An indulgence, as per the Catholic Catechism, is a remission of the temporal punishment, which comes from the commission of sin. Since we are all sinners, all of us will acquire the need for the forgiveness of sin by either receiving absolution from a priest during the Sacrament of Penance or by praying the Perfect Act of Contrition in the absence of a priest, which I detailed in my article on Pandemic Practices. This will forgive your sins, but it will not relieve the temporal punishment connected with the sin. This is why most of us after our death and particular judgment where we must give an accounting of our lives, wind up in a place called Purgatory. So what caused all the sin? Why it was an act of “Un-Love” where we failed to love God or love our neighbor. By not loving our neighbor, we also fail to love God. There are two commandments that the entire law is based. You must love God with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength and your neighbor as you love yourself. All acts of “Un-Love” must be atoned. First, we offer prayers for the deceased so that they may experience our love and concern for them. The flames of Purgatory are flames of love so that the deceased can love the living more. This will help expiate the punishment for their sins and move closer to God, which in turn will intensify the soul’s love for God and all beings. At the time of our death the righteous souls experience a oneness with all of creation. As Saint Paul describes it, “absent from the body, present with the Lord”. Second, by showing love to the happy souls of Purgatory, we expiate our own temporal punishment due to our sins. Let all of us try to live “present with the Lord” in this life so our time in Purgatory is short. This should make you understand that love is the reason for living a fruitful life. Most of us have been taught from youth to perform the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. The Corporal Works of Mercy are to feed the hungry, quench the thirst of our fellow human being, give clothing to the naked, find homes for the homeless, visit the sick and those in prison, and bury the dead. The Spiritual Works of Mercy are to counsel the sinner an doubtful, teach the ignorant, comfort those who are in sorrow, forgive and bear wrongs and injuries patiently, and pray for the living and the dead. Remember, whatever you do to the smallest being or piece of creation, you do unto God. By performing these works, we have others joining us to unification with God in Heaven. This is the quest for all of us. After all why did God make us? To know, love, and serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him in heaven. We all know from our religious training that God is everywhere. The expiation of our temporal punishment and temporal punishment of the deceased takes place when we accomplish these acts.
Excellent presentation! If the need arises, may I post this to some of the non-Catholic end-time forums I belong to (often where I'm the sole Catholic there and at times get questions regarding Catholic teachings. Usually on the end-times, but sometimes the conversations go off on tangents.)
For many years I have campaigned among my associates for the abolute responsibility to use the opportunity on All Souls day, and the six days following, to earn Plenary indulgences for the souls in Purgatory. The 'sacrifice' is so minimal that it is almost a crime to ignore it! Indulgences for the Poor Souls Current regulations in force by Pope Benedict XVI: On All Souls’ Day (Nov. 2) a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Poor Souls, is granted to those who visit any parish church or public oratory and there recite one Our Father and one Credo. The above indulgence is contained in the Apostolic Constitution The Doctrine of Indulgences, Norm 15, with account being taken of proposals made to the Sacred Penitentiary in the meantime. In visiting the church or oratory, it is required, according to Norm 16 of the same Apostolic Constitution, that "one Our Father and the Creed be recited." [ed. note : see Norm25 of the Enchiridion]. One has to go to Communion on the day of the indulgence and recite prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father (one Our Father and one Hail Mary is the minimum, but any other additional prayers may be added). The final requirement is that you take part in the Sacrament of Confession, but you can do that up to seven days before or afterward. Since most Catholic parishes offer Confession on Saturday, you can go to Confession this Saturday or next, and then fulfill the rest of the requirements on All Souls Day itself. The All Souls Day indulgence is a wonderful way to show your love for a friend or family member who has died. In less than an hour on All Souls Day, you can release a soul from Purgatory. Why not gain the indulgence for your loved one? "OK", you say, "You forget you must ALSO be FREE FROM ATTACHMENT TO SIN". That sounds a hard one. "I'm attached to (certain) foods, drink (gluttony). I just can't stop complaining about (eg) the neighbour; I neglect prayer by watching TV too much....." Lepicier, an early theologian of the last century, gave an excellent lesson on the same, found here in Fr Tim Finigan's essay on the issue: PLENARY INDULGENCES ………Detachment from venial sin The most problematic condition is: “ the complete exclusion of any attachment to any sin, even venial,…” This is not a new provision; the theologian Lépicier (1863-1936) in his book Indulgences, their origin, nature and development reported a controversy which was widely current in his own time, that the actual gaining a plenary indulgence was very rare. “….whilst with regard to plenary Indulgences, they teach us in a dogmatical tone that exceedingly few are those who can gain it, and fewer still are those who actually do gain it – perhaps a holy nun in some remote corner of the world, or some saintly hermit dead to this life and its concupiscences. “(page 341) In countering this severe view of indulgences, Lépicier observed that falling into venial sin is not the same as having an affection for venial sin: “From the first no man, however holy, excepting Christ, and His Blessed Mother, can call himself free; but many should be, and in reality are, free from the second. How can we imagine faithful souls, that are anxious to please God, and daily seal this desire with the Bread of Life – and their generation, thank God, is not extinct – how can we imagine such as these to be wilfully attached to that which, though not causing eternal death, yet is infinitely injurious to the Divine Majesty?” (page 343) If there is any doubt about the more lenient view of “detachment from venial sin”, it is perhaps worth noting that this view was expressed in 1895 by a Roman professor of theology. More recently, in the grant of an indulgence for the Year of the Eucharist, the Apostolic Penitentiary restated the conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence. However, when speaking of special conditions for those who are infirm, the official English translation reads: “as long as they are totally free from any desire to relapse into sin, as has been stated above. We may treat the more "lenient" view as common teaching since the Church clearly intends to grant plenary indulgences that can be obtained by the faithful every day. It would not seem reasonable to do this if it were almost impossible to gain them in practice. We may therefore encourage people to carry out the works prescribed for the gaining of a plenary indulgence (including, for many, a return to the sacrament of confession) without discouraging them by the rigorist opinion that a plenary indulgence can scarcely ever be gained in fact. Fr Tim finigan, visiting tutor in Sacramental theology at St John’s Seminary Wonersh, ordained 1984 Hey! That's attainable by ALL who read these discussions! Each reader potentially releases 7 souls in the first week of November. Enough readers (and their conscripts) we could empty that place!
