Indulgences: Spreading the Wealth

Homiletic & Pastoral Review ^ | November 2000 | Dermott J. Mullan

[annalex]

An indulgence is an action of the Church which spreads her treasure of merits to the suffering members of the family of God.

Indulgences: Spreading the wealth

By Dermott J. Mullan

I. Introduction

Indulgences have to do with how God handles evil and good. To God, sin is always horrible, but humans do not always think so. The Church’s teaching on indulgences is meant to impress on us some of God’s horror of sin. The Church says sin is never an isolated event: rather, each sin has after-effects, not only in the person who sins but also in other parts of creation. Some of these after-effects are long-lived, and cannot be removed merely by going to Confession. But another side of the Church’s teaching on indulgences is that good deeds also have after-effects. And God deals with the after-effects of evil and the after-effects of good in different ways: the after-effects of good are much longer lived than the effects of sin. These aspects of the Church’s teaching are meant to open our minds to the wonder of belonging to the growing family of God.

II. The Family of God: who are our siblings?

At a baby’s baptism, the priest invites all present to pray the Our Father together so that the child will one day learn the highest duty of the baptized, to “call on God as Father in the midst of the Church.” This phrase reminds us that all baptized people share the same Father, and we remember this most vividly at Mass. Everyone we see around us at Mass calls the same person Father: He is not just “my” Father, but “our” Father. We are all part of one family, the family of God.

Now a family is a place where we feel most at home. On major celebrations, it is Natural to come back home, to gather with parents, brothers and sisters. At times, there may also be members of other generations of the family, such as cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

The family of God also has its celebrations: every Sunday is meant to be one. But in the family of God, there are no cousins, aunts, uncles, or grandparents: as the saying goes: “God has no grand-children.” We are all are called to be brothers and sisters. We first learn this from the other people we can see at Mass. But there are also many others who are truly our brothers and sisters: they live in the next parish, the next town, etc.

However, an unusual aspect of God’s family is this: we also have brothers and sisters whom we cannot see with our natural eyes. Some are centuries older than we are. Among our older siblings, some are a lot better children of our Father than we are. On the other hand, some of our older siblings are in a lot of pain, and have been suffering for a very long time.

Admittedly, it takes a lot more thought to recognize these invisible folk as siblings than it does for the people we see at Mass in our parish Church. It is not easy for human nature to grasp that someone who died centuries ago, such as St. Thomas Aquinas or St. Catherine of Siena, can really be considered as an older brother or sister. Yet that is what they are: they really do call on God as their Father in the midst of the same Church as we do. Compared with Thomas or Catherine, we who are alive today are mere babies in the family of God (no matter how sophisticated we may feel at times.)

III. Youngsters in the family

Children who happen to be at the end of a large family know how special it can be to have older siblings. This is especially true at Christmas or on a birthday. The older sibling may be earning amounts of money which to a child seem stupendous. And whereas the child may be able to spend only a few pennies on a present for the older sibling, the latter can provide expensive presents that set the child’s eyes agog. Family life is strengthened when all members buy presents for on another, each contributing what he or she can afford.

The same thing is true in God’s family. In God’s family, it also happens that some of our siblings are fabulously wealthy in the world of grace: but others of our siblings have gotten themselves into trouble, and have been tormented by serious pain in purgatory ever since they died. Indulgences are ways that our mother the Church has devised to enable her wealthiest children to share their fortune with the younger members of God’s Family (such as we), and for us (poor though we are) to share what we can with our older suffering siblings.

Why does it matter that we have older siblings in the family of God? Because of the sins we commit. In order o understand how valuable it is to have rich older siblings, we need to think about sin and its effects.

