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It’s Day 203!!
IN THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS
OBTAINING INDULGENCE FROM GOD THROUGH THE CHURCH
We are going to talk some more about the Communion of Saints and obtaining indulgences
THE CELEBRATION OF THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
What is the form?
What is the matter?
What is going on during the celebration of the sacrament of Reconciliation?
How do we actually go to Confession?
How does that take place here in the West and in other liturgies, not just the Latin rite
So let’s pray!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we praise you and glorify your name. We thank you so much. Again, let our time begin with praise. Let thanksgiving and praise go up first. Help us to praise you when we are thriving and when it’s easy to forget you. Help us praise you when we are struggling and it’s difficult to see you. Lord God, help us to praise you when we need your mercy. And help us to praise you when we have received your mercy. Help us in this day to walk in grace. Help us this day to recognize that we are not alone. We are surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses, the Church. And help us to take that next step, whatever that next step is, to grow closer and closer to you and your Sacred Heart, your merciful heart. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”
So there we have it!!
When we seek to be forgiven of our sins and be holy with the help of God’s grace, we are not alone
IT IS SO IMPORTANT!!
Paragraph 1474 says, “The Christian who seeks to purify himself of his sin and to become holy with the help of God’s grace is not alone.”
We are not just individual Christian automatons
We are not on our own
Yes, we are individuals
God loves us as if we were the only one to exist
AND YET…
What has God done?
He has brought us not only into individual personal relationship with Him
He has brought us into communion with His Church
He has brought us into the community of the faithful
He has brought us into the Communion of Saints
What we do affects other people
Paragraph 1475 says, “In the communion of saints, ‘a perennial link 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.”
Not only can the saints in Heaven intercede for us…
Not only can the saints in Heaven pray for those souls in Purgatory…
BUT…
WE can also pray for the souls in Purgatory
IN FACT…
If we are the body, when one member suffers we all suffer with him
When one member is strengthened, we all rejoice
That is 100% true
BUT…
Paragraph 1475 says, “In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others.”
The holiness of the saints in Heaven and growing holiness of the holy ones in Purgatory benefits us more than a sinner rejecting God can hurt us
There are limits to the way an individual can HURT the body
BUT…
There is NO LIMIT to the ways that a holy person could benefit the body
THAT IS JUST SO BEAUTIFUL!!
We are all linked in this WONDERFUL EXCHANGE
The whole Body of Christ in Heaven called THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT
In Purgatory called THE CHURCH SUFFERING
And on Earth called THE CHURCH MILITANT
ONE CHURCH
ONE BODY
In this WONDERFUL EXCHANGE
Paragraph 1475 says, “In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others.”
SO POWERFUL!!
Indulgences are mean to be remedial
Every time we sin gravely, we have eternal consequences for that sin
Eternal separation from God aka HELL
We have temporal consequences due to sin
Because of that, our hearts become attached to sin
Our hearts become attached to things like CREATION instead of the CREATOR
We love created things MORE than we love God in so many ways
So purification, penances, and indulgences heal us from that
We have FOUR ASPECTS TO AN INDULGENCE
What are they?
First is the action itself i.e., praying the Stations of the Cross or the Rosary
Second is receiving Holy Communion
Third is go to Confession within a week of that indulgence itself
Fourth is interceding on behalf of the Holy Father, the Pope
What makes these four aspects special?
Holy Communion and Confession are special on their own
Praying for anyone is special on its own
All of them individually have power
What gives them the capacity and ability to have a plenary or partial indulgence to remove all temporal punishments due to sin?
THE AUTHORITY THAT JESUS GAVE TO THE CHURCH!!
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!
It is because Jesus Christ extended His authority to the Church when he gave the Church leaders the power of BINDING AND LOOSING
THAT IS THE KEY!!
It is so humble of the Lord God that He gives to human beings who are flawed and faulty and make a bunch of mistakes
He gives them the capacity and ability to declare that we can do these things and through the Power and the Grace of the Holy Spirit working through the Church, we get a partial or plenary indulgence
WHICH IS JUST INCREDIBLE!!
What is the big deal with indulgences?
What’s the problem with them?
One is people will say that “Indulgences can be sold and that doesn’t seem right or fair or just.”
Yes they are correct
IN FACT…
The Church NEVER TAUGHT that it was OK to sell indulgences
THAT WAS NEVER A THING!!
Let’s look at the context
There are things that you can do for the indulgence like acts of penance, works of charity, or certain prayers
It COSTS you something
It DIVESTS you of something
It divests you of your time
It increases your prayer life
It helps others
As an example, imagine you do penance or fast for the next five Fridays and you get an indulgence (not sure if that is an indulgence, just using an example)
That is good because you are disciplining yourself and removing yourself from attachments
Or you could pray the Stations of the Cross in the Church on a Friday
That could be a way of growing your relationship with the Lord
Become MORE ATTACHED to God and LESS ATTACHED to created things
Or donate to charity
You’re not only divesting yourself of some things you may be attached to, but you are also helping your brothers and sisters
Whenever we associate the spiritual life with money, there is always a danger
The danger is people can often think that they are “buying their way into Heaven”
AND YET…
What’s the whole point of this?
The whole point is ALMSGIVING
Jesus even highlights the reality in the goodness of giving alms, giving material goods for the benefit of others
If it’s money, then that is giving money for the benefit of others
That could look, in a certain light, like a person is purchasing their way to Heaven or buying holiness
Now add to this the indulgence and it could look like a penitential act, prayer act, charitable act/almsgiving
You know what?
