need to reconfess any of the sins for which that absolution was given.

 

[Digitonomy]

Perhaps if you walking into Confession planning to ignore any penance that would be assigned, that might call the validity of the sacrament into question, I’m not sure (I am inclined to think not, though).

I don’t think so either.

I’ll admit that if you plan to ignore any penance assigned, there is a good chance that you may lack proper contrition, which could thus render the sacrament invalid. However, just because it may point to that possibility doesn’t mean your plan of ignoring the penance would in itself scotch the validity of the sacrament.

For instance, you may believe (validly or not) that the priest confessor’s penances are harmful and contrary to the will of the Church, and thus should not be carried out. Yet he is the only confessor around, so you are stuck confessing to him or not at all. Thus you may go into confession planning not to do the penance, and when the mentally troubled priest validly absolves you and gives you the penance of firebombing the Lutheran church across town, you carry out your intention not to do the penance - and the absolution is still valid.

Farfetched, I know, but it shows that the failure to do penance, and even the pre-existing intent not to do the penance, do not by themselves invalidate the sacrament.

 

[Spirithound]

Dear Catholic Answers Community,

This morning I went to Confession at 7:15am after chaperoning an all night event at my school. I confessed all my sins, had true contrition, and was properly absolved. For my penance, the priest asked me to spend some time in personal prayer, but when I exited the confessional, I couldn’t remember what he asked me to pray about! I vaguely remember it has something to do with “thanking God,” “grace,” or “love.” I spent some time in prayer doing the best I could based on what I remembered, but since it wasn’t a specific prayer like the Hail Mary or a numerical prayer, I had a lot of trouble. Do you think I fullfilled my penance and had a valid Confession?

Thanks a Million!

Yes, you fulfilled your penance, and as the others have mentioned, fulfillment of the penance is not a requirement of a valid confession.

 

[Edward_H]

Dear Catholic Answers Community,

This morning I went to Confession at 7:15am after chaperoning an all night event at my school. I confessed all my sins, had true contrition, and was properly absolved. For my penance, the priest asked me to spend some time in personal prayer, but when I exited the confessional, I couldn’t remember what he asked me to pray about! I vaguely remember it has something to do with “thanking God,” “grace,” or “love.” I spent some time in prayer doing the best I could based on what I remembered, but since it wasn’t a specific prayer like the Hail Mary or a numerical prayer, I had a lot of trouble. Do you think I fullfilled my penance and had a valid Confession?

Thanks a Million!

Yes. You did your sincere best.

God Bless.

 

[puzzleannie]

Dear Catholic Answers Community,

This morning I w. Do you think I fullfilled my penance and had a valid Confession?

Thanks a Million!

he told you to pray. you prayed. case closed
even if you had not done the penance the sacrament would still be valid

 

[Super58]

Wow! My first post ever, and I got six replies in just a few hours. You are guys are amazing Thank you so much, and God Bless you!

 

[Bookcat]

Perhaps if you walking into Confession planning to ignore any penance that would be assigned, that might call the validity of the sacrament into question, I’m not sure (I am inclined to think not, though).

Such “could” I would think call the validity into question for one is planning to ignore the penance (in fact doing so at the time) …and such is an integral part of the Sacrament (though I too am not completely certain…and there can be various factors I suppose…I do know that in at least one older moral manual it noted that such can (at least in certain circumstances) make it invalid). Also if say one does not do so-- but later decides to not do the penance that was for mortal sins…that can thus be a grave matter for mortal sin…