Could anyone please expalin the treasury of merit?
This is called an indulgence.
And indulgence is a remission before God of the temportal punishment die to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven which the faithful christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the actions of the church which as the minister of redemption dispenses and applies authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the Saints.
An indulgece is partial or plenary according as it removes either part of all of the temporal punishment due to sin., The faithful can gain them for themself or apply them to the dead.
What this means is as Christians we do not only confess our sins, we must do acts of penace which is called repent. It is done by works of charity, by prayer and various practices of penance to completely put off the old man and put on the new man.
Like for instance say I was a heavy drinker, and I quit drinking and asked the church for forgiveness, I am forgiven but maybe for an indulgence I will work with other people who drink and help them. Or help the children of the parents that are getting help. It like a way of making up for my mistake and making a good out of a bad in a way.
Or lets say I am not in a state of mortal sin at this time, I can do acts of Charity for others and ask God to use my good to help maybe a family member in a way. THere is really no difference between prayer or charity. Instead of praying for a member who is dead or alive I make my prayer come alive lets say.
An example, instead of praying for my old neighbor who has nothing, and her house if falling apart, I raise money, or take my own and do repairs. But you like keep it to yourself.
Like we believe in Purgatory so we know we our prayers can help pray them out. Because if GOd accepts our prayers for others here, why not there. But instead of praying all the time we do things. Like work at the Church, food bank, etc. And offer these good works up to God for our loved ones.
Read the book of Job. Job was faithful to God. Read the first chapter you will see how his kids were living a life of sin. But how Jobs prayers and Jobs faithfullness to God was rewarded.
God knew Jobs great love, and faith and when Job asked God to have mercy on his kids God did. Job prayed his children into heaven. We believe that if we are faithful, and good, and do Gods work he will answer us also.
We believe that purgatory is a place between here and heaven. But not hell. If you die with sin but have been forgiven you still must be wiped clean of all of that sin, and that is what purgatory does, The sin is wiped away, but the new person must come out of the purging now. ANd that is the desire to never sin again, thats what makes us capable of heaven. That is what purgatory does. It takes the old man and turns him into the new man. See when you die, you cannot only be free from sin, that desire from sin must be gone also. Thats what purgatory does. That is why we as Catholics believe very few people leave this world and leave completelty all the desires behind. It is possible, but very hard.
