What to do when your penance is to "do something nice?"

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I usually find random, anonymous acts of kindness to work for me. If I am in a drive thru, I will ask how much is the total for the car behind me, I will pay what I can toward that stranger’s tab. If I can afford to pay the whole thing, I do. If not, I hand the cashier a $10 or a $20 toward their tab.

This removes my human desire to hear “oh thank you!”.
 
Ask the priest for some examples.

This seems fairly straight forward though. And a good penance to do. I rather with I was given something this constructive as well as the prayers I normally get.
 
Whenever I go to Confession in the Cathedral near my place, and the Rector is hearing confessions, he always tells me to do three acts of kindness/charity as reparations for the sins I committed against someone else.

Usually I would apologize to someone who I’d hurt, or offer help to them. Or when in doubt, always smile. A smile can help someone have a good day.
 
Part of my penance recently was to hug and kiss my wife and tell her I love her. Oh, such “torture”…😉
 
I can tell you what I do in this situation. I drop some money in the poor box. I’m done. If I forget, about it, I guess I am covered?

But I do not quit there. I do that part just because my memory is fallible. After that, I still try do do one good deed for someone that at first I do not want to do, so as not to be a minimalist.
 
I hate that penance. I told the priest once that I try to do that all the time.

I like tough penances. There is extra grace given for prayers said as a penance. I was given a rosary to say once for the same sins I have been given 3 Our Fathers and 3 Hail Mary’s.
 
If your penance is to do something nice, I would suggest doing one of the Corporal or Spiritual Works of Mercy or maybe more than one if you’re up to it.
 
Yes, my original point was that it is nice to have some specific direction, guidance. Something challenging to learn from. Like many have said, we are called to be charitable in all of our interactions. When I get the “just do something nice” penance, I feel like I did something nice, then a few minutes later I might think, “was it enough?” But honestly I try not to worry too much about it anymore.
 
Here are two possible things you could do:
  1. Ask the priest what exactly he means/ask him to give an example of something nice he might want you to do
  2. Ask the priest if you could have a different penance.
 
bobperk said:
…When I get the “just do something nice” penance, I feel like I did something nice, then a few minutes later I might think, “was it enough?” …
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The priests proposal of penance is a start, but we also should do even more that we may remove the attachment to sin that occurs.

Catechism
1494 The confessor proposes the performance of certain acts of “satisfaction” or “penance” to be performed by the penitent in order to repair the harm caused by sin and to re-establish habits befitting a disciple of Christ.
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Yes. Everyone knows what “nice” actions are. As far as a penance goes, maybe it means being nice in a harder way? It’s nice to call an old person to chat on the phone, since many of them act crabby to start; it’s nice to listen to someone talking about their health problems, however boring; and the list goes on!
 
Praying is great, but concentrating on the prayer can be hard. And in a sensible way; not wondering if every word was said in the prayer, such as with the “Hail Mary”. I often have trouble with being relaxed during prayer.
 
I would hate that penance. I wouldn’t know if I passed or not unless something specific was ordered like buy some fliwers and give to a stranger.
 
It need not be something grand. The children of Fatima sacrificed their lunch to the sheep for the repose of souls in Purgatory.
 
If you prefer a prayer-based penance, say a series of prayers similar to penances you’ve received before and offer it up for souls. That’s doing something nice 🙂
 
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