Indeed, the Holy Father has approved a special plenary indulgence to mark the Year of Faith, which began Oct.11 — the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church — and will end Nov. 24, 2013, the feast of Christ the King. Pope Benedict has intended this Year of Faith to be “dedicated to the profession of the true faith and its correct interpretation, through the reading of — or better still the pious meditation upon — the acts of the council and the articles of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.” Of course, an integral part of the Year of Faith for each of us is our own ongoing conversion and growth in holiness, hence the granting of the indulgence.
By definition, “an indulgence is the remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain defined conditions through the Church’s help when, as Minister of Redemption, she dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfaction won by Christ and the saints” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1471, citing the apostolic constitution, No. 1). Now, what does this mean?
We believe that when we sin, we commit a free-willed offense against God and our neighbor. God in His infinite love and mercy forgives the guilt of any sin for which we are truly sorry. However, God in His justice requires that we expiate sin, or heal the hurt caused by sin. Justice demands reparation, and we call this the temporal punishment for sin. For example, if I damage my neighbor’s car, I can sincerely plead for forgiveness, and my neighbor can genuinely forgive me; yet, I must also in justice pay for the repair of the car. In the same sense, during our lives, we confess our sins and receive absolution in the sacrament of penance, and then perform penances to expiate the hurts caused by those sins. If we die with unforgiven venial sins or the unhealed hurts caused by our sins, we will expiate these sins in purgatory.
Since sin has a communal dimension, i.e., sin affects the whole body of the church, salvation also has a communal dimension. This is why we pray for each other’s intentions at Mass or privately. From the earliest days of the church, individuals have offered prayers and good works for the salvation of sinners. In those times, absolution was not granted until both confession and penance had been performed (and the penances were very lengthy in duration, even lasting months). Consequently, penitents would ask martyrs facing death for aid (to offer their sufferings for the atonement of the penitents’ sins) so that full reconciliation with the church and re-admission to the sacraments could be obtained more speedily. When a martyr fulfilled this request, the church recognized this charitable act as satisfying the prescribed penance and thereupon granted absolution. For example, St. Cyprian (d. 258) stated, “Those who have received certificates from the martyrs and are able to be assisted by their privileged position before God” may be absolved and “come to the Lord with the peace which the martyrs, as indicated in letters sent to us, desired to be given them” (Letter to the Clergy, 18, 1). In such cases, the penitents received an indulgence that satisfied their penance. Herein lies part of the basis for our belief.
The communion of the church includes the saints in heaven. These saints intercede on our behalf and pray for us. The treasury of the church includes the infinite, inexhaustible value of the merits of Our Lord’s death and resurrection, and the prayers and good works of the Blessed Mother and all of the saints. Just as they aided those in the journey of salvation while living on this earth, they continue to do so now. As the Minister of Redemption, the church invokes their aid to help reconcile fully penitents and alleviate the temporal punishment due to sin. Here again, St. Cyprian, for example, preached of how “the merits of the martyrs and the works of the just will be of great avail with the Judge” for all of the faithful on the day of judgment (The Lapsed, 17). In an analogous way, one could think of an employee who has accumulated a large amount of sick leave and retires with all of this unused leave; the employer, in his generosity, asks the retiring employee to apply this accumulated leave to a sick employee who needs time to heal, and in his generosity, the retiring employee does so. So our Holy Father applies the merits of this treasury through an indulgence to help us satisfy justice and expiate the hurts caused by our sins.
Along this same understanding of the communion of saints, an indulgence gained by an individual may be applied to the faithful departed, namely the poor souls in purgatory. So, a person who gains an indulgence may say, “Lord, apply the indulgence to the needs of my dear departed loved one.” We must not forget the poor souls rely on our prayers and good works to help atone for the hurts of their sins.
Blessed Pope John Paul II taught, “This doctrine on indulgences therefore ‘teaches firstly how sad and bitter it is to have abandoned the Lord God. When they gain indulgences, the faithful understand that by their own strength they would not be able to make good the evil which by sinning they have done to themselves and to the entire community, and therefore they are stirred to saving deeds of humility’ (quoting Paul VI). Furthermore, the truth about the communion of saints which unites believers to Christ and to one another, reveals how much each of us can help others — living or dead — to become ever more intimately united with the Father in Heaven” (“Incarnationis Mysterium,” No. 10).
An indulgence is considered plenary or partial according to whether it expiates all or part of the temporal punishment due for sin. To gain a plenary indulgence, one must perform the work attached to the indulgence and make a sincere sacramental confession, receive holy Communion, and pray for the intentions of the Holy Father. The conditions may be met several days before or after performing the work of the indulgence. (A partial indulgence is gained by doing the particular work sincerely.) Note the church has consistently condemned any abuse of indulgences and has always demanded that the person performing the indulgence must have a sincere, contrite and humble heart.
Therefore, as we are at the beginning of the Year of Faith, and during this month of November when we remember the communion of saints including the poor souls in purgatory, let us strive to grow in holiness and helps others also by taking advantage of the treasury of graces offered through this special indulgence.