Additional Penances Needed After Confession?

[brandelynmarie]

I recently found an article that states:

We should keep in mind that the penance we receive in confession is not designed to totally make up for our sins. In the 4th and 5th centuries they were, but many people delayed confessing their more serious sins because the penances were so difficult. Gradually the penances were reduced so as to get people to come to confession. We should add our own additional penances if we want to completely make up for our sins.

I always thought that the penance given was sufficient for the sins confessed.

Could someone please clarify? Thanks.

[url="http://www.nbccongress.org/black-catholic-sprituality/fasting-doing-penance.asp"]http://www.nbccongress.org/black-catholic-sprituality/fasting-doing-penance.asp[/url]

[Jaime]

This gets a bit sticky. Others might be able to clarify better but here we go. This is how it was explained to me. Let's say you go to confession this weekend, You state your sins clearly. You do an act of contrition. You receive absolution and 10 Our Fathers as a penance. You step out of the confessional and do your penance and head out the door. Are you good to go? Absolutely! You've received absolution and God has forgiven you. Are you completely done?

Maybe not.

It's possible that someone who just left confession could be hit by a truck and die before they had a chance to sin again and end up spending some time in Purgatory. There is something called Temporal Punishment that is separate from the sacrament of Reconciliation. Temporal punishment comes into play for several reasons
[list]
[*]If we did an imperfect act of contrition
[*]if we are attached to a particular sin or sins (materialism, sex, etc) particularly sins of grave matter
[/list]

Confession is sufficient to save us from hell. But confession doesn't make us perfect. Temporal punishments help to alleviate the attraction to sin again. Temporal punishment can be fasting (like in your article) or other suffering here on Earth that can help discipline ourselves and free us from the desire to sin again. It's these disciplines or sufferings that help us on the road to holiness.