Why do penance when Christ paid for our sins?

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I want to know what to say when someone asks me why we do penance and reparations for sins when Christ paid for our sins.
 
Because Christ paying for our sins doesn’t mean that everything is as it would have been had we not sinned at all.
 
I’ve heard an analogy like this: if a young kid gets in trouble with his parents, then he may apologize, and his parents forgive him. Just because they forgive him, does that mean that he gets away with it? no. In the same way, Jesus died to atone for our sins and take the punishment for us, but we still need to make up for it.
 
You might want to read what the Catechism says on this topic source]:

1459
Many sins wrong our neighbor. One must do what is possible in order to repair the harm (e.g., return stolen goods, restore the reputation of someone slandered, pay compensation for injuries). Simple justice requires as much. But sin also injures and weakens the sinner himself, as well as his relationships with God and neighbor. Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused.62 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.”

1460
The penance the confessor imposes must take into account the penitent’s personal situation and must seek his spiritual good. It must correspond as far as possible with the gravity and nature of the sins committed. It can consist of prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices, and above all the patient acceptance of the cross we must bear. Such penances help configure us to Christ, who alone expiated our sins once for all. They allow us to become co-heirs with the risen Christ, "provided we suffer with him."63
The satisfaction that we make for our sins, however, is not so much ours as though it were not done through Jesus Christ. We who can do nothing ourselves, as if just by ourselves, can do all things with the cooperation of "him who strengthens" us. Thus man has nothing of which to boast, but all our boasting is in Christ . . . in whom we make satisfaction by bringing forth "fruits that befit repentance." These fruits have their efficacy from him, by him they are offered to the Father, and through him they are accepted by the Father.64
 
I think of it this way.
Christ asks us to “carry our cross”.
Christ carried His cross which contained all of our sins. A cross so heave that He fell three times.
If I carry my Cross, do penance for my sins, then I am making Christ’s cross lighter.
If I fail to do penance for my sins, then I am refusing to "carry my load’, to “do my part”, to “Carry my cross”, prefering to let Jesus do all of the work.
Is that any way to treat the one you profess to Love?

May not be the best “theologic” answer but it’s my answer to such a question.

Peace
James
 
Be sure to let whoever is asking you know that penance draws off no other power than Christ. Christ paid the eternal punishment for sin and by repenting and believing in the Gospel, we receive the gift of eternal life. Temporal punishment remains in this world. I recommend reading the sections on temporal punishment in this article by Jimmy Akin.
 
Purgatory is not about paying the penalty of sin. Jesus on the Cross pays the penalty of our sin – which is death. Those in purgatory are not in spiritual death; they are all headed to heaven.

Purgatory pays for the “consequences” of our sin, not for the sin itself.

For example, if I throw a rock through your window I have committed a sin. I can become sorry for my sin and go to Confession and be absolved of that sin. Jesus paid the price for my sin. But… the window is STILL broken. The broken window is the “consequence” of my sin and it still needs to be repaired. The Cross does not repair the window, that is my responsibility.

Thus, one of the aspects of purgatory is to pay for all the broken windows in our life that we did not get around to paying for during our life on earth.

As to why Purgatory? The answer is love. We cannot enter heaven unless we are perfected and totally holy. While we may die in a state of grace most of us are probably not perfect. Purgatory is a place of perfection. It purges the imperfections from us 'til what is left is pure gold.

Penal atonement and justification-by-faith-alone are basically deformist heresies that make purgatory redundant by default, creating stumbling blocks for Protestants in understand how the justice and mercy of God can come together.
 
NFrancis said:
I want to know what to say when someone asks me why we do penance and reparations for sins when Christ paid for our sins.
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because the Our Father still says “forgive us our sins”. even though Christ has forgiven us, we still sin. and it is neccesary to ask the Father to forgive us those sins, and to do whatever we can to make up for the wrong we have done, whether through apology, or some other means of rectification.

we should still be sorry for our sins, and aware of the ways in which our sins hurt others, and the Almighty, Who has purchased us with His Son’s blood, and Whose we are. if we really love someone and we hurt them, we say “sorry. what can i do to make this right?”. if we truly love the Lord, we should do the same when we sin.
 
grace_singh said:
because the Our Father still says “forgive us our sins”. even though Christ has forgiven us, we still sin. and it is neccesary to ask the Father to forgive us those sins, and to do whatever we can to make up for the wrong we have done, whether through apology, or some other means of rectification.

we should still be sorry for our sins, and aware of the ways in which our sins hurt others, and the Almighty, Who has purchased us with His Son’s blood, and Whose we are. if we really love someone and we hurt them, we say “sorry. what can i do to make this right?”. if we truly love the Lord, we should do the same when we sin.
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👍
 
Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross opened up Heaven for the faithful and destroyed death. He didn’t eradicate the reality of Sin. He opened up the way to Heaven despite mankind’s fallen nature and sin.
 
NFrancis said:
I want to know what to say when someone asks me why we do penance and reparations for sins when Christ paid for our sins.
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I wold ask: “So, you think that everyone is going to heaven because Christ paid the price for everyones sins?”
They will probably say that we have to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior or something similar.
Then you can ask, “Doesn’t the bible say that we have to repent of our sins?”
Hopefully they will say 'Yes". Then you can inform them that’s what penance is to be repentent. See definitionof repent below.

re·pent
Pronunciation: \ri-ˈpent
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin re- + Late Latin poenitēre to feel regret, alteration of Latin paenitēre — more at penitent

Much more here: biblechristiansociety.com/home.php
 
Penance also provides reparation for not only our sins but the sins of others.
 
Why would one not do penance? Isn’t responding to God’s love common sense?

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

(Luke 19:8-10)
 
NFrancis said:
I want to know what to say when someone asks me why we do penance and reparations for sins when Christ paid for our sins.
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Excuse me if this is going off-topic, but penance demonstrates our sorrow for our wickednesses, and our sincere desire to be right with Christ. Even if you do not understand why it is mandatory, do you at least understand why it is desirable?
 
I would also add - as a side note - The many benefits WE receive by doing penance.

Penance, indeed sacrifice of any sort, is a discipline that strengthens us spiritually. When properly practiced, it makes us more resistant to sin. It helps us remain more full focused on God. It opens or strengthens channels by which God may speak to and guide us.

Peace
James
 
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church”

Colossians 1:24
 
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