Last week we continued to reflect upon our spiritual connection with the souls who have gone before us to meet the Lord. That is an important theme that our Catholic faith has traditionally presented to us in the month of November.

 

Throughout this month we have reflected on the reality of purgatory and on the need and efficaciousness of our prayers for the final and complete purification of our loved ones as well as people unknown to us. As this reflection commented last week, the offering of a specific Mass intention for the deceased is part of the application of the fruits of Jesus’s sacrifice through the Eucharist.

 

Another means of spiritual union with the deceased is the application of the treasury of grace entrusted to the Church through indulgences applied by us the living to the souls in purgatory. It is useful for us to be reminded about these indulgences and how they are a part of our Catholic faith and practice.

 

By its nature, an indulgence is based in recognition that even after the forgiveness of sin, be it mortal or venial, there remains the damage of sin. Each of us is called to do penance which involves separating ourselves from the earthly desires and choices we have made in the past through our rebellion against God or our weakness. Our obligation is, even after receiving God’s pardon, to seek His grace so we are totally and perfectly ready to enter the presence of the All-Holy God in heaven.

 

To help understand this reality, a wise old pastor once offered this analogy. Imagine, he said, playing catch with your friend next to your neighbor’s house with a big window. And imagine the neighbor warns you not to play there for obvious reasons. But still, one day playing there anyway, a throw is errant and goes through and breaks the window.

 

The pastor said the child’s obligation is to go and speak to the neighbor, apologize and ask forgiveness. If the neighbor is like God, he grants the forgiveness and seeks reconciliation with his young neighbor. But even then the damage to the window remains. It is still the obligation of the child to set things right by getting the window fixed.

 

Indulgences then address the remaining consequences of the sins we have committed. As Pope St. John Paul II wrote, “It is precisely in this context that the indulgence becomes important, since it is an expression of the ‘total gift of the mercy of God’. With the indulgence, the repentant sinner receives a remission of the temporal punishment due for the sins already forgiven as regards the fault.” (Incarnationis Mysterium, N. 9).

 

This application of the healing grace of God has been entrusted to the Church. Over the centuries the Church has recognized that such healing can be conveyed by a Plenary Indulgence which remits all remaining temporal punishment, or a partial indulgence which heals a portion of the remaining damage of sin.

 

Indulgences are obtained by faithfully carrying out pious practices approved by the Church under specific conditions established by the Church. These are listed in the Manual of Indulgences which can be purchased or accessed on-line (https://catholicallyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Indulgences_v2.pdf)." target="blank">https://catholicallyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Indulgences_v2.pdf">(https://catholicallyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Indulgences_v2.pdf). Examples of such activities might be spending a half-hour in Eucharistic adoration or the recitation of the rosary while meditating on the mysteries of the rosary.

 

This mystery of God’s forgiveness and healing grace is extended, however. According to the Norms for Indulgences, “The faithful can obtain partial or plenary indulgences for themselves, or they can apply them to the dead by way of suffrage.” In other words, in our union with the dead including our loved ones, we can offer pious acts which hasten their completion of purgatory and entry into heaven.

 

In fact, during the first days of November the Church has established a plenary indulgence for those who visit a cemetery and pray for the dead during the first week of November or who visit a church on All Souls Day and there recite an Our Father and the Creed.

 

Indulgences are the mature fruit of the Church’s reflection on the gift of grace entrusted to her. It reminds us of how much God wants us to be with Him in heaven. The mystery of time and eternity, grace and evil, purgatory and heaven are beyond our full understanding. But they are summed up in the gift of indulgences made available to us especially during November, but more widely all year long.