Coming up this week we have the opportunity to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation on Wednesday, March 11. We call this a “Penance Service” and during the service when the people make individual confessions, the Priest will assign a penance. There are two common uses of the word penance, one refers to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the other refers to a type of satisfaction that I hope to explain clearly in this bulletin.
Think about a time when you committed a sin. Now in order to receive forgiveness you had to do three basic things: first, there was “contrition” – or feeling sorry for what you did to some degree; second, there was a “confession of the sins” – usually to a priest, sometimes to a Mom, Dad, teacher or police officer when you got caught; and third, there was “satisfaction” for the sins. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states the following about “satisfaction” in paragraph #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. 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." When you are raised up from the depressing condition of sin, we sinners still need to recover our spiritual health by doing something more, this is called a penance. During this season of Lent we do many penances such as refraining from eating meat on Fridays, fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, giving alms for the poor, praying more, eating less, and many others. We usually discipline ourselves and add to these disciplines by giving up chocolate, caffeine, and other things. There is more to it than that and in the Catechism it states in paragraph #1434: The interior penance of the Christian can be expressed in many and various ways. Scripture and the Fathers insist above all on three forms, fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, which express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others. Alongside the radical purification brought about by Baptism or martyrdom they cite as means of obtaining forgiveness of sins: efforts at reconciliation with one's neighbor, tears of repentance, concern for the salvation of one's neighbor, the intercession of the saints, and the practice of charity "which covers a multitude of sins."32 Footnote 32 refers to the following Scriptures: 1 Pet 4:8: Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins. Jas 5:20: he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.What I want to bring out is this charity which covers a multitude of sins. This charity or love that covers a multitude of sins is something that can be practiced during this season of Lent as a penance. Have you thought of new ways to love your neighbor? Babysit for that single Mother or Father so that you can grow in love for the kids and the parent and the life that God has created. Ask your neighbor if you can weed their garden and do it with great love. Write the life story of a person in a nursing home and then, with their permission and the permission of the person in charge of activities at the nursing home, gather the residents, read your written story and see if they can guess who it is. These little acts of charity or ways of loving can help a person who is doing the acts to grow in love. When the people who receive your love see that you love them like Christ loves them by your authentic actions, the eyes of the recipient of your love lights up, their day brightens and you become the inspiration for them to love someone else again.
Doing the penance assigned by the priest gives us the permission to love God, our neighbor and ourselves again. Doing the penance of Lent (unlike giving up chocolate for 40 days and committing gluttony on Easter) should inspire us to love God, our neighbor and ourselves again. Go out and do much penance with great love and love again authentically! 1 Pet 4:8: Above all, let your love for one another be intense,because love covers a multitude of sins.
Fr. Rob