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First we must understand what indulgences are so we don't
lapse into superstition. To do this, basic concepts must be understood,
but before we get to that, let's get a basic definition:
"An indulgence
is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to
sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful
Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed
conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of
redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the
satisfactions of Christ and the saints." (1983 Catechism ¶ 1471)
And here is what
indulgences are not: they are not permission to commit sins in
the future; they are not "get out of Hell free" cards; they are
not the forgiveness of the guilt of sin. They
have nothing to do with eternal salvation; they are only for
the temporal effects of sins that have already been forgiven through Penance (or a perfect Act of Contrition, as
the case may be).
OK, let's move on to the concepts involved here:
A:
Sin has two different types of effects -- eternal and temporal
Sin has both eternal consequences and temporal consequences. As an
example, if I were to take an innocent life, an objectively gravely
sinful matter (one of the three conditions for mortal sin), under the
subjective conditions of mortal sin (full knowledge, full consent of
the will), and died unrepentant, I would go to Hell. My going to Hell
would be the eternal consequence of my sin.
The temporal consequences of that sin range from the death of
the innocent person; the suffering of my family who endured the shame
and ramifications of my arrest and incarceration or enduring capital
punishment; the effects of the loss of the innocent person on the
family of the innocent person; the costs to the community of the loss
of the innocent person; the costs to the community of litigation; the
spiritual effects on the weaker members of the community whose view of
the world and God's Justice and Mercy could be affected knowing that
innocent life can be taken so easily; the tarnishing of the image of
the Body of Christ and the bringing of scandal upon the Church; the
loss of grace in my soul and the predisposition to sin again as sin can
become habitual, penance I would have to do to pay for the effects of
my sin (this includes penance given to me during Confession, personal
penance, and the penance assigned to me by God to be paid on earth
and/or in Purgatory), etc.
If I were to repent and receive forgiveness through the Sacrament of
Penance, the eternal consequences -- satisfied for by Christ at
Calvary -- are no longer an issue (Deo gratias!) because I receive the
effects of His atoning Sacrifice (I will have been justified) when I
reconcile with the Church through a good Confession. But I still have
to pay for the temporal consequences of my sin because God is
not only merciful, He is just. An example I use in the Apologetics area
of this site is that of a child who steals a candy bar and then then
tearfully, with true contrition, confesses his crime to his parent. The
parent, being loving and good and merciful, as our Father in Heaven is,
will forgive that child and allow the child back in the parent's "good
graces" -- but he will also still expect the child to pay back
the store from which he stole. Another example is the common one of,
say, an imprisoned murderer repenting and coming to know Christ -- but
who still must serve out his time in prison or give up his life as
punishment.
The temporal effects of repented sins that are not paid for in life
through the effects of natural law, personal penance, penance given by
the priest at Confession, or mystical penances given to me by God, are
paid for in Purgatory. St. Augustine, in City of God (A.D.
419), sums up Catholic thinking on such things:
Temporal
punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by some after
death, by some both here and hereafter, but all of them before that
last and strictest judgment [i.e. when Christ comes again to judge the
living and the dead]. But not all who suffer temporal punishments after
death will come to eternal punishments, which are to follow after that
judgment.
Purgation -- the
process of making satisfaction for debt caused by sin so that we may
become perfect, divinized, and enter Heaven -- is quite Scriptural, of
course. Allusions to purgation are found all over the Bible; but it is
summed up most clearly in the following two verses:
Matthew 5:25-26
Be at agreement with thy adversary betimes, whilst thou art in the way
with him: lest perhaps the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the
judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Amen I
say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last
farthing.
1 Corinthians 3:12-15
Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious
stones, wood, hay, stubble: Every man's work shall be manifest. For the
day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire.
And the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any
man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a
reward. If any mans work burn, he shall suffer loss: but he himself
shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
B: The temporal effects of sin
affect others not only in natural, but in
mystical ways
As far back as the Old Testament, it is made clear that the temporal
effects of sin affect others who may not have committed personal sin.
