For God's Sake, Seek The Indulgence

 

In a similar vein to yesterday's post on St. Therese's confidence in God and avoiding Purgatory (posted on the Feast of All Saints), I wanted to bring up another point that many people get hung up on now that we are celebrating the Feast of All Souls.

I was chatting with some young people at a party this past weekend and was exhorting them to take advantage of the Church's great gift of indulgences, especially by praying for the dead at a cemetery this week. I didn't want to assume their knowledge on the topic, so I just reiterated the basics: An indulgence is the extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment due, in God's justice, to sin that has been forgiven; when the indulgence is plenary, it completely remits this temporal punishment and when it is partial it does so partially. To fulfill the conditions to gain an indulgence (for one's self, or for one dead), one must be in a state of grace, and fulfill the general conditions. 

When I was relaying the general conditions, someone came over and interjected about the need to be completely detached from sin, even venial sin (which is true). But she basically expressed it in a way that set up the gaining of a plenary indulgence as exceedingly difficult because of this particular condition; ie, don't count on gaining one.

She wasn't wrong. But that's why I mentioned the post from yesterday on the kind of trad piety that presumes purgatory rather than a fervent hope and trust that Heaven is possible for us, that sainthood is possible, that with God all things are possible. If a young Catholic were to say, "I want to be a saint!" it would be easy to smoulder their enthusiasm through discouragement in this way. 

But is that the case with indulgences? Is "complete detachment from sin, even venial sin" even possible for mortal, sinful man here on earth? 

In short, yes, because the Church does not demand the impossible, and would not offer this gift were it not possible for us. 

I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here, as others have written on this topic and I am simply sourcing information. But consider the following:

"A full detachment from sin is the interior disposition in which there is no sin that one is unwilling to renounce.

A person who is detached from all sin recognizes that even a minor venial sin is an offense against the goodness of God and thus is willing to give up even that as well. Such a detachment would be lacking if one has an attachment to one or more sins, e.g. perhaps a particular situation one is unwilling to change, or a particular disposition one is unwilling to amend. A detachment from sin doesn’t mean one must succeed in changing those things, since the future cannot be known, but that one is willing in that moment.

With that clarification, motivated by a love of God above all else, a full detachment from sin is certainly possible." [1] 

Or this:

"Although a person might still sin, as we all do, or even be inclined to habitual sin, such as using God's name in vain, yet so long as the attachment to the sin or the desire to commit it is absent from the person's soul, he or she would be considered "free from attachment to sin."  (If this disposition is in any way less than perfect or if any of the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be only partial.)" [2]

And this:

"We may treat the more “lenient” view as common teaching since the Church clearly intends to grant plenary indulgences that can be obtained by the faithful every day. It would not seem reasonable to do this if it were almost impossible to gain them in practice.

We may therefore encourage people to carry out the works prescribed for the gaining of a plenary indulgence (including, for many, a return to the sacrament of confession) without discouraging them by the rigorist opinion that a plenary indulgence can scarcely ever be gained in fact. It is also a good thing to pray before doing the indulgenced work, asking God to take away all affection for venial sin and conceiving in our hearts a hatred of any sin since all sins displease God who loves us so much." [3]

In short, it is a great act of charity to ask for indulgences to apply to the souls in purgatory; in this case, the perfect is the enemy of the good (ie, if you cannot meet the conditions for a plenary indulgence, a partial indulgence is the next best thing). It is also spiritually prudent and reasonable to claim them for oneself as well. In both instances, it encourages us to "be holy, as I am holy" (1 Pt 1:16) both for our own sakes and for the suffering souls whom we can aid (but who cannot aid themselves). 

To discourage someone in a Jansentist fashion because it is "impossible" or, if not impossible, as least improbable does not aid those souls if one does not seek the indulgence on that account. 

If you are not in a state of grace, let that be your motivation to get in a state of grace, to beg God for His grace to accomplish this. 

If you are attached to sin (that is, you are unwilling to give up certain sins), again, let this be your motivation to seek a greater good and leave the seed of death behind as a snake sheds its skin. 

If you are not perfect, you are not alone. You do not have to be perfect to obtain a plenary indulgence, and that is not what detachment from all sin, even venial, commands as we can see above. But you must love God more than you love your sin, and be honest about your disposition.  

If you say, "why bother? I'll never be free of ___ sin. I'll never be in a state in which I can obtain an indulgence. There's no hope for me," the Devil wins, the souls continue to suffer, and Heaven becomes a pipe dream for "other people." 

Listen to me:

Heaven is for you. 

You belong there. 

You were made for it. 

And God can get you there.

Have confidence in God. Believe in the authority of the Church, His Bride. Shoot for Heaven. Leave your sin behind. Trust in His mercy. Pray for the grace. 

And for the suffering souls' sake, seek the indulgence.