[metmom]

The sacrament of reconciliation or penance brings Catholics back to a state of grace after forgiving their sins when they confess those sins and show true repentance for them.

You can't work your way back into grace but *penance* because the minute you do something for it, it ceases to be grace.

Grace by its very nature is something you don't deserve. If someone does penance to receive grace, then that person is thinking that they now deserve it and so it ceases to be grace.

[CynicalBear]

>>Grace by its very nature is something you don't deserve. If someone does penance to receive grace, then that person is thinking that they now deserve it and so it ceases to be grace.<<

That needs repeated often. What an insidious teaching it is that says one needs to "merit" grace.