INDULGENCES WHAT IS AN INDULGENCE? The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) #1471 quotes Pope St. Paul VI in responding: "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." "An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin." The faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead.
WHAT IS “THE TEMPORAL PUNISHMENT DUE TO SINS?” Sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which – i.e. eternal damnation in hell – is called the “eternal punishment” of sin. Such punishment, of its nature, cannot be remitted.
On the other hand, every sin, even venial sin, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, from which we must be purified either here on earth or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification, whether undergone here or in Purgatory, frees one from what is called the “temporal punishment” due to sin. (cf. CCC #1472)
IS THE PUNISHMENT DUE TO SIN INFLICTED BY A VENGEFUL GOD? While the Bible certainly speaks of God’s wrath, the punishment due to sin, whether eternal or temporal, “must not be conceived as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain.” (CCC 1472)
WHY, IF OUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN, WOULD TEMPORAL PUNISHMENT REMAIN? Sacramental absolution received in confession results in the forgiveness of sin, restoration of communion with God and the remission of eternal punishment. Yet temporal punishment still remains. Our sins cause harm to us, to our neighbor and to our relationship with God. We have to work at purifying ourselves from the effects of sin so that we put aside the “old man”, that is, our sinful selves, and put on the “new man” that we became by baptism. So we patiently bear the sufferings and trials of life and strive to carry out works of mercy and charity as occasions to cooperate with God’s grace. (CCC #1473)
WE ARE NOT ALONE “The Christian who seeks to purify himself of his sin and to become holy with the help of God’s grace is not alone. ‘The life of each of God’s children is joined in Christ and through Christ in a wonderful way to the life of all the other Christian brethren in the supernatural unity of the Mystical Body of Christ…’” (CCC #1474) Therefore, when we strive for holiness ourselves, we help one another to become holy because we are bound to one another by charity, the gift of God’s love.
This bond of charity “‘exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. Between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things.’ In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others.” (CCC #1475)
THE CHURCH’S TREASURY These “spiritual goods of the communion or saints (are called) the Church’s treasury” which consists of the infinite and inexhaustible merits of Christ by which mankind could be set free from sin. “This treasury includes as well the (immense and unfathomable) prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary (as well as) the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission entrusted to them.” (CCC #1476, 1477)
OBTAINING INDULGENCES FROM GOD THROUGH THE CHURCH “An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasure of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of temporal punishments due for their sins … (by encouraging them to carry out) works of devotion, penance and charity. (CCC #1478)
INDULGENCES FOR THE HOLY SOULS IN PURGATORY Since the faithful departed now being purified in purgatory “are also members of the same communion of saints, one way we can help them is to obtain indulgences for them, so that the temporal punishments due for their sins may be remitted.” (CCC #1479)
Some basic conditions for gaining indulgences 1. You must be in a state of grace at the time of completing the prescribed work. 2. A plenary indulgence may be gained only once on any day. 3. A partial indulgence may be gained several times a day. 4. To gain a plenary indulgence, one must: be free of all attachment to sin, even venial; perform the prescribed work; go to confession, receive Holy Communion and pray for the Pope’s intentions, preferably on the day the work is performed, otherwise within a number of days preceding or following it. 5. If the person is not completely free of all attachment to sin or if the prescribed work and the three conditions of confession, Holy Communion and prayer for the Pope’s intentions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will only be partial.