noun: punishment or suffering that you accept, especially because of your religious beliefs, to show that you are sorry for something bad that you have done
noun: a Catholic sacrament; repentance and confession and satisfaction and absolution
noun: voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing
noun: remorse for your past conduct

---

Cayce
"Service is asked of everyone, rather than sacrifice. In sacrifice there is penance, but grace doth more greatly abound to those who simply extend love to everyone they encounter from day to day." [Cayce 99-8]