The greatest and first example is that of the sin of Adam and Eve which
resulted in the fall of man from grace and in his propensity for
corruption and personal sin which we call "original sin."
The Pentateuch (i.e. Torah, the first five Books of the Bible) also
speaks of the sins of the fathers being visited upon the children:
Exodus 20:5
...I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them
that hate Me.
I Corinthians
12:26 demonstrates that what affects one member of the Body affects
another:
And if one
member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it: or if one
member glory, all the members rejoice with it.
These concepts
seem foreign to those who live in the modern Western world's radically
individualistic culture, but they are Scriptural fact. They may seem
"unfair" (as though life with our fallen nature is supposed to be
fair), but that it is true is obvious by looking at the often sad lives
of the poor children of "crack-whores," or the parents of those who
tend to end up in and out of Juvenile Hall, etc. This is not to say
that those who suffer the consequences of their ancestors' sins are
doomed! No! All are called to Christ and His Church, and Jesus will judge
us as individuals by looking at our hearts, wills, deeds, and
intellect, taking into consideration factors which mitigate
culpability. Nonetheless, the basic idea that our sins affect others
not only in obvious temporal ways, but in mystical ways, is Bibilical.
All of these temporal punishments, though painful, are merciful.
Without discipline and punishment from God, we would continue in our
ways, remain unrepentant, and then suffer the eternal consequences
of doing so. A father who does not discipline his children is a bad
father who is setting up his child for greater troubles down the road.
God, though, is a good Father:
Hebrews 12:5-11
And have you forgotten the consolation which speaketh to you, as unto
children saying: My son, neglect not the discipline of the Lord:
neither be thou wearied whilst thou art rebuked by Him. For whom the
Lord loveth, He chastiseth: and He scourgeth every son whom he
receiveth. But if you be without chastisement, whereof alll are made
partakers, then are you bastards, not sons. Moreover, we have had
fathers of our flesh for instructors, and we reverenced them. Shall we
not much more obey the Father of spirits and live? And they indeed for
a few days, according to their own pleasure, instructed us: but He, for
our profit, that we might receive His sanctification. Now all
chastisement for the present indeed seemeth not to bring with it joy
but sorrow: but afterwards it will yield to them that are exercised by
it the most peaceable fruit of justice.
C: Grace and good works affect
others in the same way
Continue reading the Exodus 20 Torah portion mentioned above:
Exodus 20:5-6
...I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them
that hate me. And shewing mercy unto thousands to them that love
me, and keep my commandments.
The good we do,
by the grace of Christ, ripples out into the universe and builds up His
Body:
Colossians
1:23-24
If so ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and immoveable
from the hope of the gospel which you have heard, which is preached in
all the creation that is under heaven: whereof I Paul am made a
minister. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up those
things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for
his body, which is the church...
When we
cooperate with grace -- when we pray, give alms, fast, offer up our sufferings, etc. -- we
literally strengthen the Body of Christ in a mystical way! Christ
Himself and all the Saints of 2,000 years (by the grace of Christ) have
built up His Mystical Body and laid up a "treasury of merit" or
"spiritual treasury," as it is also called. In the same way we or
others detract from the Body of Christ through sin, we and others add
to this treasury -- and receive the fruits thereof when we receive an
indulgence, for we are one in the Body of Christ:
Romans 7:5
We being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of
another
And read once
again I Corinthians 12:26:
And if one
member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it: or if one
member glory, all the members rejoice with it.
D: The Church was given the power
to bind and loose
To Peter was given the Keys to the Kingdom (Matthew 16) and the power
of binding and loosing (forbidding/permitting, condemning/acquitting).
In exercising this power of the Keys, the Church has the authority to
determine certain practices which help us to to benefit from the
treasury of merit and alleviate the temporal effects of sins we've
confessed and are already forgiven for. This is an indulgence.
