the nature of sin

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Your definition is correct - it is an act of ‘self’ abasement, and is therefore voluntary. ALL acts of penance are voluntary. The prayers usually said after confession are the outward expression of the inner feeling, hence the term ‘act of contrition’. Contrition is what you feel, penance is how you express it. 

But prayers are never ‘used as a punishment’, that’s just silly. It’s simply more convenient for both priest and penitent if the act of contrition takes the form of prayer. 

Boru

then why put a number on the amount of times a prayer had to be repeated? that is what makes it a punishment. contrition would see a man pray till he felt he earned penance. maybe bucky would have felt penance after just one prayer, but now as a means to earn his forgiveness he must pray 35 more times.

(this is all silly anyway as the bible says we can not earn penance or work our way to contrition.) rather we are to repent. Which can be a completely internal change with no external changes made.

No, one doesn’t ‘earn’ penance. Penance is the overt manifestation of the inner feeling of contrition. God, via the priest, absolves you of your sin prior to any penance being performed.

The reason that multiple prayers are often - but not always - suggested is a reflection of the severity of the mortal sin and for the priest to be sure that the penitent is truly contrite. But there isn’t anything in Catholic dogma which requires prayer for absolution. I’ve made confessions where I was asked to put a pound in the Poor Box, or apologize to Tommy Carlyle for swiping his bike - no prayers involved. More than once, I was told to ‘make a good act of contrition’ - the actual act was left up to me.

But I agree it’s all rather silly.

Boru