Indulgences

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JessicaCeleste

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For some unknown reason, my mind is having a hard time wrapping around the concept of indulgences. groan

Would anybody be willing to, in plain everyday English, explain what they are? sheepish grin

Thank you much!

~Jess
 
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JessicaCeleste:
For some unknown reason, my mind is having a hard time wrapping around the concept of indulgences. groan

Would anybody be willing to, in plain everyday English, explain what they are? sheepish grin

Thank you much!

~Jess
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I will give it a shot…

There is a dual consequence for sin. Eternal and temporal. An example… King David murdered commited adultery with Bathsheba, the wife od Uriah. He then murdered Uriah to hide his sin. The Prophet came to him and and accused him of the sin and David repented and was forgiven “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die” (2 Sam 12:13)." God forgivness covers the eternal consequence of our sin. BUT… “Because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die” (2 Sam. 12:14). And that’s not all. God also said, “‘Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” (2 Sam. 12:10-12). Although David was forgiven, he was punished severly for his sins. The temporal consequence of his sin remained.

An Indulgence is the removal of that temporal consequence of our sins. Sins which God has already forgiven.

The Catechism states…
“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.
 
basically, an indulgence is when all of your accumulated sins are completly erased and the time in purgatory you would have spent for those sins in removed. ( i think :o ) there are different kinds of indulgences as well, with different results.
 
There is a description of indulgences in Fr. F.X. Schouppe’s book, Purgatory, The Mystery of God’s Mercy, Chapter 26:

‘Indulgences are, in the Church, a true spiritual treasure laid open to all the faithful; all are permitted do draw therefrom, to pay their own debts and those of others. It was under this figure that God was one day pleased to show them to Blessed Mary of Quito. One day, rapt in ecstasy, she saw in the midst of a large space an immense table covered with heaps of silver, gold, rubies, pearls, and diamonds, and at the same time she heard a voice saying, “These riches are public property; each one may approach and take as much as he pleases.” God made known to her that this was a symbol of indulgences.’

Best regards,
Scapular,
 
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