IV. Sin and its after-effects: 3 or 4 generations

Sin is a deliberate breaking of God’s law. Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Constitution on the Revision of Indulgences (1967), writes: “The truth has been divinely revealed that sins are followed by punishments. God’s holiness and justice inflict them. Sins must be expiated. This must be done on this earth through the sorrows, miseries, and trials of this life and above all through death. Otherwise the expiation must be made in the next life through fire and torments or purifying punishments . . . . The reasons [for punishments] are that our souls need to be purified, the holiness of the moral order needs to be strengthened, and God’s glory must be restored to its full majesty . . . every sin upsets the universal order which God has established. Further, every sin does immense harm to the sinner himself and to the community of men.”

In the last sentence of the above quote, the Pope says that when I sin, there are two kinds of after-effects: (a) in myself, and (b) in the world around me. First, sin destroys grace in my soul, and will condemn me to eternal punishment (if the sin is mortal), and leaves me in a spiritually weakened state. Secondly, my sin creates, as it were, some real damage in God’s world: my sin creates something like a broken window in the edifice of human history which was never meant to be there. This weakness in myself, and the damage in creation, are two important after-effects of sin.

How far does the damage done by my sin spread out through creation? In the case of certain sins, the answer is obvious: drunkenness or infidelity or excessive gambling by a parent often lead to great suffering for innocent members of a family. But what about sins which have less obvious effects: how far do their effects go? God provides an answer, in startling terms: “I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their father’s wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation” (Exod. 20:5). This remarkable statement leaves no doubt as to how serious sin is in God’s eyes. God’s answer applies to all sins, even sins which seem to have no obvious effects on the innocent members of the family. It is a chilling thought that when I commit a sin, I may be condemning my children and (if I ever have any) my grand-children to serious consequences.

To remove sin and its after-effects requires several things. First, friendship with God must be restored, and amends must be made for offending his wisdom and goodness: this is done by a sincere conversion of mind in a good confession to a priest. Confession removes the guilt of sin, and also removes any condemnation to eternal punishment (if mortal sin was committed).

But what about the weakness in my soul, and the damage I did to God’s creation? How are they to be removed? Confession does not do it. Pope Paul teaches that there are two ways:

“The first is by freely making reparation, which involves punishment. The second is by accepting the punishments God’s wisdom has appointed. . . . The very fact that punishment for sin exists, and that it is so severe, make it possible for us to understand how foolish and malicious sin is, and how harmful its consequences are.”

The souls who are now in purgatory are those “who died in the charity of God, were truly repentant, but who had not made satisfaction with adequate penance for their sins and omissions.”

V. Goodness and its after-effects: 1000 generations

The necessity of doing penance for sins is apparent from the words of Our Lord:

“Unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13: 3). But how do I know when I have done adequate penance for my sins? There is no obvious measuring stick to use: could it be that God is a taskmaster who is never satisfied? If this were true, it would be a heavy burden indeed. But there is good news for us precisely because we are members of God’s family. The fact is, some of our older siblings were so aware of how their sins had offended God, whom they loved, that they willingly suffered severe penances in order to repair the damage which they had done to God’s world. The Church teaches that these saints, by means of their penances, more than compensated for the damage their own sins had done.

This has a remarkable effect on us. We have already seen how God reacts to sin, and to people who hate Him. Now we ask: how does God react to people who love Him? God’s answer to this question is clear, startling and specific: “I, the LORD, your God . . . bestow mercy down to the thousandth generation on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exod. 20:6).

This must be regarded as one of the most remarkable statements in all of Scripture.

It says with clarity that God responds to love of him very differently from the way in which he responds to sin: although sin is by no means allowed to go unpunished, nevertheless, the punishments are felt for “only” three or four generations, whereas the effects of good last “for a thousand generations,” or essentially forever. In human terms, we may say that God rewards good deeds more than he punishes sin. God never forgets a good deed done by a person who loves him. The effects of sins peter out after a few generations (or as Psalm 1 says: “the way of the wicked vanishes” ), but God does not allow the effects of good deeds ever to fade away.

Now, some of our older siblings performed good deeds during their lives. In view of Exod. 20:6, we now recognize that God is still blessing those good deeds to this very day. Far from diminishing with the passing of the years, the amount of blessings has continued to swell as God’s family expands. The older the family of God becomes, the more loving deeds are performed, and the more the blessings accumulate. it is as if a tidal wave of blessings has been growing over time, getting larger and larger with each passing generation.

