Extraordinary Graces: Divine Mercy Sunday and the Divine Mercy Novena (begins Good Friday)
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(see PART ONE HERE) (see PART TWO HERE) (see PART FOUR HERE)
This is taken from Indulgences: Double Your Gift
The Treasury of Merit - Asking a Favor from the Church
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19).
Again, this application does not affect the eternal consequences of sin—i.e., it will not save one who is unrepentant and not in communion with our Lord.
Rather, the application concerns the temporal consequences of sin of an authentically repentant sinner, an application that flows from the unity of the family of God and the way in which the merits of one sibling (e.g., a saint) can be applied to others (e.g., the pilgrim Church on earth or a Holy Soul in Purgatory).
**It is important to note that, while we can pray and fast and offer sacrifices for the conversion or spiritual growth of other living people, we cannot gain indulgences for them. The indulgences that we gain can only be applied to ourselves or a soul in purgatory but not to another living person..
This is because indulgences are a gift of God’s mercy that reduce the temporal punishment due to the confessed sins of an authentically repentant sinner. We cannot ensure that persons, other than ourselves, have met that condition – Are they authentically repentant? Have they confessed their sins? What about their mortal sins – have they gone to the sacrament of reconciliation and confessed those sins? It is not in our jurisdiction to know and judge those things.
Another condition that has to be met to gain a plenary indulgence (which is the full remission of the temporal punishment accumulated up to that point) is that there has to be “complete interior detachment from sin, even venial sin” present for the indulgence to be gained (see Plenary Indulgences below). Once again, it is not in our jurisdiction to know or judge those things..
(See more about this below. Look for "One more comment about the reason we cannot gain indulgences for other living people")
Deceased souls in purgatory, by the very fact that they are in purgatory, have already authentically repented and are just serving their temporal punishment. So, we can gain indulgences and offer them to God in hope that he will use them to reduce their temporal punishment.
But, it also bears noting that indulgences for the dead are bit different from the ones we gain for ourselves. The Church’s pastors have no actual jurisdiction over the dead, so they can’t really grant indulgences for them. As such, canon law says they are applied “to the dead by way of suffrage.” In other words, it is a petition to God to accept them for the benefit of the suffering soul. We can hope - have a pious confidence - that He does, but there is no irrevocable guarantee.
So, how do we gain an indulgence?
1. The person must be in the “State of Grace.” For a Catholic, it may be necessary to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation to be restored to the State of Grace. For the non-baptized, baptism is necessary.
2. Do the prescribed work (we must put our faith into action) with at least the general intention** of gaining the indulgence.
There are prescribed penitential practices that go with the Indulgence Actions along the lines of prayer, fasting, almsgiving
** It is necessary to have, at least, the general intention of gaining an indulgence for it to be granted. Offering the very same prayers and actions without, at least, the general intention of gaining an indulgence, would draw down the mercy of God for sure but not in the measure that it would if they were offered intentionally as indulgences. The most fruitful way to gain an indulgence would be to be conscious of each one as it is gained so that you can pour the full amount of love & diligence into it; but, if you pray the following prayer each morning, you will have made at least the general intention of your desire to gain them throughout the day:
MORNING OFFERING
O my God, in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (here kiss your Brown scapular as a sign of your consecration – this carries a partial indulgence). I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Jesus from all the altars throughout the world, joining with it the offering of my every thought, word and action of this day.
O my Jesus, I desire today to gain every indulgence and merit I can, and I offer them together with myself, to Mary Immaculate, that She may best apply them to the interests of Thy Most Sacred Heart. Precious Blood of Jesus, save us! Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!
THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF INDULGENCES
1. Plenary
2. Partial
Partial Indulgences
There are Four General Ways, and Numerous Specific Ways to Obtain an Indulgence
The General Ways:
This first grant is intended to serve as an incentive to the faithful to put into practice the commandment of Christ that "they must always pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1) and at the same time as a reminder so to perform their respective duties as to preserve and strengthen their union with Christ.
Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope, . . . patient in tribulation, persevering in prayer.
