What was your penance?

[datritle]

i ALWAYS get “one hail mary, one our father, one glory be”. ehhh i feel like i deserve more.

 

[rissa87]

My confessor knows that I like harder penances so he has been trying to be more creative lately. One time, I got “go to an abortion mill and pray the rosary outside of it” and the last time I went he told me to go out of my way to invite someone who was a non-Catholic, preferably a stranger/someone I had just met, to Mass and if they refused ask them what it is that would keep them from considering Catholicism and dialogue with them about it. Of course–he knows me really well and knows how I like to discuss the faith, even with strangers, so he knows that it is something I am capable of doing.

Typically though, that priest gives pretty easy penances. He only has begun to give me more challenging ones because I requested it. I asked him why he usually gives penances of prayers, etc. and he told me that the reasoning is because although your sins are forgiven even before you do the penance (so long as you intend to do it), many people do not believe that they are and as a result they will not take communion until it is completed. He doesn’t want anyone to feel unworthy to approach the eucharist when they have made a good confession, so he gives penances that are easy to complete before leaving the church or before Mass starts if it is a confession time before Mass on the weekend.

 

[iheartdance]

Depends on the priest. One of them just gives you () Hail Marys or () Our Fathers. The other one just says say three Hail Marys for priests.

 

[UpUpAndAway]

I was thinking the same thing. Why on earth would that be assigned as penance?

In order to explain this I would have to talk about what I confessed, and I won’t do that. In light of my confession, however, the penance did make sense, though objectively I found it bizarre.

Maybe he was being tested for obedience. Some of the saints were forbidden by their superiors from fasting too much. The priest knew how much he loved to go to Adoration and maybe it was just a test for obedience and the pain he would feel for not being able to go was the penannce. Just a thought.

That is part of it, though not a major part and certainly not the principal reason.

P.S. I’m a girl :curtsey:

 

[jenwha]

Lately I always get Hail Marys.

When Sandy had just hit it was to spend a few minutes praying for the victims, and one time it was to contemplate my wedding vows and what they mean.

I have always wondered why we most often get prayers but now I get it…it would have to be something simpler so that we can attend Mass shortly after and be able to take communion.

 

[CB_Catholic]

The strangest penance I ever had came from a priest who said I take life too seriously. My penance was to find a friend and go out and have a good time.

I did complete my penance, but it was weird calling up my friend and asking her to help me do my penance. She laughed and obliged me, and we had a good time.

The priest was right, though, and it amazed me how perceptive he was–I do have a tendency to take life and things too seriously. I just never thought that it would be something I need to do penance for. Apparently, the priest thought I needed an attitude adjustment.

And the really funny part is that I always considered this priest as a straight-laced fuddy-duddy–he has a rather important position in the Diocese and is one of the more intellectual types. I always considered him as a too serious person!

 

[ermcma]

Lately I always get Hail Marys.

When Sandy had just hit it was to spend a few minutes praying for the victims, and one time it was to contemplate my wedding vows and what they mean.

I have always wondered why we most often get prayers but now I get it…it would have to be something simpler so that we can attend Mass shortly after and be able to take communion.

I thought you could receive communion after being absolved. Completing the penance is not necessary to be forgiven…you can go to communion. It is another sin not to complete penance, but absolution is not dependent on the penance being completed.

 

[ilySHJ]

Typical penance: 3 Hail Mary’s

Strangest: sin no more. I asked Fr. again what was my penance; he repeated, “sin no more.” Alas, I slipped.

Funny penance incident: I tried to get all the students in CCD to the Lenten Recinciliation service. A teen sat by me a moment and asked what my penance was. Very, very softly I whispered to read something in the Bible and then indicated that I was praying. Well, it must’ve been too soft, a little later, 4-5 teenage jaws dropped when she told the others I had to “read the Bible.”

 

[tradcathconvert]

The most I have ever had is 5 Our Fathers and 5 Hail Marys. Our current chaplain always gives so many Our Fathers. The only question seems to be how many will we get. My usual number is 3.

 

[buc_fan33]

Is it lawful for a priest to instruct you to NOT do something like Adoration? That’s really weird. I mean, you get more grace to erase temporal punishment by going than by not going…

One of the first points that Francis de Sales makes in his classic, Intro to the Devout Life is that we must live in accord with our vocation. If someone is a wife and mother or a husband and father, and this person is neglecting other duties and responsibilities in order to spend hours on end in adoration, then yes, it seems to me not only a licit but a prudent penance. Obviously, I don’t know the specifics of the situation. Some people are called to spend many hours a day in adoration of the blessed sacrament. Typically, these people are behind cloisters in convents or monasteries. Most people, however, are not called to do this. We must live in accord with our personal vocations even if this means LESS time in prayer.

As a priest, I typically assign very light penances. While in seminary, I was blessed with a saintly old retired priest who was the house confessor. Into his 90s, before old age got the better of him, this retired priest would faithfully hear the seminarians’ confessions every day during the morning holy hour, and then be available all day, every day, in his room. What always struck me about him was that, regardless of whatever you confessed, his penance was always one Hail Mary. I’ve tried to adopt this in my own priesthood. He realized that its not the QUANTITY that is important, but the QUALITY. One prayer, said faithfully, has the power to move mountains and to convert even the hardest of hearts.