VI. The family of God comes of age

Pope Paul describes the “treasury of the Church” as including “the infinite value which Our Lord’s merits have in the eyes of God our Father, as well as the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary . . . . In the treasury too are the prayers and good works of all the saints . . . they attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the Mystical Body.”

Pope Paul admits that indulgences were not a widespread idea in the primitive Church. It took time for the doctrine to grow. The idea that pastors could set someone free of the after-effects of sin by applying the merits of Christ and of the saints grew up gradually in the Church over the centuries. The Church took time to realize that the after-effects of good deeds were building up as the years went on, growing like some sort of tidal wave of ever-increasing size.

If we can return to the analogy of the family, we see that this development makes sense. In a family, it takes some time before the parents can call on the older siblings to start to contribute to family life. For example, when a child reaches age 7-10, he/she can begin to help with raising the younger members and doing chores. And when he/she reaches age 15-20, financial contributions to the family become possible. Once enough time has passed, it seems natural to have the older siblings help out with the younger ones. So it was with the Church after the first few centuries went by: the blessings that God was showering on the great saints long after they themselves were dead gradually became available to the younger members of the Church.

Eventually the Popes decreed that certain works which were suitable for promoting the common good of the Church could replace all penitential practices. Then the faithful who were genuinely sorry for their sins, and had confessed them, and had done such works, were granted by God’s mercy, and trusting in His apostles’ power, the most complete forgiveness possible for their sins (Pope Paul VI).

VII. Indulgences: what and why?

Eternal punishment for mortal sin cannot be removed by indulgences: only the infinite power of Christ can do that in the soul of someone who is truly contrite. It is the non-eternal punishment that is the subject of indulgences, and here, even the non-infinite contributions of our older siblings can contribute.

An “indulgence” means taking away the after-effects of sin when the guilt is already forgiven. An indulgence is an action on the part of the Church to spread the treasury amassed by Christ and by our older siblings to the less fortunate members of the family of God.

Why does the Church want us to gain indulgences? First, they help us to expiate our sins. Second, they encourage us to do works of piety, penitence, and charity. Third, when we gain an indulgence, we are admitting that by our own power, we cannot adequately remedy the harm we have done to ourselves or to God’s world by our sins. Finally, indulgences remind us of the enormous liberality which God gives to those who love him: we can honestly say that we are taking advantage of blessings which God is still pouring out on people who loved him centuries ago. Indulgences make me truly feel like a member of the Church.

VIII. Pennies from the youngsters: the holy souls.

Indulgences show how closely knit we are as the family of God. They remind us of the good lives which our older siblings lived. And although these older siblings are much richer than we will ever be, nevertheless, the doctrine of indulgences does not by any means sneer at the little we can contribute. What we have to offer may seem like pennies compared with what the giants of the Church have contributed. Just as in a human family, the youngest members cannot come u with much spending money when they want to but Christmas presents: but family spirit is built up when even these youngest members contribute what they can. So it is in the Church: we who are alive today, the youngsters in the family of God, can gain indulgences to help the holy souls, our suffering brothers in purgatory. When we do this, we are practicing charity in what Pope Paul calls “an outstanding way.”

IX. Plenary and partial indulgences

Certain pious exercises carry with them indulgences which have the effect that ALL of the after-effects of sin are removed. These are called plenary (or complete) indulgences. Other indulgences remove only some of the after-effects: these are called partial indulgences. In older prayer books, you may see a period of time attached to certain prayers: this meant that the indulgence was only partial. The time period meant that if I say that prayer, the after-effects of my sin are removed to the same extent and they would have been if I had endured one of the penances of the early Church for that length of time. However, Pope Paul in 1967, in his role as chief dispenser of the treasury of the Church, decreed that no time intervals would any longer be assigned to partial indulgences.

