How does penance work? Like, afaik you confess your sins to a priest and the trope is that he tells you to give some amount of hail mary's, but is that actually how it goes? Do different prayers have different 'powers' of penance? Does the layman choose what prayer to do for penance, does the priest have a list of how powerful various prayers are for penance? Do you need to confess to a priest or can you confess directly to God or a saint?
This is a Roman Catholic perspective. Some Rites have other methods. Some Christians have other beliefs etc etc
Basically you tell the priest when your last confession was, what you’ve done and how many times you’ve done it.
After that the priest will give you your penance. A lazy priest will say “pray ten Hail Marys” and be done. A more thoughtful priest will give an equivalent penance.
One man confessed to cheating by sleeping with a coworker on a work trip and the priest told him to buy flowers for his wife.
I once was asked to meditate in front of a crucifix for ten days for thirty minutes each day. I’ve also been told to pray Psalm 62. It just depends on the priest and the penitent.
Now, a priest can ask you to do these things but if you are physically or emotionally unable to, as a layperson you have a responsibility to speak up and negotiate a more appropriate penance. There aren’t power ups or layers to each prayer.
You cannot get full absolution by going “directly to God.” The priest has a special role in being an instrument of God and being able to give you verbal counsel over your sins. Unless there is a long line a priest will usually give you pointers on how to mitigate sinning again. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, this requirement was lifted to allow those immunocompromised to be safe.
