On the inside of the cover of the New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism published in 1969 there is a prayer. After the prayer it says the following:
“An indulgence of five years. A plenary indulgence on the usual conditions, provided this prayer has been recited daily for a month.”..... This means that by saying the prayer properly, five years is removed from a person’s time in purgatory.
On the same page of the New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism it says,..... “The faithful who devote 20 minutes to a half hour to teaching or studying Christian doctrine, may gain: an indulgence of three years. A plenary indulgence on the usual conditions twice a month, if the above practice is carried out at least twice a month.”
So ‘indulgences’ continue and were definitly re-enstated in Vatican ll...which is paying your way.
Indulgences only have value in Catholicism due to the unbiblical teaching of purgatory, which the Roman Catholic Church teaches is a place of punishment where people expiate their own sins there (CCC, 1475).
Expiation is “a term associated with the removal, cleansing, or forgiveness of sin.”1 But how does a person expiate or cleanse himself of his own sins? He doesn’t. If there were a means by which we could cleanse ourselves on our own sins, then God would have provided that.
“I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly,” (Gal. 2:21).
If people needed to expiate their own sins, it would take all eternity to do that, and still that would not be long enough.
My ransom was paid for in full on the cross. All I had to do is sign the paper acknowledging it.
Common misconception even among Catholics. The five years here means that this indulgence is equivalent to five years in the ancient order of penitent, not five years in Purgatory.
It should also be pointed out that in order to receive an indulgence one must already be in a state of grace, i.e. already cleansed of mortal sin. In Protestant terms, one must already be saved by Jesus Christ. Indulgences and Purgatory do not refer to the question of being justified but to the process of sanctification in which we are conformed completely to the holiness of God. This process happens only to those who are already justified, i.e. saved.
Dang!
This is almost as good as the LOTTERY ads seen on TV!!