Plenary indulgences can be gained in several ways. For example, by spending at least one half-hour in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, or in reading the Scriptures with the veneration due the Divine Word; reciting the Rosary in a church with pious meditation on the mysteries; praying the Stations of the Cross. These indulgences are available at all times of the year. Certain practices carry plenary indulgences only at certain times of the year. For example, each day from November 1 to November 8, a plenary indulgence applicable only to the souls in Purgatory is granted to the faithful who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray for the dead. On All Souls Day, a plenary indulgence, also applicable only to the souls in purgatory, is granted to the faithful who piously visit a Church and recite one Our Father and the Creed. Other feasts of the Church on which plenary indulgences can be obtained include the Sacred Heart, Christ the King, Pentecost, Lenten Fridays, and the Easter Vigil.

X. Conditions for gaining indulgences

While it is true that indulgences are gifts to those of us who are members of Christ’s Catholic Church, there are certain conditions for gaining them. To gain a plenary indulgence, the indulgenced practice must be performed, and the following conditions must be fulfilled: (i) sacramental confession; (ii) Eucharistic communion; (iii) prayer for the Pope’s intentions (Our Father and one Hail Mary). Further, it is necessary to be free from all attachment to any sin at all, even venial sin.

Why should we pray for the Pope’s intentions? Because we have access to indulgences through the generosity of the Church, of which the Pope is the visible head on earth.

The three conditions may be fulfilled several days before or after the indulgenced work has been performed. One sacramental confession suffices to gain several plenary indulgences. But for each plenary indulgence, communion must be received, and prayers for the Pope’s intentions must be said.

No more than one plenary indulgence can be gained in one day, except on the day of death.

---

Dr. Dermott J. Mullan is a Professor at the University of Delaware where he does research on magnetic fields in stars. Born and raised in Northern Ireland, he first came to the USA to study for his Ph. D. He met his wife at the Newman Center at the University of Maryland. They now have ten children, ranging in age from 10 to 29. This is his first article in HPR.

[PetroniusMaximus]

"PM you're proving my point: explicit references are not required for reality of a dogma... The word "Trinity" is nowhere found in scripture but the concept the reality of it is."

The word "Trinity" is our word. It is not God's word (so to speak) because it is not in the Bible. But the reality of the three persons of the Godhead (Biblical word) is clearly taught by Scripture. All three Presons are called "God" in Scripture. It is unambiguous - but "Trinity" is our convenient word for this unambiguous Scriptural concept.


"Purgatory" is ambiguous. No specific passage can be pointed to that refers to it's existence unambiguously. I think the 250+ references to Heaven and 250+ references to Hell are a striking contrast to this ambiguity.

Furthermore, "Purgatory" is a "necessary" doctrine that has grown up around a theology that teaches that what Jesus did on the cross was not enough to completely and utterly save you from sin and hell. "Limbo" is a similar "necessary" concept nowhere taught in Scripture.

"Purgatory" speaks to the need of the (I'm sure often) sincere soul who believes in Jesus but still has this nagging feeling that they are not ready - not pure enough to enter heaven. I find that same dilemma in the NT - in Paul who says...

"So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."

Rom 7&8

Paul sees clearly that he is a wretched man who is at war with the evil tendencies within himself. He looks to what Gos has done in Christ as his source of liberation and freedom.

[conservonator]

You see "our word" trinity in scripture because that is how the Church teaches us to understand God, it seems clear and logical today only because the early Church fathers settled this issue about 1600-1700 years ago. You know very well that this was far from a settled issue in the early Church, and in fact there are several "Christian" churches today that reject the trinitarian formula. Does there rejection of the Trinity have any impact on the truth of the Triune God? of course not, truth is not dependent on belief, it is what it is.

Same with purgatory, it is what it is, it is referenced in Scripture, not as often as the two ultimate ends to be sure, but I don't believe, and I really don't think that you truly believe, that the number of times something is mentioned in Scripture make it more real than if it is not mentioned specifically at all. If that were true than you and I would both agree that sola fide is anti biblical since the only time that particular phrase appears in the bible it is preceded by the words "not by". As someone mentioned, that 's not ambiguous at all, is it.

