Questions on Indulgences

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I was reading the list of actions for which an indulgence is granted and noticed two that I guess I hadn’t seen before, both of which are worthy of a plenary indulgence:
  • To the faithful in danger of death, who cannot be assisted by a priest to bring them the sacraments and impart the Apostolic Blessing with its plenary indulgence (see can. 468, Sec.2 of Code of Canon Law), Holy Mother Church nevertheless grants a plenary indulgence to be acquired at the point of death, provided they are properly disposed and have been in the habit of reciting some prayers during their lifetime.
  • While a partial indulgence is granted to those who read from Sacred Scripture with the veneration which the divine word is due, a PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted to those who read for at least one half an hour.
So am I understanding this correctly? Anyone who dies free from mortal sin and has been in the habit of praying during their life would not have to go to Purgatory? That’s awesome if true…but just seems too easy somehow. :confused:

The same for reading Scripture for 30 minutes…that takes so little effort, and to be rewarded with immediate admission to Heaven! Amazing! 🙂

I do know about the regular conditions for gaining an indulgence, but these just seem too simple. Am I missing something?
 
"In all but the plenary indulgence of In Articulo Mortis, at the moment of death(the one you mentioned above), a plenary indulgence mentioned below MUST be accompanied by the three prerequisites of a plenary indulgence.
  1. Sacramental Confession,
  2. Communion, and
  3. Prayer for the intention of the Holy Father, all to be performed within days of each other if not at the same time." (Enchiridion Indulgentiarum)
 
Thanks. I’m familiar with those conditions, but was surprised by the two actions I posted because they seem so simple. Basically, if a faithful Catholic reads the Bible for 30 minutes a day, goes to Confession and Mass regularly, and has a strong prayer life they could reasonably hope to go straight to Heaven.

I think that’s awesome, but it confuses me (in retrospect) when I think about people, who should know about these indulgences as well, saying that they’ll probably spend a long time in Purgatory. Seems like it’s very simple to avoid. 🤷
 
It sounds simple, but in reality without God’s grace it is quite a task. But someone who does follow the conditions with the intentnion of gaining the indulgence throughout his or her lifetime is following Christ and His Church in a mode of perfection found among the greatest of Saints. You have to remember that not falling into mortal sin includes following the Precepts of the Church, ie assisting at Mass on Sundays and Holy Days, one’s Easter Duty, and conforming oneself to the other regulations of the Church including fast and abstinence etc. Not simply reading the Scriptures for 60 minutes a day and the other conditions listed. But living fully a life of Christian Virtue, with the goal of the sanctification of their soul.

One of the problems we see is that many read the indulgence requirements as a separate set of bonus points, and forget their daily duties and obligation to God.
 
mgoforth said:
I was reading the list of actions for which an indulgence is granted and noticed two that I guess I hadn’t seen before, both of which are worthy of a plenary indulgence:
  • To the faithful in danger of death, who cannot be assisted by a priest to bring them the sacraments and impart the Apostolic Blessing with its plenary indulgence (see can. 468, Sec.2 of Code of Canon Law), Holy Mother Church nevertheless grants a plenary indulgence to be acquired at the point of death, provided they are properly disposed and have been in the habit of reciting some prayers during their lifetime.
  • While a partial indulgence is granted to those who read from Sacred Scripture with the veneration which the divine word is due, a PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted to those who read for at least one half an hour.
So am I understanding this correctly? Anyone who dies free from mortal sin and has been in the habit of praying during their life would not have to go to Purgatory? That’s awesome if true…but just seems too easy somehow. :confused:

The same for reading Scripture for 30 minutes…that takes so little effort, and to be rewarded with immediate admission to Heaven! Amazing! 🙂

I do know about the regular conditions for gaining an indulgence, but these just seem too simple. Am I missing something?
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There is one more requirement for a plenary indulgence I think you forgot, and it adds a little more difficulty. 😉
Enchiridion Indulgentiarum:
  1. A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day. In order to obtain it, the faithful must, in addition to being in the state of grace:
—have the interior disposition of complete detachment from sin, even venial sin;
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^^ That’s pretty tough to do. At least in my experience.
 
How would you define “complete detachment from sin”? Obviously we can’t fully eliminate concupiscence in this lifetime. And I don’t think temptations to sin would count as an attachment.
 
mgoforth said:
How would you define “complete detachment from sin”? Obviously we can’t fully eliminate concupiscence in this lifetime. And I don’t think temptations to sin would count as an attachment.
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Well, it doesn’t mean eliminating concupiscence, because we, as humans, are subject to that throughout our earthly life. Complete detachment from sin simply means that we have absolutely no stain of sin on our souls: not mortal or even venial.

“There is an account of St. Philip Neri, who died in 1595, preaching a jubilee indulgence in a crowed church. A revelation was given to him that only two people in the church were actually getting it, an old char-woman and the saint himself. Not exactly encouraging, huh? But don’t worry. If you aren’t perfectly disposed and can’t get the plenary indulgence. you’ll at least come away with a partial.” (“Introduction to Indulgences:” Catholic.org)

I hope of this helps! May God bless you all! 🙂
 
Richard_White said:
Well, it doesn’t mean eliminating concupiscence, because we, as humans, are subject to that throughout our earthly life. Complete detachment from sin simply means that we have absolutely no stain of sin on our souls: not mortal or even venial.
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That’s good to know. I suppose it would also entail that we have a firm purpose of amendment not to fall into a certain sin again. Not that we won’t, but at least we are intending not to.
 
There is quite a lot of debate amongst theologians about exactly what ‘complete detachment from sin’ means. It is not a defined dogma and orthodox opinion varies considerably, but reflect that Holy Church (and Our Lord) wants people to be able to receive these indulgences therefore the bar is not set so high as to be practically unattainable, but it is difficult.

Saint Therese of Lisieux, by the way, was quite convinced that very few if any people would need to go to purgatory at all if they would only trust enough in God’s mercy. She says:
“You are not sufficiently trusting, you fear God too much. I assure you that this grieves Him. Do not be afraid of going to purgatory because of its pain, but rather long not to go there because this pleases God who imposes this expiation so regretfully. From the moment that you try to please Him in all things, if you have the unshakable confidence that He will purify you at every instant in His love and will leave in you no trace of sin, be very sure that you will not go to purgatory.”

My personal opinion, and is it only that, is that purgatory must be mostly filled with non-Catholics, since they didn’t have the opportunity to gain plenary indulgences in the ordinary way in their lifetime (of course, God is free to grant them a remission of the temporal punishment due to their sins without them fulfilling any ‘conditions’).
 
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