Why Does A Priest Tell You To Do This?

[CatholiCommit]

A few weeks ago I went to confession, and after my confession a guest priest that came to our church told me to to say Three Hail Mary’s , 2 Our Fathers & An Act of Thanksgiving? Of course I got an absolution for my my sin, but why do you suppose the priest that I was confessing to as me to do this?

 

[Brenda_V]

Tell you to do what? Say some prayers? That is a common form of penance these days.

Brenda V.

 

[CatholiCommit]

I meant prayers, sorry it was not written in my question, I never heard a priest do that, that is why I asked the question

 

[Cavaille-Coll]

It is standard practice for a priest to assign a penance, and with most priests, it is a series of prayers like you describe. The purpose is to help you show your sorrow for the sins you confessed, to help repair the harm your sins have caused (temporal punishment), and to help you amend your life and to avoid those sins in the future.

 

[rosebudsal]

Tell you to do what? Say some prayers? That is a common form of penance these days.

Brenda V.

Yes, I’ve noticed that. Unfortunately, (and fortunately) depending on one’s perspective, for my penance my priest told me to pray specifically for patience, understanding, or whatever related to the sins I confessed, rather than the usual Catholic prayers or the rosary. At first, it seemed easy, but I struggled a bit, not exactly sure how I should pray.

 

[CatholiCommit]

Does a priest give it on the severity of your sin you confess or does he do this for whatever reason he feels is necessary? or is it a little of both or something else?

 

[SarahR]

Does a priest give it on the severity of your sin you confess or does he do this for whatever reason he feels is necessary? or is it a little of both or something else?

The priest can use his discretion, as far as I understand.
A local priest used to say he gives everybody the exact same penance, 1 Hail Mary, because Mary knows how to get them the help they need to overcome their sins.

Once I read something about priests also performing the penances they assign. Don’t know if that’s common practice or if it’s held by just a few.

 

[nicolep]

Does a priest give it on the severity of your sin you confess or does he do this for whatever reason he feels is necessary? or is it a little of both or something else?

My confessor has always assigned prayers as a penance. It’s not so much judged on severity as what he feels would be most useful to avoid that sin in the future. He assigns one prayer (sometimes two depeding on what I confessed) for each sin. There’s a pattern and I can usually “predict” which prayer he is going to assign.

 

[Brenda_V]

Does a priest give it on the severity of your sin you confess or does he do this for whatever reason he feels is necessary? or is it a little of both or something else?

I see that you are a convert as of this past Easter so now your questions make more sense.

Sometimes the sins and the severity of the Penance seem to equal each other, other times, well it just depends. Others did answer your question that it is at the discretion of the Priest.

Do you know the prayers the Priest told you to pray as your penance? If not may I suggest you get a Catholic Prayer book? Others on here can give you some good suggestions (I am a Cradle Catholic and have lots of books but none handy to give you suggestions ).

Brenda V.

 

[CatholiCommit]

Yes Indeed I am a newbie to the Catholic Religion, the heart just seem to belong here so I did something about it.

Who ever the priest was did not matter to me as I realized he is a priest, even if he did not belong to the parish I attend, and just a visitor, he must have felt I needed a religious and spiritual re adjustment. I am not so much worried that he did it, I did think I would get Temporal Punishment, boy was I in for a surprise. I am sure if I had done something worse the Temporal Punishment would have been great, who knows, being a new Catholic I realize I am in for a lot more then I expected, and I guess that is my problem expect things that wind up changing.

I think I asked the priest if he was serious, maybe that was a bad call too, but then again I should have known by looking at him.

 

[rosebudsal]

Yes Indeed I am a newbie to the Catholic Religion, the heart just seem to belong here so I did something about it.

I think I asked the priest if he was serious, maybe that was a bad call too, but then again I should have known by looking at him.

Welcome Home, as they say 'round here. You know, first time I went to confession, in something like many years, I was surprised by the penance my priest assigned. I wanted to ask him, if he was serious by giving me such a light (what seemed like it was light at the time) penance. I think he wanted me to reflect on my sins and really think about what I could have done differently or how not to do them again and so I think that’s why he didn’t give me “assigned” prayers.

Of course, who really knows.

 

[Joannm]

The Penance is not a punishment, but more of an act of reflection on the sinfulness confessed. Often I have confessed what I considered a big sin only to get an Our Father in thanksgiving for the courage to confess. Another time, after a seemingly “light” confession I was asked to pray the whole Stations of the Cross in church. And both these were from the same confessor. The “simple” penance, the Our Father, helped me to relieve the anxiety and truly be thankful that I was able to confess and be forgiven. The heavier penance helped me to contemplate the suffering of Jesus even for the smallest sins that I commit against him. Other times this same confessor had me go out and do something nice for myself…yes, as a penance!

I just love this guy. I never know what to expect as a penance from him. I think he sits up nights thinking what to assign me (I go by appointment to him so he knows I am coming a few days before)

 

[Jennifer_G]

My confessor has always assigned prayers as a penance. It’s not so much judged on severity as what he feels would be most useful to avoid that sin in the future. He assigns one prayer (sometimes two depeding on what I confessed) for each sin. There’s a pattern and I can usually “predict” which prayer he is going to assign.