That the Church was given the power to forgive the eternal effects of
sin through the Sacrament of Penance makes
it easier to understand how the Church also has the power to alleviate
the lesser, temporal effects of sin. The Church whose priests were
given the authority by Christ to forgive the guilt of sin and thereby,
by the Blood of Christ, eliminate the eternal punishments for
sin, surely also has the authority to pardon the temporal
punishments of sin.
To refer again to the analogy of the child who steals a candy bar and
repents:
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The Good parent
and child
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Holy Mother
Church and child
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the parent
forgives the child for stealing and allows the child back into his good
graces
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the Church
forgives the guilt through the Sacrament of Confession, thereby
eliminating the eternal consequences by the grace of Christ, and
restoring the penitent from being a "dead member" of the Church to a
"living member" of the Church
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the child
desires to pay back the store ("make satisfaction" for his debt)
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the faithful
desires to make satisfaction for his debt to God which he incurred
through sin
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the child turns
to his parent for help in making satisfaction for his debt to the
store. The child doesn't have the money to pay back the store, but to
the parent, the cost of the candy bar is nothing
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Holy Mother
Church was given the power of the Keys and, therefore, the authority to
make ways for the penitent to make satisfaction for his debts to God by
tapping into the treasury of merits of Christ and the Saints
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the good parent
says that if the child is truly contrite and truly desires to make
satisfaction for the debt, he can earn enough to pay for some of the
candy bar if he does X, or enough to pay for all of the candy bar if he
does Y
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Holy Mother
Church sets out certain prayers and works to be offered under certain
conditions which will either pay for some of the debt owed to God
(partial indulgence) or all of the debt owed to God (plenary indulgence)
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the child does X
or Y
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the faithful
performs the prescribed actions, under the prescribed conditions, to
gain an indulgence
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the good parent
follows through on his promise, helping the child pay for his crime by
opening his wallet and giving the child some or all of the money to pay
back the store.
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the Church
mitigates punishment incurred (temporal penalties) by opening
the treasury of merit and applying those merits to the faithful
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Now, suppose
there are two children. One child steals the candy bar and then dies.
The other child -- his brother, say -- wants to help pay his dead
brother's debt, so he pays back the store in the name of his dead
brother.
In this way, the Catholic can offer the benefits of the indulgence to
the souls in Purgatory. Indulgences can only be applied to oneself or
to a soul in Purgatory, not to another living person. When applied to
the souls in Purgatory, it is done only by petition to God, for those
no longer of the Church Militant (the living members of the Church on
Earth) are not subject to the Church hierarchs who've been given the
authority to grant indulgences.
E: Indulgences are either Partial
or Plenary
An indulgence can be either partial, which remits only some of the
temporal punishment due to sin, or plenary, which remits all temporal
punishment due to sin.
Partial Indulgences:
Partial indulgences can be acquired as often as one desires. To gain a
partial indulgence, one must do the following. These are "the usual
conditions" for receiving a partial indulgence:
- be in a state of
grace (free of mortal sin). A good Confession isn't otherwise
necessary, but a contrite heart for even venial sin is.
- intend to
receive the indulgence
- perform the
prescribed action of the indulgence
There are three
General Grants of partial indulgences and many Special Grants.
The General Grants:
- First General
Grant: A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who, in the
performance
of their duties and in bearing the trials of life, raise their mind
with humble confidence to God, adding - even if only mentally - some pious invocation.
- Second General
Grant: A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful, who in a spirit
of
faith and mercy give of themselves or of their goods to serve their
brothers in need.
- Third General
Grant: A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful, who in a spirit
of
penance voluntarily deprive themselves of what is licit and pleasing to
them.
Special Grants:
- indulgenced prayers, either recited alone, alternately
with a companion, or by following it mentally as another recites it
- indulgenced
works, such as the devout use of a properly blessed article of devotion
(Crucifix, Rosary,
scapulars, or
medals), reading Scripture, making the
Sign of the Cross, visits to the Blessed Sacrament,
etc.
