Your most lengthy or difficult penance?

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So I went to confession today at a Parish that I don’t normally go to. Nothing out of the ordinary for me -same few sins i struggle with and end up putting me into the box every 2 weeks. And Father tells me to say an entire rosary and read and reflect Psalm 51 which is about repentance.

I prayed while in line for the “right” penance so I trust that the Spirit was listening and I got what i was supposed to get. But OTOH, i did wonder why there was no real line for this particular priest(only 1 ahead of me) and like 10 people in line at the other confessional lol. Perhaps he makes everyone say the entire rosary so people just avoid him all together.

Anyway, usually I am told to say a few Hail Mary’s our Our Fathers and that’s it. This is only the second time I’ve been told to recite an entire rosary. And I have been all over the city confessing to numerous priests.

I’m interested in other’s experiences? If you don’t mind sharing them?

Thanks.
 
My Father-Confessor wants me to pray a novena (he left which one up to my discretion) and include the St Michael prayer in my daily routine.

Years ago, I had a Father-Confessor who had me read all four Gospels before I consumed any media.

Unless I’m remembering incorrectly, I’ve had another give me the rosary as a penance as well.

Personally, I prefer the “harder” or longer penances. It is very hard for me to break bad habits and establish good ones, and the longer penances help.

I certainly prefer it to what I got as a Lutheran! The only two times I received penances from Lutheran pastors were: once the pastor told me to keep a rubber band around my wrist and flick my wrist with it whenever I had an unwanted thought. The other was to buy my wife flowers (We tend to surprise each other with gifts at random intervals anyway).
 
Well, I dearly love the Rosary and dearly love Psalm 51 so I would feel joyful if given this penance! Perhaps God, through the priest, is calling you to consider saying the Rosary more frequently. It is indeed a very effective prayer against many sins.
 
I’ve had some interesting penances over the years. Recently, I was told to pray a decade of the rosary for each occurrence of a particular sin I had confessed (don’t even remember the sin now, but I recall it amounted to more than a full rosary!); I’ve been given two week prayer or reading exercises; tell X number of people why they’re special, etc; once I was given a month of abstinence from alcohol and certain other food/drink (that one was ages ago, and I think the priest both misunderstood me and was projecting his own issues onto me a bit).

Typically, it’s either a couple of simple prayers or a decade of the rosary.
 
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I sometimes confess to a priest who always gives the same penance of doing something “nice” for a person in the week to come. I kind of hate it–not that I don’t want to do it!–because I tend to forget! I like a penance I can do immediately, such as prayers, to get the entire deed done.
 
We had a priest who would tell us to write a sort of journal to Jesus. He would even hand you a paper with suggested guidelines. Keeping a diary of sorts could be problematic methinks.
 
One of my recent penances was reading St Therese’s Story of a Soul. But I loved it so much that it was neither difficult nor lengthy !
 
I once had to make up my own penance. Yikes. I think I said something like pray more. It was over a year ago and I am still trying to pray more. I had my ups and downs but on the whole I am prayi ng more.
 
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Most difficult and lengthy penance? Life…but when lived and offered with a contrite heart and spirit, in the end we can find the beatific vision! Rejoice in the Lord Always!
 
One time I was instructed to talk to a family member about a painful situation going on (it made sense in context).

I didn’t know what to say to this person, so I said a nine-day novena first (Father hadn’t given me a time limit), then approached this person.

It started badly. He tore into me verbally, accusing me of about a dozen “mean” things he heard I had done. By nothing else but the grace of God, I was able to listen calmly, ask a few probing questions, thank him for his honesty and for bringing it to my attention (I had no idea that I’d been accused of these things behind my back!) and when the wind was out of his sails, I was able to admit the things I did and my reasons for them. And he came away with a different point of view.

Then, I was able to talk to the family member who had made the accusations and smooth things over. We talked and I was able to see her point of view and she came to see mine, at least well enough to start healing the relationship.

All three of us are in a much better place now.
 
Thank you to everyone who has responded. Really enjoyed reading them.
 
I’ve never had a penance of more than to say two Hail Marys. Lately it’s been one Our Father. And this has been from all the different priests I’ve had for the Sacrament, which probably amounts to a dozen, at least.
 
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