January 5, 2024 - Pastor Message
January 21, 2025JUBILEE 2025 INDULGENCES (cont.)
JUBILEE 2025
INDULGENCES (cont.)
“Those members of the body we consider more dishonorable, we surround with more abundant honor, and, to our less respectable members, we give more abundant respect, though our respectable members need nothing. But God has tempered the body, giving more abundant honor to the one who lacked it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, or, if one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it. For you are the Body of Christ and members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:23-27).
Last weekend, we reflected on the special opportunity for God’s grace and mercy that Jubilee 2025 offers us through an indulgence for participating in the jubilee year. This weekend, we look more closely at what an indulgence is and how we can go about receiving it. As mentioned last week, 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 sanctifications of Christ and the saints” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1471). Through an indulgence, the Church exercises the authority entrusted to it by Christ to bind and to loose from the power and consequences of sin. Having already remitted, or canceled, the eternal consequence of sin - damnation - in the sacrament of penance and reconciliation, the Church grants an indulgence to cancel the temporal consequences of sin, namely the inner suffering caused by the spiritual wounds of our sin and the purifying struggle of penance we must undergo to be free of sin’s power.
The granting of an indulgence is not arbitrary. It is an act of God’s infinite mercy in and through his Church, the Body of Christ in whom we find the endless treasury of graces God has imparted to the world for our salvation. God is not only all-merciful, but also all-just, and in his justice, reparation for sin, or penance, must be made. That debt was paid once and for all in Christ, who “was wounded for our iniquities, worn out on account of our crimes; on him was the punishment that makes our peace, and by his stripes, we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). The healing grace that flowed from the cross of Christ fills the Church, seen especially in the grace-filled lives of the saints, like St. Paul, who declared to the Colossians: “I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his Body, the Church” (Colossians 1:24). Not that Christ’s sufferings were insufficient for our salvation. Rather, by offering his own suffering in union with Christ for their sake, Paul extends the super-abundant grace of Christ to those who weren’t there on Calvary. The Church continues that tradition through the granting of indulgences by paying the debt for sinners from the wellspring of grace in Christ and his saints.
The granting of an indulgence is also not automatic. Our spiritual life is not a business transaction but a saving relationship with God which must be fully lived to give us the fullness of life. While an indulgence cancels the temporal punishment for sin, it calls forth from us a response of faith and a serious commitment to live our faith more fully. That is why the Church attaches conditions to the granting of an indulgence. The conditions for receiving the indulgence of Jubilee 2025 are:
- Truly repenting of sins and striving to be free from attachment to sin
- Going to confession and receiving Holy Communion at least once during the Holy Year
- And any of the following:
- Making a pilgrimage visit, either individually or in a group, to one of the churches with a Holy Door in Rome, to St. Peter Cathedral, Erie, or St. Leo church, Ridgeway, and praying for the intentions of the Holy Father
- Prayerfully reciting the Lord’s Prayer or the Creed for the intentions of the Holy Father
- Offering up personal sufferings for others and the souls in purgatory
- Visiting family members, neighbors, or friends who are in need with a “vibrant awareness of Christ’s presence in these persons”
- Carrying out a personal act of penance for a whole day, such as abstaining from meat or from idle distractions (e.g. social media) or fasting from unnecessary food and drink
- Carrying out a significant act of charity, such as giving to the poor, supporting the homeless, or volunteering in support of human life and dignity
God’s infinite mercy is free, but it’s not cheap. Christ gave himself for us completely on the cross to free us from sin. May our participation in Jubilee 2025 and the Church’s offer of God’s mercy through an indulgence move us to offer ourselves completely to Christ, leaving sin behind and living ever more fully in the hope of his grace.
Fr. Marc Stockton
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