What was your penance?

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I typically get x Hail Marys and/or x Our Fathers. Sometimes they’ll say to pray for something in particular, but that’s about it.
 
99% of the time I get some combination of Our Fathers and/or Hail Marys. Some of the more interesting penances I’ve gotten have been: do something nice for someone and pray that God’s grace will help me in times of temptation. I think the best penance I ever got was this: meditate on how much God loves you. That one was amazing and humbling at the same time.
 
babochka said:
I think this is important to remember. Before reading this thread, I had always assumed it was an Eastern/Western thing, because nearly every Latin Rite priest has given me Hail Marys and Our Fathers as penance, but Byzantine Rite priests have tended to give me tougher/more complicated penances. Looking at it now, I think it is because the Byzantine priests have known me well and been my regular Confessors.

The last time my spiritual Father gave me a particularly difficult penance, he asked me if I accepted it. (As if i was going to say “no”!) I’d never been asked that question before.
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plus what is simple can be hard to actually do because we always want more and we want to make it hard for ourselves one way or other so simple is hard if you catch my drift? Accepting what we are given rather than wanting more… Putting our trust in God and the Priest. It can be really hard just sticking to that simplest of penances and not trying to demand more or think ‘only that’, surely ‘that is not enough’ etc… We like to complicate everything for some reason and simplicity is an can bring out the best of our faith…
 
In gratitude for the ministry of the aforementioned recently departed priest, Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and the soul of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
 
I go to a church with the FSSP priests. Once they told me that before receiving the Eucharist to ask God to turn me into the man he created me to be (something along those lines) . If i gossiped or brought down someones reputation I was instructed to do something to restore the damage I did.I’ll post more if i remember…
 
My penances seem to either be to meditate on some portion of the Gospel, or a short prayer. The only one I ever thought would be hard was actually easy, because it was something I was already doing. Perhaps one reason my penances always seem terribly light is because, in my mind, I should receive 40 lashes at least;), I’ve only been going to confession regularly for about the past 6 months or so, and I think maybe my confessor (who knows me pretty well) knows I need to learn grace and mercy are easy and always available for the asking. God doesn’t want us to beat ourselves up for our sins (a habit I learned as a Protestant, I call it self-imposed penance.) I never thought of that before. Pretty smart guy, my confessor.
Kris
 
I have not yet had my first confession, but my stepdad tells a funny story about when he was young and in catholic school.

Apparently, the children would go to daily Mass, and every week they would have confession. Well, I guess the boys were trouble makers and got a bit bored waiting in line, and by the end of it they had come up with a contest to see who could get the most Hail Mary’s. They would even LIE to the priest during their confession and say sins they had not committed, in order to get the most penance! Of course, then the next week they had to confess lying in confession the previous week. After a couple week the priest caught on and put an end to it. 😃
 
The penance I receive about 90% of the time is one set of mysteries from the Rosary, so 1 Pater Noster, 1 Gloria Patri, and 10 Ave Maria. Since it’s the second week of Advent, it is the second Joyful Mystery, the Blessed Virgin’s visitation to St. Elizabeth. During Lent, Fr. gives the Sorrowful Mysteries, the first Sorrowful Mystery the first week of Lent, the second one during the second week, etc.

One memorable penance I received was to read St. Matthew’s Gospel, chapters 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount, and to especially pay attention to chapter 7. I deal with anxiety a lot, and worry, so reading “Who by worry can add an inch to their stature (or a moment to their life? [depending on the translation])” really, really has helped (along with the rest of the chapter, but that line etched itself into my brain), and occasionally (not often enough, unfortunately), I will go back and read those chapters if my anxiety is really bad at that time.
 
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