[PetroniusMaximus]

"You see "our word""

I though you would like that ! :)


"because that is how the Church teaches us to understand God, it seems clear and logical today only because the early Church fathers settled this issue about 1600-1700 years ago."

And why/how did they settle it? Because the found it in the Scriptures!!! It was not revealed to them from heaven.



"Same with purgatory, it is what it is, it is referenced in Scripture, not as often as the two ultimate ends to be sure,"

"Not as often" - not at all. Not even once in an unambiguous fashion.



"and I really don't think that you truly believe, that the number of times something is mentioned in Scripture make it more real than if it is not mentioned specifically at all."

True, but a theological point needs to be expressed clearly ONE TIME - just one time. Jesus is clearly called God by the NT - so is the Holy Spirit.


"the only time that particular phrase appears in the bible it is preceded by the words "not by".

Luke 7:50
And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

[conservonator]

And why/how did they settle it? Because the found it in the Scriptures!!! It was not revealed to them from heaven.

What is scripture if not revelation from heaven?;) If resolving the the issue (and many, many others) was as simple as flipping open a page in a book there would not be many denominational splits in the church. The simple fact that scripture is not self revealing should be self evident. Now, I would never disagree that the concept of the triune nature of God is found in scripture, but I wold argue that it's easily discernible, if it were, why the need for a council to define the dogma?

You can't see purgatory in scripture because you've been tough not to see it, it conflicts with the dogmas that you have accepted, this does not mean that the references are not there. The Jew and the atheist rejects the divinity of Christ even though they are perfectly capable or reading hte very same scripture that you and I read, why? It's there for all to see, but their world view, and a lack of grace prevent them from seeing the truth. You as a Christian do not lack grace, but you lack the willingness, due to a particular theological view, to see what is there. But I have hope for you!

Luke 7:50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

Christ didn't insert the word "alone" why should we?

go in peace.

:)

[armydoc]

The Catholic Church has never, ever taught that indulgences lessened time in purgatory.


How then, do you explain the "Sabbatine Privilage"?

The name Sabbatine Privilege is derived from the apocryphal Bull "Sacratissimo uti culmine" of John XXII, 3 March, 1322. In this Bull the pope is made to declare that the Mother of God appeared to him, and most urgently recommended to him the Carmelite Order and its confratres and consorores. The Blessed Virgin asked that John, as Christ's representative on earth, should ratify the indulgences which He had already granted in heaven (a plenary indulgence for the members of the Carmelite Order and a partial indulgence, remitting the third part of the temporal punishment due to their sins, for the members of the confraternity); she herself would graciously descend on the Saturday (Sabbath after their death and liberate and conduct to heaven all who were in purgatory.

The Sabbatine privilege thus consists essentially in the early liberation from purgatory, through the special intercession and petition of Mary, which she graciously exercises in favour of her devoted servants preferentially -- as we may assume -- on the day consecrated to her, Saturday.

- Catholic Encyclopedia
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13289b.htm

[annalex]

I am somewhat puzzled by Sanormal's assertion as well. How then are we to interpret this:

A partial indulgence commutes only a certain portion of the penalty; and this portion is determined in accordance with the penitential discipline of the early Church. To say that an indulgence of so many days or years is granted means that it cancels an amount of purgatorial punishment equivalent to that which would have been remitted, in the sight of God, by the performance of so many days or years of the ancient canonical penance. Here, evidently, the reckoning makes no claim to absolute exactness; it has only a relative value.

God alone knows what penalty remains to be paid and what its precise amount is in severity and duration. Finally, some indulgences are granted in behalf of the living only, while others may be applied in behalf of the souls departed. It should be noted, however, that the application has not the same significance in both cases. The Church in granting an indulgence to the living exercises her jurisdiction; over the dead she has no jurisdiction and therefore makes the indulgence available for them by way of suffrage (per modum suffragii), i.e. she petitions God to accept these works of satisfaction and in consideration thereof to mitigate or shorten the sufferings of the souls in Purgatory.

