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July 30, 2022More on Plenary Indulgence . . .
As mentioned in last week’s bulletin in the article entitled “What is a Plenary Indulgence?”, a question that will arise is why can a minor basilica like St. Mary of the Angels be able to offer a Plenary Indulgence, the blessing and grace which helps remove temporal consequences of sin from a person’s soul from the moment of Baptism to the reception of this special indulgence. A blessing bestowed on a basilica’s title is the attachment of a plenary indulgence to any of the faithful “who devoutly visit the basilica and with it participate in any sacred rite during certain times of the year. One of the rights and duties of a basilica, as it is intimately tied to the papacy and the original basilicas in Rome, is the special honor and celebration of feast days associated with the papacy. The church uses the power of the keys given to St. Peter by Jesus in Scripture (Matthew 16:18-19) “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, * and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Plenary Indulgences are forever linked to the Sacrament of Confession and to what has come to be the remission of punishment -- on earth or in purgatory that can remove temporal consequences still remaining from sins committed.
Therefore, even if we have been forgiven of a particular sin through the Sacrament of Confession, we still experience the consequences of that sin in our lives. Like the example given in last week’s message regarding the incident of someone breaking a window, if we do something that breaks the rules of our home, our parents may ground us and not allow us to spend time with others or go out to our favorite places as a consequence of our actions even if our parents have forgiven us. We are given this consequence to help us to realize the seriousness of our decisions and the effects of our actions. However, our parents may see that we understand what we have done as wrong and are sorry for it when we perform certain actions to show that we not only are sorry but we are trying to make amends. In observing this, they may lift the grounding or make it less time served. In this same way, the Church allows, by its authority tied to the keys of heaven given St. Peter in Scripture and the popes in succession, the ability to lift the severity of our sins by our performing of some sacred actions demonstrating our understanding of God’s goodness and mercy (see the next column for the steps needed to receive a Plenary Indulgence).
(Next week we will explore the Healing Sacrament of Confession that the Lord has gifted to His people).