Plenary Indulgences:
Plenary Indulgences can be acquired only once each day for the same
work (unless one is at the moment before death, in which case he may
acquire another. Another exception is on All Souls Day -- November 2 --
when the faithful may gain a plenary indulgence, only for the souls in
Purgatory, as often as they want). Plenary indulgences are much more
demanding than partial indulgnces, for they require one to do the
following. These are "the usual conditions" for receiving a plenary
indulgence:
- have the
intention of gaining the indulgence
- receive the Sacrament of Penance (within several days
before or after the prescribed action of the indulgence, though the
same day is best, if possible)
- receive the
Eucharist (within several days before or after the prescribed action of
the indulgence, though the same day is best, if possible)
- pray 6 Paters (Our Fathers), 6 Aves (Hail Marys),
and 6 Glorias (Glory Bes) for the intentions of the Holy Father
(within several days before or after the prescribed action of the
indulgence, though the same day is best, if possible). The most recent
Enchiridion prescribes at least one of each, but 6 is the traditional
number.
- perform the
prescribed action of the indulgence. If the prescribed action of the
indulgence requires a visit to a church or oratory, one must visit
devoutly and recite 1 Our Father and the Creed. This doesn't refer to
any visits to a church for Confession or the Eucharist in order to
fulfill the requirements listed above; it refers to such indulgences as
those granted to the faithful for visiting a church on the day of its
consecration, visiting their parochial church on its titular feast day,
visiting the stational churches of Rome, etc.
- be free from all
attachment to venial sin
This last is
most difficult, but if it can't be fulfilled, a partial indulgence will
be gained.
Some examples of ways to gain a plenary indulgence:
- Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
for at least one hour
- Making the Way of the Cross or, if unable to get to a
church, the pious meditation and reading on the Passion and Death of
Our Lord for a half an hour
- Public
recitation of five decades of the Rosary. This must be done vocally,
continuously, and with the Mysteries announced out loud and meditated
on.
- A plenary
indulgence is granted on each Friday of Lent to the faithful who after
Communion piously recite before an image of Christ crucified the
prayer: "Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus." On the other days
of the year the indulgence is partial.
- A plenary
indulgence is granted to the faithful who renew their baptismal
promises in the liturgy of the Easter
Vigil
- A plenary
indulgence is granted when an Act of Consecration is publicly recited
on the Feast of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus
- A plenary
indulgence is received by those who publicly make the Act of
Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart on the Feast of
Christ the King
- A pious visit to
a church, a public or chapel on All Souls' Day (November
2) with the
prayers of one Our Father and the Creed; this indulgence is applicable
only to the Souls in Purgatory.
- A devout visit
to a cemetery with a prayer, even if only mental, for the departed
souls, from the first to the eighth day of November.
With any of
these indulgences, one's confessor (i.e., the priest one goes to for
the Sacrament of Penance, not just any
priest) may commute the work or conditions of receiving them if there
is hardship.
The complete list of indulgenced prayers and works are contained in a
book called the "Raccolta" or the "Enchiridion" (pronounced
"en-ki-RID-ee-un" and which means "handbook" or "manual.") There are
other enchiridia for other purposes, but if one speaks of "the
Enchiridion" with no qualifiers, one generally means the Raccolta.
When looking at an old Enchiridion, or when reading old prayer books,
one might see a period of time attached to a partial indulgence, e.g.
"indulgence of 100 days." This number indicates an amount of time of
penance one was given in the early Church after a Confession, i.e., the
priest would give someone a penance of a certain amount of time before
he could be fully re-admitted into the Church (penances were much
harsher back then!). After 1968, the indication of days in such a
manner was done away with because it was not clear to some uneducated
persons that the days did not refer to "time in Purgatory" Some were
under the very mistaken impression that, say, "indulgence of 100 days"
meant that one would spend 100 fewer days in Purgatory instead of its
true meaning: that performing the prescribed action amounts to doing a
penance of 100 days.
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