(Indulgences, scroll to VARIOUS KINDS OF INDULGENCES)

[sanormal]

Let's keep in mind a few guardrails for our discussion of the Sabbatine Priviledge.

1. There is no time or space in Purgatory.
2. Only dead saints are there.
3. There are no clocks, watches, daytimers, calendars or organizers in Purgatory.

There is no Saturday in Purgatory (see above). Saturdays only occur for the living. Note that the Bull says, "especially on Saturdays, the day consecrated by the Church to the Blessed Virgin."

Read in context the Bull underlines Mary's constant intercession for the faithfully departed and our immitation of her faithfulness not some magic formula to spring souls on Saturday.

And that's no bull.

[sanormal]

"To say that an indulgence of so many days or years is granted means that it cancels an amount of purgatorial punishment equivalent to that which would have been remitted, in the sight of God, by the performance of so many days or years of the ancient canonical penance."

Let's unpack this slowly as it is exactly what I have proposed.

Let's use that novena card that Grammy used to have on her bedside table. It said down at the bottom INDULGENCE 36 DAYS.

In prayerfully and devoutly saying the Novena, one would do the spiritual equivalent of 36 days of ancient canonical penances (sackcloth and ash).

The equivalence was with the ancient canonical penances, not with any time lessened out of Purgatory.

So Grammy had a choice. She could fast and wear sackcloth and ash for 36 days OR she could say her novena devoutly. No wonder she chose the novena.

As to the length of the purification process for individual souls, nothing can be said in terms of years. Pope Alexander VII, Decree 18 March 1666 in Denziger 1143

See also Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, L. Ott, pg 485.

Great question.

[annalex]

OK. So a partial indulgence does lessen the purgatorial suffering, but it cannot be measured in time units, except by indirection.

[sanormal]

The Church has always used terms such as partial and plenary to describe indulgences. Time units used to be included by analogy, that is, they established an analogy between actions meant for the laity living in the world and penitential actions meant for religious monks living in community.

[sanormal]

"The name Sabbatine Privilege is derived from the apocryphal Bull "Sacratissimo uti culmine" of John XXII, 3 March, 1322."

The apocryphal Bull is bull, BTW, I'm not sure if I made that clear. Pope John XXII never wrote such a document.

[armydoc]

The apocryphal Bull is bull, BTW, I'm not sure if I made that clear. Pope John XXII never wrote such a document.

