Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: All Souls Day, Purgatory and the power of the doctrine of Indulgences

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

All Souls Day, Purgatory and the power of the doctrine of Indulgences

Today is All Souls Day, the day of the faithful departed. The Church gives us this day to pray for all the Christians who have died during this year but due to their sins, they still are not purified enough to enjoy God’s presence. This state of being is called Purgatory.

Today the Church grants Plenary Indulgences for the Holy Souls in Purgatory simply by visiting a Church and praying the Creed and Our Father. Or if you are unable to get to a Church today, visit a cemetery and pray for the faithful departed.

A Plenary Indulgence means that it is “Full” - meaning that it removes ALL of the punishment or consequences of sin. So to put it simply - by gaining a plenary indulgence today for a soul in Purgatory they will be released from Purgatory and be able to enjoy the Vision of God in Heaven. It really is that simple!

To understand more clearly the official Church teaching on indulgences we read in the Catechism :

“"An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints." "An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin." Indulgences may be applied to the living or the dead (CCC #1471)

Understanding Purgatory and Indulgences can sound like Medieval superstition that negates Jesus’ saving power on the Cross for us and can make some people fall into despair.

The best way I have found to understand this is an analogy by Venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen; If you hammer a nail into a piece of wood and then pull it out - it leaves a hole. So in the same way when we sin it damages us, when we repent and go to Confession the sin is absolved and forgiven, but the effects still remain. In the Church’s scholastic language this damage or wound is called the “temporal punishment” due to sin.

While we are still alive we can make reparation or atonement for this “temporal punishment” incurred through sin. We do this through praying, acts of charity and mercy, spiritual exercises and devotions etc… it’s all about growing in grace and virtue. The more we grow in grace and virtue, then we detach from sin and become less controlled by it. However after death, we are no longer able to grow in grace or virtue anymore. So then any “temporal punishment” that we have incurred in this life, damages our ability to truly love God and be in His Presence - so much so that if we were in His Presence it would actually be painful for us! In the same way that a bright light shining in your eyes is painful for you. This reality of dying in the friendship of God but not being able to enjoy His Presence without pain is called Purgatory - the final purification. We suffer from our desire to be with God, but at the same time we are not able to enjoy being in His Presence without pain. This tension of desire and suffering is the state of all the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

This is why it is important for all of us to be living in a state of sanctifying grace here on earth - participating in regular confession, receiving communion regularly, praying the rosary, reading the Bible, living a life of Christian witness and charity. All of this increases our love for God, helps us grow in virtue, detaches is from sin, removing the “temporal punishment” incurred by our sins and heals the consequences of our spiritual woundedness now so that when we die we do not need to experience Purgatory because we have already been purified here.

So this gives us great hope!! Not only can we grow in grace here and now, this very day and moment. But through the Church dispensing Indulgences for us from the Treasury of the Merits of Christ and the Saints (CCC 1474-1477) we can also help make reparation for our own sins, but we can also help our suffering brothers and sisters in Purgatory so they too can be at peace and have joy in Heaven where every tear is wiped away (Revelation 21:4).

It is our duty to pray for the dead, for the faithful departed are our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Holy Souls in Purgatory, the Saints and all of us are 3 distinct parts of the one Mystical Body Christ which is the Church. They are “suffering” aspect of the Church, while we here are the “militant” pilgrims on earth struggling with sin but being supported by the Saints who are the “triumphant” Church in Heaven.

Your struggle with sin, your life of virtue and your prayers have power. United to Jesus we immense power and grace through prayer! The doctrine of Indulgences when understood properly, will empower your spiritual life so that you can live as a victorious conquerers over sin and satan through the love of Christ (Romans 8:37)

We can easily sum all this up with the following passage of scripture in 1 Peter‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭11 :

“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin), so as to live for the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God. You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. They are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they blaspheme. But they will have to give an accounting to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does. The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”

Here is a link to the official book of Indulgences by the Church called the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum or Manual of Indulgences. It contains the the official Norms for indulgences, explains the doctrine behind them and also provides the approved prayers for the various partial and plenary indulgences that can be obtained everyday. May this help you grow in holiness to be a living witness of the love of Christ.

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.