Sometimes, I’ll assign Psalm 100 because of the opening line, “Cry out with joy to The Lord.” I want the sacrament to be a moment of joy for people and I think this Psalm captures that beautifully.

 

[tradcathconvert]

What always struck me about him was that, regardless of whatever you confessed, his penance was always one Hail Mary. I’ve tried to adopt this in my own priesthood. He realized that its not the QUANTITY that is important, but the QUALITY. One prayer, said faithfully, has the power to move mountains and to convert even the hardest of hearts.

Thank you, Father, for the reminder that QUALITY is MORE important than QUANTITY. That is something I need to often remember. One Hail Mary, rosary, Our Father or whatever prayer said with attention and devotion is more powerful then a lot of them said in the wrong way.

 

[Oneofthewomen]

Since I came back to the Church, I have had a regular confessor who also acted as my spiritual director, so I have had many “creative” penances.

The ones that stick out the most-

Read the Gospel of Mark in one sitting (it took me about 2 hours) and meditate on a few things that my SD pointed out to me, in light of my reading.

Pray with Psalm 139, specifically this part-(vs. 13&14)
You formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb
I praise you, because I am wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works!
My very self you know.

And the hardest, no penance except to say one (and only one to quote my SD) prayer of Thanksgiving for God’s infinite love.

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

Absolutely, I know many times we are not sure if the priest is a religious. I’ve heard that priests of the “traditional” orders, such as FSSP, give “tougher” penances. I was more interested in hearing about that.

I’ve never really found my penances with the FSSP as tough, but there was one who gave me a penance that was severely stiffer than what I confessed. I ended up not being able to complete it, and I told my regular confessor, whom I normally confessed to every week, so he knew the nature of my sins and confessions. He didn’t commute a new penance for it, and felt that I had done sufficient penance.

 

[Rha_hea]

Ive had some tough ones from FSSP priests (of course I deserved them, and they have made me a better person and surely improved my prayer life); I mostly always see the same priest for confession.

Once I could not be absolved until I removed myself from the permanent occasion of sin I had put myself in. (the toughest thing I have ever had to do)

The second hardest one has to be when I got a rosary everyday for two weeks.

The smallest one that I usually get is one rosary.

 

[pink8888]

in one of my confessions with our parish priest, it went for almost an hour.

in that hour-long confession, he had advised me to: read psalm 51, pray the litany of humility, go on a vacation, visit the adoration chapel, read the compendium of the catechism of the Catholic Church, get myself a spiritual advisor, go for an individual retreat, meditate, read the bible…

near the end of the confession, he asked me if there was anything else that i’d like to confess or say, i replied that there is nothing else except for my penance. then he said that he had already given it to me!!

so then i asked if it was psalm 51. he thought for a moment and said yes.

but then after a while i began to think, is it just psalm 51 or all that he had told me to do?

 

[Mrs_Sally]

I go to FSSP, and the priests definitely seem to give more penance in their penances (lol) than in most Novus Ordo places. The least I’ve seen for a mortal sin is a rosary, and venials sins range from about 5 Our Fathers/a decade of the rosary to a bit more than that.

This is about on par with my current parish (diocesean).

I did want to remind you that there is no such thing as a Norvus Ordo parish.

 

[Catholic_Wife]

My most dreaded penance is praying the Rosary. Unlike many here, I have no special devotion to it and it is a definite chore for me to pray.

My most unique penances from my parish (diocesan) priests over the years have been 1) go home and do something nice for my husband, 2) go on a retreat, 3) refrain from attending Mass at a particular parish, and 4) avoid fast food restaurants for one week.

 

[buc_fan33]

As a priest, I typically assign very light penances. While in seminary, I was blessed with a saintly old retired priest who was the house confessor. Into his 90s, before old age got the better of him, this retired priest would faithfully hear the seminarians’ confessions every day during the morning holy hour, and then be available all day, every day, in his room. What always struck me about him was that, regardless of whatever you confessed, his penance was always one Hail Mary. I’ve tried to adopt this in my own priesthood. He realized that its not the QUANTITY that is important, but the QUALITY. One prayer, said faithfully, has the power to move mountains and to convert even the hardest of hearts.

As it turns out, I just received word that this faithful priest is about to enter his eternal reward. If you have a moment, would you offer a Hail Mary for this faithful servant for the grace of final perseverance? I don’t know that I have ever known a more faithful priest. If ever there was someone who I have known that may one day be canonized, it is this priest.

 

[hannajomar]

Hail Mary prayed for this priest.

 

[CB_Catholic]

As it turns out, I just received word that this faithful priest is about to enter his eternal reward. If you have a moment, would you offer a Hail Mary for this faithful servant for the grace of final perseverance? I don’t know that I have ever known a more faithful priest. If ever there was someone who I have known that may one day be canonized, it is this priest.

Prayers ascending.