Penance

When I was growing up in the Episcopal Church, the congregation spoke a general confession every Sunday from the Book of Common Prayer:

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.

I have to admit that this prayer never gave me much comfort. I secretly envied my Catholic friends, who had an opportunity to provide a list of their wrongdoings and get a specific punishment; I loved the concreteness of their ritual.

Now I am a grown up, and I attend a different kind of Church each week. This week, Stroller Strides was held on Thanksgiving, and I had not been in attendance since October 24. While there was no need for confession, my penance was as clear as any Hail Mary or Our Father: inability to move for three days.