The Church needs HELP
We are building this Church in Rome called St. Peter’s Basilica
We need a lot of money to build this CHurch
So the Church uses Her authority of binding and loosing to say if you donate to the building of the Church in Rome…
(SQUIRREL!! 😉)
For hundreds and hundreds of years, anyone can come and enjoy beauty and pray there
It’s not the Pope’s private house
You are building this incredible Church for the use of ALL OF THE CHURCH as well as people outside the Church
(Back to Fr. Mike’s original thought… 😉)
Ok if you donate to the building of this Church, there is an indulgence attached to that
What does that sound like?
If you are cynical, it sounds like you are buying grace or it sounds like you are buying an indulgence
The Church is asking for some money and if you give this money, you’ll get an indulgence
It sounds like purchasing a spiritual good
AND YET…
We know that purchasing spiritual goods is ABSOLUTELY PROHIBITED by the Church and by Scripture
When the Church offered this, it did not think that
BUT…
You can imagine how people saw it like that
THEY DID NOT SELL INDULGENCES!!
But to suspicious, skeptical, or cynical eyes it could look like people were buying this spiritual good
THAT WAS NEVER THE INTENTION OF THE CHURCH!!
The second reason why non-Catholic Christians would have a problem with indulgences is this vision of salvation, this vision of justification and sanctification that is ONCE AND FOR ALL
The sense of, “I have been imputed righteousness. God has simply declared me righteous. And so no matter what I do, I don’t grow in or lose my righteousness. I do not grow in justification. I do not grow in sanctification.”
Some people say that is the case
Some non-Catholic Christians say, “Once saved, always saved” and because of that, you do not need indulgences and God has imputed His grace on you
As Catholics, we believe that we don’t have this imputation of Grace upon us
It is more INTRINSIC
It is IN US that we have to either COOPERATE WITH IT
OR…
We REFUSE to cooperate with it
God gives us His Grace and we either say YES to it on a regular basis and we grow in His Grace
OR…
We say NO and we either stop growing or we fall away from God’s Grace
Because of that, we need these gifts
Because of this, the Church has given us the gifts of indulgences
The Church has given us the gifts of penances that actually do some merit
They actually do something in our lives
Because of this, Jesus Christ has given us the Sacrament of Reconciliation
THE CELEBRATION OF THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
Paragraph 1480 says, “Like all the sacraments, Penance is a liturgical action. The elements of the celebration are ordinarily these: a greeting and blessing from the priest, reading the Word of God to illuminate the conscience and elicit contrition, and an exhortation to repentance; the confession, which acknowledges sins and makes them known to the priest; the imposition and acceptance of a penance; the priest’s absolution; a prayer of thanksgiving and praise and dismissal with the blessing of the priest.”
Paragraph 1481 says, “The Byzantine Liturgy recognizes several formulas of absolution, in the form of invocation, which admirably expresses the mystery of forgiveness: ‘May the same God, who through the Prophet Nathan forgave David when he confessed his sins, who forgave Peter when he wept bitterly, the prostitute when she washed his feet with her tears, the publican, and the prodigal son, through me, a sinner, forgive you both in this life and in the next and enable you to appear before his awe-inspiring tribunal without condemnation, he who is blessed forever and ever. Amen.”
Pray with Paragraph 1481
Paragraphs 1482 to the end of today talk about how there is a sacrament of Reconciliation that can take place in the framework of a communal celebration
It is a reconciliation service where everyone comes at the same time and you have the proclamation of the Word and maybe a homily and examination of conscience that everyone goes through and then everyone goes to individual Confession
Reconciliation is a liturgical action
Therefore, it is an ecclesial and public action
It’s not just on Saturday afternoon when a person goes into “the box with the priest”
Sometimes when we get together as a parish family and go to Confession together, there is something really visibly powerful about that
It highlights the fact that WE ARE ONE
WE ARE ONE BODY!!
WE ARE ONE FAMILY!!
WE ARE ONE PARISH!!
Paragraph 1483 says, “In case of grave necessity recourse may be had to a communal celebration of reconciliation with general confession and general absolution. Grave necessity of this sort can arise when there is imminent danger of death without sufficient time for the priest or priests to hear each penitent’s confession. Grave necessity can also exist when, given the number of penitents, there are not enough confessors to hear individual confessions properly in a reasonable time, so that the penitents through no fault of their own would be deprived of sacramental grace or Holy Communion for a long time. In this case, for the absolution to be valid the faithful must have the intention of individually confessing their grave sins in the time required. The diocesan bishop is the judge of whether or not the conditions required for general absolution exist. A large gathering of the faithful on the occasion of major feasts or pilgrimages does not constitute a case of grave necessity.”
This is where people say, “We are all guilty of all these sins.”
They don’t necessarily name them individually
Then the priests gives general absolution to everyone gathered there
ONLY IN CASES OF GRAVE NECESSITY!!
Like D-Day in World War II
On Divine Mercy Sunday if there are 2 priests and 100 penitents, if the priest offered general absolution, he most likely would not have the authority to do that and he would not be right to do that
General absolution is incredibly rare
ONLY IN CASES OF GRAVE NECESSITY AND UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE DIOCESAN BISHOP!!
We are the Body of Christ
There are such things as indulgences and the Church gives us access to those graces through PRAYER, FASTING, ALMSGIVING, and UNITING OUR PRAYER TO THE CHURCH
Jesus Christ established His Church and gave Her the authority TO BIND AND TO LOOSE
We get to experience that treasury of grace that God gives us every time we approach the Throne of His Mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!
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