By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM
Part 8
The “indulgences” of the Catholic Church have acquired a bad name ever since Luther’s Reformation. In Luther’s days, it is true, the Church was going through one of those periods of crisis. Yes, there was a great crisis, almost as bad as today.
The crisis was chiefly among the decadent clergy of the time — womanizers, homosexuals, bribers, thieves, and exploiters of the people could be found in many places. It is said that the little people of God were fooled into giving money to the Church in order to get their loved ones saved from the fires of Purgatory, and for themselves to atone for their sins. As soon as you heard the coins rattling in the box, the soul of the person we are financing jumped out to Heaven!
Leaving aside a certain exaggeration, the fact remains that there were abuses among the clergy. The main difference between the deviants of those days and the deviants of today was that the old ones tried to hide their perversions, whereas the new ones advertise them. Times have changed.
But what were those famous “indulgences,” which the corrupt clerics were selling?
First of all, let us define the term: “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven.”
But I can see a less informed Catholic asking this question: “But if the sins have been forgiven in Confession, why do I have to atone for them?”
Here is a reality about sin that most of our contemporaries ignore. Every mortal sin brings about two kinds of punishment: one eternal, and one temporal. Going to Confession with the proper dispositions, and receiving the absolution, removes the eternal punishment; the fulfilling of the penance imposed by the confessor removes the temporal punishment, but it will depend on our spiritual dispositions.
Let me make it clearer:
If I fulfill the penance imposed by the confessor with the utmost sorrow for having offended God, the temporal punishment will be forgiven. But if I fulfill it matter-of-factly, saying those three Hail Mary’s almost absentmindedly, I will still have something to do to atone for my sins — namely, in Purgatory.
When Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger preached about the necessity to rediscover the sense of sin, which has been lost among a great many Catholics these days, he was also implying that we should rediscover the Sacrament of Confession, its parts and duties, and the time we will have to spend in Purgatory if our repentance is superficial.
So, we go to Confession, and though sanctifying grace is restored to our souls by the priest’s absolution, which he has the power to grant by the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the penitents — that means us — unless our sorrow is true, unless we repent out of love of God and not only because we fear Hell, we still remain answerable for a debt of temporal punishment.
Again, this debt is sometimes fully discharged by the penance imposed in Confession, if we have a profound regret for our sins because they have offended such a good and loving God; but, there is, as a rule, a residue which must be removed either in this life or the next. Here is where the teaching of Purgatory makes itself clear, because generally, as we know it ourselves very well, our contrition sometimes is not as intense as it ought to be.
So, we atone for the remnants of guilt of our sins either in the next life, by the pains of Purgatory, or in this life, by well-borne suffering or by gaining indulgences. An indulgence is not a pardon of sin; still less is it a permission to commit sin.
And where does the Catholic Church get the power to forgive sins and to grant indulgences? We all know that it comes from Christ, when He said to the apostles, “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven,” and “Whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”
This general spiritual power of forgiving sin and granting indulgences is called the power of the Keys, those Keys which are displayed on the Vatican flag. This is so because of the expression used by our Lord in His promise to St. Peter: “I will give you the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on Earth….” He therefore gave His apostles and their successors the power to loose all spiritual bonds, to relieve the faithful of all spiritual debts — the debt of temporal as well as of eternal punishment.
Friends, sin is a serious business! God’s mercy is infinite, yes, of course, but we cannot abuse it!
This power resembles that possessed by the state which can remit the death penalty, substitute a lighter for a heavier punishment, or grant complete amnesty. In those states of our Union where capital punishment exists, the governor has the constitutional power to remove it from a specific criminal.
The spiritual wealth of merits is the Treasury of the Church, where it has been deposited by Christ and the saints. Christ, by the Sacrifice of the Cross, has enabled us to pay all our debts of temporal as well as eternal punishment. He has filled, with inexhaustible merits, what the Church aptly calls her Treasury.
There, too, are stored merits arising from the sufferings of Our Blessed Lady, the Mother of Sorrows, and from the sufferings and penances of the saints and the pious faithful of every age who have made more than the necessary satisfaction for themselves.
Partial Or Plenary
How does a repentant sinner receive an indulgence?
“To be capable of gaining indulgences, a person must be baptized, not excommunicated, and in the state of grace at least upon completion of the prescribed work. To gain them, however, a capable subject must have at least the general intention of gaining them, and must fulfill the prescribed works at the time and in the manner determined by the terms of the grant” (canon 996).
Indulgences can be partial or plenary. The Church has an official manual of indulgences, and it lists three General Grants of Indulgences related to prayer, almsgiving, and fasting.
Next article: The Sacrament of Holy Orders.
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(Raymond de Souza, KM, is a Knight of the Sovereign and Military Order of Malta; a delegate for International Missions for Human Life International [HLI]; and an EWTN program host. Website: www. RaymonddeSouza.com.)
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