We reproduce here the whole passage dealing with the Sabbatine privilege, as it appears in the summary approved by the Congregation of Indulgences on 4 July, 1908. It is noteworthy that the Bull of John XXII, which was still mentioned in the previous summary approved on 1 December, 1866, is no longer referred to (cf. "Rescript. authent. S.C. Indulg.", Ratisbon, 1885, p. 475). Among the privileges, which are mentioned after the indulgences, the following occurs in the first place: "The privilege of Pope John XXII, commonly [vulgo] known as the Sabbatine, which was approved and confirmed by Clement VII ("Ex clementi", 12 August 1530), St. Pius V ("Superna dispositione", 18 Feb., 1566), Gregory XIII ("Ut laudes", 18 Sept., 1577), and others, and also by the Holy Roman General Inquisition under Paul V on 20 January, 1613, in a Decree to the following effect: It is permitted to the Carmelite Fathers to preach that the Christian people may piously believe in the help which the souls of brothers and members, who have departed this life in charity, have worn in life the scapular, have ever observed chastity, have recited the Little Hours [of the Blessed Virgin], or, if they cannot read, have observed the fast days of the Church, and have abstained from flesh meat on Wednesdays and Saturdays (except when Christmas falls on such days), may derive after death -- especially on Saturdays, the day consecrated by the Church to the Blessed Virgin -- through the unceasing intercession of Mary, her pious petitions, her merits, and her special protection. With this explanation and interpretation, the Sabbatine privilege no longer presents any difficulties, and Benedict XIV adds his desire that the faithful should rely on it (Opera omnia, IX, Venice, 1767, pp. 197 sqq.). Even apart from the Bull and the tradition or legend concerning the apparition and promise of the Mother of God the interpretation of the Decree cannot be contested. The Sabbatine privilege thus consists essentially in the early liberation from purgatory, through the special intercession and petition of Mary, which she graciously exercises in favour of her devoted servants preferentially -- as we may assume -- on the day consecrated to her, Saturday. Furthermore, the conditions for the gaining of the privilege are of such a kind as justify a special trust in the assistance of Mary. It is especially required of all who wish to share in the privilege that they faithfully preserve their chastity, and recite devoutly each day the Little Hours of the Blessed Virgin. However, all those who are bound to read their Breviary, fulfil the obligation of reciting the Little Hours by reading their Office. Persons who cannot read must (instead of reciting the Little Hours) observe all the fasts prescribed by the Church as they are kept in their home diocese or place of residence, and must in addition abstain from flesh meat on all Wednesdays and Saturdays of the year, except when Christmas falls on one of these days. The obligation to read the Little Hours and to abstain from flesh meat on Wednesday and Saturday may on important grounds be changed for other pious works; the faculty to sanction this change was granted to all confessors by Leo XIII in the Decree of the Congregation of Indulgences of 11 (14) June, 1901.


It appears that it doesn't matter if the Bull was authentic or not. Its content was approved and confirmed by multiple subsequent Popes. It still contains references to time.

[annalex]

My objection is that the term "lessen" is applicable, even though time measure does not properly apply. If we can speak of partial indulgence, we can speak of partial suffering.

[sanormal]

While the bull is fake, the Carmelite practices recommended in it are longstanding and worthy.

Yes, fasting and praying is good. Yes, Mary prays for the faithfully departed every day and on Saturday. We can count on that.

While the article you quote mentions early release (a poorly chosen phrase) nothing in the teaching of the Church refers to early release...because...there ain't early, late or right on time in Purgatory.

This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?

I'll have to admit imagining the Communion of Saints all staring at their watches waiting for the second hand to tick to Saturday so that the souls in Purgatory might finally cross the finish line is hilarious.

[sanormal]

Excellent point. More or less is quite appropriate and analagous to plenary or partial. Early or late is neither appropriate nor analagous.

[armydoc]

nothing in the teaching of the Church refers to early release...

Isn't the Catholic Encyclopedia approved by the Church?

[bonfire]

"Purgatory translates into a "second chance" for Catholics who think that if they don't pursue holiness and righteousness in this world they can deal with it in the next. In reality these people are more than likely lost - i.e. spiritually unconverted and Purgatory is they lie that lulls them into a waiting hell."

The Mormon's picked up on this and ran with it.

[Kolokotronis]

Alex, this posted article is, to put it kindly, a bit simplistic, even dumbed down. This is 4th grade stuff and I'm surprised that a Professor would pen such a piece. I am therefore thankful for the link to the Vatican site for "INDULGENTIARUM DOCTRINA". Its somewhat easier to work with than stories of little kids and their pennies!