Ephesians 6:18 With all prayer and supplication pray at all times in the Spirit, and therein be vigilant in all perseverance and supplication.
Colossians 3:17 Whatever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
This second grant is intended to serve as an incentive to the faithful to perform more frequent acts of charity and mercy, thus following the example and obeying the command of Christ Jesus (John 13:15 & Acts 10:38). However, not all works of charity are thus indulgenced, but only those which "serve their brothers in need," in need, for example, of food or clothing for the body or of instruction or comfort for the soul.
Matthew 25:35-36, 40 For I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; naked and you covered me; sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.... Amen I say to you, as long as you did it for one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it for me.3rd General Way: A partial indulgence is granted when, in a spirit of repentance for sin, we voluntarily abstain from something we like (like drinking water instead of Coke and “offering it up” for the souls in purgatory).
This third grant is intended to move the faithful to bridle their passions and thus learn to bring their bodies into subjection and to conform themselves to Christ in his poverty and suffering.
But self-denial will be more precious, if it is united to charity, according to the teaching of St. Leo the Great: "Let us give to virtue what we refuse to self-indulgence. Let what we deny ourselves by fast -- be the refreshment of the poor."
Luke 9:23 If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.This grant encourages the faithful to profess their faith openly before others, for the glory of God and the building up of the Church.
Matthew 10:32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven;
The numerous specific ways of obtaining indulgences include:
These last four in bold can obtain a plenary indulgence when they are accompanied by:
There are many other ways as well, all of them listed in the official Handbook of Indulgences, Norms, and Grants. See links below:
**One more comment about the reason we cannot gain indulgences for other living people
Once again, the Church promotes indulgences partly to help the persons doing the indulgenced work to grow in grace by doing the indulgenced activities, which include things like giving money to the poor, praying Rosaries, adoring the Blessed Sacrament, reading Scripture, etc. The indulgence is a motivational tool to get us to do something that is helpful to us spiritually. If I read Scripture for a half hour, I not only grow spiritually and receive God’s grace for reading the Scripture, but I also can earn the special “bonus gift” of an indulgence. I can keep this indulgence for myself, or give this indulgence to a deceased soul in Purgatory because that soul is unable to get an indulgence for himself/herself or do anything for himself/herself at all.
However, another person walking around on earth is able to earn his or her own indulgence, and the Church would prefer that they did so because one purpose of indulgences is to motivate people to do various spiritual practices. If living person A is doing these practices and giving all the benefits to living person B, then person B has no motivation to bother reading Scripture, giving to the poor, etc. which is not what the Church wants to see happen. They want to see living person B earning his own indulgences.Living person A is of course free to pray for living person B, or have a Mass said for B, so it’s not like we can do nothing for other living persons, even though we can’t give them indulgences.
In PART FOUR I will offer a conclusion, give examples of the General Grants and offer a more comprehensive list in indulgences.
I am a daughter of the Most High and of His Catholic Church. I introduce myself that way because I am so grateful for that! I have been married to Dan for 36 years and we have three young adult children - Brett, Nicole and Eryn - and three grandchildren - Cash, Bowie and Indy. I was employed as the Adult Faith Formation Coordinator at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Peachtree City, Georgia for 14 years from December of 2008 to January of 2023. I earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theology from Catholic Distance University and a certificate as a Catholic Spiritual Mentor from the Catholic Spiritual Mentorship Program.
I left fulltime ministry in the parish to concentrate on organizing events. I would like to extend my outreach to other parishes and organizations who would like to host a wonderful Adult Faith formation event but might not have the experience or confidence to do that on their own. I offer various services including but not limited to (fees are charged hourly for most services):
+ Event Planning: event planning from start to finish,
+ Consultation: consultation about an event,
+ Consultation about running a successful Adult Faith Formation Program.
+ I also offer different Adult Faith classes and courses that can be accessed by an individual or a group or can be taught by me via zoom or locally in person.
Website https://www.catholiceventplanning.com/ or www.redemptivesuffering.net
