Holy Communion is the shortest and the safest way to Heaven. There are others: Innocence, for instance, but that is for little children. Penance, but we are afraid of it. Generous endurance of the trials of life, but when they come we weep and ask to be spared. The surest, easiest, shortest way is by the Eucharist.
My head would explode if I were ever FORCED to sit through catechism classes!
John 14:6 -
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
If the suffering is from external punishment, then the penitence will be worthless in removing suffering. Penance is for the harm caused by the actual sin, not the suffering from punishment as a result of getting caught.(even if caught by one’s own self)
This is why it is far worse to do wrong when you know it is wrong vs unknowingly doing wrong.
I work with people everyday who shackle their souls with self judgment, often based upon the mis-perception that as a child they did something horrendously bad. These individuals frequently reverse their emotional subconscious reward/punishment system as they feel the need to be punished in order to get rid of the guilt. They become positively stimulated by punishment or criticism and negatively stimulated by praise.
An example is when children blame themselves for their parent’s divorce and start acting out to get punishment. If the situation is not corrected and the wound healed, an individual will usually suppress their immune system and punish themselves through illness. This is how Jesus healed people by forgiving them and healing their bodies by healing their souls. Heal the body and it is temporary. Heal the soul and the body healing is permanent.
I have worked with over a dozen individuals with MS and in every instance the mis-perception that manifested the illness through the immune system was created at age 4. This is the reason the symptoms (usually in women) often manifest shortly after a marriage with a really great spouse. If the environment does not punish, the soul does.
Penance often leads to Penitence. But not always.
PS I have never met a woman who had an abortion who does not self punish at the soul level no matter what their conscious aware belief system is. The soul knows that taking life is wrong.