It seems to me that this article speaks of three things, namely, purgatory, indulgences and the treasury of merit. Within the system of the Latin Church, I can see how each of these concepts developed. To be fair, the concept of "indulgences" predates the schism by many centuries and is found in popular beliefs within The Church in North Africa where some of the faithful were in the habit of acquiring letters of remission of punishment for sins issued by certain monks on account of the "merits" gained by martyrs. This practice was never widespread in the areas which eventually became the Orthodox world but I think its hard to distinguish these, fundamentally from the Latin concept of indulgences and perhaps, without too much stretching, to the idea of a treasury of merit administered in some fashion by holy men, The Church or in the Latin system by the Pope. Again, though, this isn't anything which gained currency in the Eastern Church. Purgatory, another concept which never gained a foothold in the East, does have its roots in the theology of the early Church and the writings of The Fathers. The Church has always taught that there was a place where most souls go after death for an intermediate period between the Partial and Final Judgments. The early Church also believed that in this place God's love, spoken of as a fire, either purifies and fills the soul with joy or torments depending on the destination of the soul at the time of the Final Judgment. I suspect the concept of purgatory developed from this early theology, a theology which Orthodoxy maintains to this day. But purgatory seems to carry with it the concept of atonement, of making up for sins committed, for offenses given to God. As I understand it, the Latin Church teaches that while a soul cannot repent of its sins, or do much of anything for that matter after death, we can, through our prayers, activate the "merits" of Christ, Panagia and the saints for the benefit of those souls and thus do away with, in some non-temporal sense, the suffering "due" to God in recompense for the sins of the deceased and thus that soul enjoys the "beatific vision" "before" it might otherwise (I'm leaving out for now any benefit for us here on earth).

Having read Paul VI's writing, I am struck, as I often am, with the great difference between the Latin/Western concepts of sin and salvation and that of Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy. I have noted before that this stands in stark relief when one compares the Western focus on atonement, a sort of payback for sin through the Cross and the East's focus on the descent to Hades and the Resurrection. In the West, sin is an offense which God takes very personally and demands retribution for. This just isn't the way the East looks at things at all. Payback has nothing to do with salvation. The West, at least in popular belief, sees the Cross as an expiation for the sins of man, then past, then present and then future. The East sees the Cross as the means whereby Christ died in order to destroy the power which death formerly had over us on account of the Sin of Adam; "Death took a corpse and found God". In other words, Christ didn't die on the Cross to "make up" for your sins or mine, but rather to release us from the inevitable consequences of the Sin of Adam, spiritual death (which is the only real death). As the people pray in the Latin Rite Mass, "Dying you destroyed our death; Rising you restored our life!"

I noticed in the pope's writing that he speaks of how our sins affect not just ourselves but indeed everyone (and I assume everything). This is what The Church has always taught. Our sin distorts God's perfect creation and every sin we commit adds to the burden under which "all creation groans". What the West sees as a "punishment from God" for sin, whether it be personal, or societal or global, isn't a "punishment" at all, at least not most of the time; it is as a result of the distortion of creation caused by sin. God allows it to happen, but he doesn't cause it, we do. This is not to say that there are not what some theologians have called pedagogical punishments, punishments to truly "teach a lesson", but these are quite different from retributions or "paybacks" or atonements.

Orthodox theologians often note that at the Final Judgment we are not judged as if our good and bad deeds are placed on some sort of scale (though that is certainly a very, very ancient, pre Christian idea), but rather by how much like Christ we have become. We sin and thus separate ourselves from God because sin makes us less like Christ than we might otherwise be. We repent of those sins, not because that pays God back but rather because repentance is a denial of the self, which opens us to grace which in turn makes us more like Christ. All of this happens during this life. If we die without being fully in the image and likeness of Christ, it is only by God's mercy that our souls, in some fashion resembling Christ, will become through God's love, burnished and shining as by fire. Our prayers for the dead, therefore, are for our loving God, a God we call "Philanthrope", Lover of Mankind, to show mercy.

Do the prayers of intercession from the saints and Panagia help here? Orthodoxy believes so. Do the prayers of the living faithful help? Orthodoxy hopes so and in any event, those prayers are efficacious for those who make them.

As I said, in a system where God demands satisfaction, where good and bad deeds are weighed out in a judgment process, purgatory as a place of suffering, becomes necessary lest people loose hope. The concept of a treasury of merit administered by the Pope fits in with such concepts of sin, punishment, and the meaning of Christ's granting of the Keys to +Peter and indeed the Western concepts, at least the popular concepts, of the purpose of the Cross. In the Eastern Church, however, with very different beliefs in these areas, they have neither meaning nor place.