Why Penance and Not Rejoicing

When I first hinted that I was exploring Catholicism, I was told, "you didn't like the guilt you felt in the AG church.  The Catholic Church is all about guilt!"

A little backstory:  like most Protestant churches, the AG church emphasizes and celebrates Christ's victory.  I have heard straight out of the AG pulpit that Catholics are wrong to focus on the crucifix when it is finished and Christ is off the cross, which is why our crosses, if any, are depicted as just the cross.

The guilt I felt was more legalistic guilt for not rejoicing enough.  It seemed expected of us to clap, dance, shout out, smile one minute, cry our eyes out the next, come up for every alter call...  I'm naturally more stoic, reserved, reverent, and quiet.  I hardly had time to even consider rejoicing, or tapping into my emotions because the services felt like roller coasters to me.  And it felt like my faith was called into question because of that.

Even as a child, if I did wrong, I had myself "pay a penance."  Granted, in my childish ways, it was just a way to satiate my guilt enough to not have to actually make amends.  For example, I cheated on a spelling test in 2nd grade.  I felt horrible, so I paid penance (I think I made myself write out sentences) and I made sure to purposefully get some wrong on my next test.  What I should have done was confessed to the teacher.

Protestants believe that we don't need to pay penance because Christ already paid it all on that cross.  But, what they don't seem to understand is that penance isn't just punishment.

Think of it in terms of a child:  A child fools around after being told not to and breaks a lamp.  We don't just say, "well, Jesus died for your sins, so go on and play."  Jesus isn't our whipping boy.   The child is already forgiven.  Mommy and Daddy love him, so they already forgive him.  But, he still has to face consequences:

1. Confession:  "Did you break the lamp?"
2. Discipline:  Perhaps a spanking, or a time out, or firm talking to.
3. Reflection: Think about what you've done.
4. Restitution:  Help mommy clean it up, and now do chores to help pay for a new lamp.

We don't sin and go rejoicing right away that Jesus paid it all!

Some say, "well, how does saying 5 Hail Marys absolve me from any sin?"  It doesn't.  It is the spanking and reflection.  It is our time of quietude and refocus on God for what we've done.  We've already been forgiven, but when we sin we are away from God and the penance gives us time to return to Him.  The Prodigal humbled himself before his father.  Then the party began!

Just as a side note, I wonder if our justice system would be more successful and rehabilitating criminals and preventing crimes if they exercised restitution.  We have confession, (getting caught and tried, basically), Discipline (the sentencing), and Reflection (carrying out the sentence), but we rarely have restitution.  Imagine if someone burglarized a home, trashing it, and taking money, jewelry, electronics...and part of their sentence is to fix the home and replace anything they couldn't return in its original condition.