Whats The Biggest Penance You Ever Got?

[TrinityAddiction]

The most I've ever gotten (to my memory) is thinking about something throughout the week.

My last one was one Hail Mary... and it was one of the more spiritually strengthening Hail Marys I'd ever said.

[thessalonian]

Saying the whole rosary on every bead. Just kidding. I did get a whole rosary one time. That was after I came back from my hiatus from being a good Catholic. I deserved it.

[Birgitta Noel]

LOL, once Fr. told me to read the whole bible, before going to bed, but he was kidding.

But, I did have a priest give me a penance to go to daily mass for a week. It was hard because I was in a town where the only one I could get to was after work and I had to wait a half hour for it to start. Now I wouldn't mind the half hour wait, but at the time it drove me mad. And my Dad thought it was a bad penance as it really messed up my/our schedule. LOL

[MilesChristi]

[quote name='DeeDee' date='Aug 19 2005, 04:38 PM']
This was the most interesting penance I ever received:

I was told to imagine I was taking Jesus down from the cross, preparing him for burial, and then bury him. It took me about 45 minutes to do the whole thing, and it was a very profound and moving experience. This penance was given to me by my Jesuit friend.
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I think that's one of the best penances I've ever heard of.

[FlyLikeABird]

I don't know if It's the biggest I've ever gotten but the most important one (to me personally) I ever got was to say "Jesus, I Love You" 20 times. I was crying by the end of it and I think I ended up saying around 50 as I lost track. There is a bigger story to it, perhaps I will tell sometime.

[zwergel88]

I think I've been given the penance several times to do something nice for someone. For some reason that can be hard to do.

One of the most important ones I have been given was to spend ten minutes during Adoration asking the question, "Lord what do you want me to do in my life."

[prose]

I really like this thread! It is so interesting.

[let_go_let_God]

My longest was to pray a decade of the Rosary. However going to that priest it is the same penance every time.

My favorite penance though was I was to read the Gospel according to Matthew for fifteen minutes. That day I ended up reading all four Gospels, most of Acts and Genisis. No wonder my mom thinks I'm addicted to the Bible.

God bless-
LGLG

[JP2Iloveyou]

St. John Vianney once said to his brother priests that they should assign small penances and do the rest themselves.

Anyway, I've often thought about what sorts of penances I will hand out when I am, God-willing, a priest someday. One that I think could be a great help would be to offer to young women who have had an abortion a brochure for Project Rachel and tell her that she needs to call them and set up an appointment for counseling.

[avemaria40]

handing out the brochure sounds awesome b/c then she can get the help she needs.
My biggest penance was to see if i could wait two weeks b4 coming back to Confession, to see if I could make it. I went the two weeks but i had a lot of sins to confess:( and this was about a couple weeks after my conversion. Other than that, it's to either pray for peace or pray an Our Father and a Hail Mary, or pray for healing for those I've hurt with my sinfulness. It depends on the priest who hears my confession

[Dreamweaver]

I think my longest penance was 10 Hail Marys or something. We used to have a priest who would often tell people to pray Hail Marys for unborn children and their mothers. He even said that during weeks where he gave many people that penance, there were more sidewalk counselors that would call him up during the week and tell him about mothers who walked away from the clinic and choosing life!

My most touching penance was to pray 3 Our Fathers (or maybe it was 3 Memorares?) for 2 particular people in my life, plus for someone who has no one praying for them.

[blueufo7]

Shortly after my first confession in 2nd grade, I went to reconciliation again and was given "One HOUR of Our Fathers"!!!! So I started praying like crazy after confession. My parents were astounded at the penance and asked the confessor if it was correct. It turns out that my penance was "One Our Father"... and I misheard it!

I think the biggest pennance was to pray a decade of the Rosary: Scourging at the Pillar.

[blueufo7]

Edited August 22, 2005 by blueufo7

[philothea]

[quote name='blueufo7' date='Aug 21 2005, 11:18 PM']Shortly after my first confession in 2nd grade, I went to reconciliation again and was given "One HOUR of Our Fathers"!!!!  So I started praying like crazy after confession.  My parents were astounded at the penance and asked the confessor if it was correct.  It turns out that my penance was "One Our Father"... and I misheard it! 
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Cute.

[Vieve]

When I lived in Korea, I went to a local Catholic Church for Mass and Reconciliation. The priest agreed to hear my confession in English, even though he had no clue what I was saying. He knew maybe 4 words in English and some numbers. So each time I went to him, whether it was the confession of anger or sexual sin or simple laziness, big or little sin, he would say "Rosary... 50 rosary."

I remember the first time I heard that my mouth dropped open in shock. I figured out that he really meant ONE rosary, FIFTY Hail Mary's, but everytime it gave me pause nevertheless. Eventually an English-speaking priest moved into town and after hearing my confession a few times (and knowing who I was from the fact that there were very few foreigners calling upon his language skills) started tailoring penances to what he thought was going on with me. Once, he gave me the penance of going and buying something for myself, something unnecessary, because he felt that I was sinning out of depression and loneliness. It was actually one of the more difficult penances, and took me weeks to do.

As far as adding your own penances to the ones that your priest gives you... That's dangerous because what you are assigned is what the shepherd of your soul (even if he's not a good shepherd) has given you in repayment or in union with Christ's payment for your sin. To exceed that is a type of arrogance or mistrust of a legitimate spiritual authority. You can say extra prayers or do extra penance - but offer it up for someone who needs to go to confession for the same sin, or do it to strengthen yourself against temptation.