I’ve noticed that pattern, too. I can see the priest counting behind the confessional.

 

[puzzleannie]

A few weeks ago I went to confession, and after my confession a guest priest that came to our church told me to to say Three Hail Mary’s , 2 Our Fathers & An Act of Thanksgiving? Of course I got an absolution for my my sin, but why do you suppose the priest that I was confessing to as me to do this?

that is the normal practice, to assign a penance, it is part of the sacrament. Usually the penance, which is a token act to acknowledge that though the sin has been forgiven, we still owe restitution and merit just punishment for the sin, is prayer, sometimes it can be another good act.

forgot to say, Welcome home, newbie.

the way Fr. Serpa explains it (and he probalby heard if from the good nuns, as I did) is that we are like a small child who has done some deliberate act to hurt his mother, say dumping the OJ all over the floor, and has tearfully said “I’m sorry” and been forgiven. But the fact remains, OJ is still all over the floor and has to be cleaned up before the matter is over. So we get to work and help clean the floor. Of course mother does most of the work, but we want to help to show our contrition.

 

[SwizzleStick]

A few weeks ago I went to confession, and after my confession a guest priest that came to our church told me to to say Three Hail Mary’s , 2 Our Fathers & An Act of Thanksgiving? Of course I got an absolution for my my sin, but why do you suppose the priest that I was confessing to as me to do this?

At first I was confused, but I see by your profile that you are a newbie. Welcome!

This is pretty much standard practice. This is your penance. Sometimes the priest may assign Scripture reading, some act of kindness, sometimes a donation, or some other applicable penance, depending on what is confessed, but most of the time I have found a series of prayers to be my penance.

I am a cradle Catholic and I find it noteworthy (and somewhat amusing) that the penances assigned to me as an adult do not differ much from those assigned to me as a child. Back then, my sins were along the lines of “I stuck my tongue out at my sister in anger” and my penance was usually to say 3 Hail Marys and 3 Our Fathers. Even though I am now an adult and my sins are more serious and I have a different way of looking at them (and could be more along the lines of “I didn’t hold my tongue in anger at my sister”), my penance could still very well be 3 Hail Marys and 3 Our Fathers. Perhaps that just signifies that no matter how old WE are, we are still children of God and HE is still our loving Father? Cool, huh?

 

[CatholiCommit]

Nice explanations, it has made a little easier for me to understand, and even though I have been doing some reading, I find myself saying that I should never say never, I just thought since I was a new Catholic that I would ride it out for awhile just giving my Confession to the priest and getting absolution, it seems that GOD had a surprise for me in the get go and I do not think it matters who the Priest is, still there is a chance for Temporal Punishment.

I think I still have a lot to learn, and I guess that is ok too, but at the same time it scares me a little, that might sound a little weird. I guess the New Catholics get the same treatment as everyone else

 

[Brenda_V]

, still there is a chance for Temporal Punishment.

Please realize that Temporal Punishment does not necessarily come from the Church . It can really include the natural consequences of sin - some are more overt like if you break the law and get caught you have fines to pay or prison time to do or community service. It can include for teens and children, groundings or spankings. It doesn’t have to be where God speaks down from Heaven to you and thunder booms and lightning strikes you.

So, now that I have said the above, what are you thinking Temporal Punishment means? Perhaps we can help you more if you defined it.

Brenda V.

 

[stuart12]

when i went for my first confession where i confessed a series of mortal sins i only got as a penance to read and meditate on the nicene creed, which i thought was lenient. he probably had his reasons for it. the other women that went to first confession with me, got the same penance but she did not confess anything as near as immoral as me.

the priest that i go to confession for mostly gives me prayers, the rosary or the chaplet of divine mercy, which is fine cos i say the rosary daily and the chaplet regularly. the other priest uses gives me a bible passage to read and meditate on. a good mixture seems best as a penance.

 

[CatholiCommit]

Please realize that Temporal Punishment does not necessarily come from the Church . It can really include the natural consequences of sin - some are more overt like if you break the law and get caught you have fines to pay or prison time to do or community service. It can include for teens and children, groundings or spankings. It doesn’t have to be where God speaks down from Heaven to you and thunder booms and lightning strikes you.

So, now that I have said the above, what are you thinking Temporal Punishment means? Perhaps we can help you more if you defined it.

Brenda V.

If you are asking me to define Temporal Punishment in my own terms then I would have to say it is God way of correcting us when we do wrong reguardless of what we do that might be sinful,
I am not making it out like God is going to strike me dead, if wanted to do that he would have already done it.

I am not trying to make this a big deal, I just thought it was interesting that Temporal Punishment was actually give out and as I said in an earlier post is that I am new at this and I did not think the priest would have given it to me in this early stage as a beginning and forever Catholic, even if this does not make sense to you, I will do my best to explain it, I have a lot of learning to do and I am sure you are still learning, I knew this what not an overnight affair, this was a lifetime affair. I love the religion, but I know I being put into place by God because he knows where I need to be and what I need to do while I am here on this earth.