What exactly is an indulgence?

[iloveangels]

Both. The penance that the priest issues remits some temporal punishment (in the early days of the Church, a mortal sinner had years of penance, depending on the severity of the sin, before being welcomed back to the Eucharist). One can fast certain things as a personal penance in reparation for sins committed. One can offer their sufferings in reparation for sins committed.

Yes, and this is what “Offer it up” means. It means when you’re having a hard time–you stubbed your toe, you need to shovel out the driveway AGAIN, your button falls off, you drop something, etc, etc, etc–instead of swearing or being mean or saying bad things, you quietly accept it as penance that you need to do anyway, and just work your way through it in peace and prayer.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

When you commit a sin after baptism, there is a temporal punishment you must pay.

An example: A lapsed Catholic murders a man. His temporal punishment is life in prison. He confesses the sin (with true repentance) and is absolved. He still must pay the temporal punishment either in prison for life or in purgatory.

An indulgence pays for our temporal punishments that we earn from sin that we commit. When we die, if we have not paid for all of our temporal punishments, we will pay for them in purgatory.

A partial indulgence remits part of our temporal punishment. A plenary indulgence remits all of our temporal punishment we have earned up to that point.

Note: Baptism remits all sins and temporal punishment. Confession remits only sins.

I’m somewhat curious as to how a partial or plenary indulgence is going to remit the murderer’s jail sentence in the above example. It seems to me he’ll have to serve his term, no matter how much of an indulgence he might pay.

For a better example, I suppose someone might have stolen something at some stage, and never been caught. Having later become Catholic, he or she might realise they’ve got no way of paying it back, but can remit what should have been their temporal punishment (arrest, fine, short jail term etc) by a partial or plenary indulgence.

Having got that far, how is the value of the indulgence calculated, and who does the guilty party pay it too?

 

[Zekariya]

I’m somewhat curious as to how a partial or plenary indulgence is going to remit the murderer’s jail sentence in the above example. It seems to me he’ll have to serve his term, no matter how much of an indulgence he might pay.

For a better example, I suppose someone might have stolen something at some stage, and never been caught. Having later become Catholic, he or she might realise they’ve got no way of paying it back, but can remit what should have been their temporal punishment (arrest, fine, short jail term etc) by a partial or plenary indulgence.

Having got that far, how is the value of the indulgence calculated, and who does the guilty party pay it too?

Yes, he won’t need an indulgence to get out of purgatory because he is already paying his temporal punishment. Indulgences are only needed when you have not paid your temporal punishment.

 

[Nigel7]

I wanted to thank the OP, ‘4givemeasinner’.

Seeing this thread earlier reminded me of an indulgence that I’ve been meaning to do, one which was assigned by our Archbishop for the Year of Faith.
So I made a pilgrimage today to a shrine outside of town and had a wonderful day of hiking and prayer and devotion, fulfilling this indulgence. It was awesome.
So thanks, OP, for reminding me of what I SHOULD be doing today.

 

[Megan7]

This subject came up at our recent Bible study class. Realizing my knowledge of indulgences was weak, I did some research:

Introduction to Indulgences

Enchirdion of Indulgences

 

[iloveangels]

I’m somewhat curious as to how a partial or plenary indulgence is going to remit the murderer’s jail sentence in the above example. It seems to me he’ll have to serve his term, no matter how much of an indulgence he might pay.

For a better example, I suppose someone might have stolen something at some stage, and never been caught. Having later become Catholic, he or she might realise they’ve got no way of paying it back, but can remit what should have been their temporal punishment (arrest, fine, short jail term etc) by a partial or plenary indulgence.

Having got that far, how is the value of the indulgence calculated, and who does the guilty party pay it too?

You seem to have missed the point of the example.

If a person murders a man, he breaks two laws:

1. a civil law. Just saying they’re sorry isn’t enough although it may make them feel better. There is a civil punishment that must be paid to make amends.
2. a divine law. Just saying they’re sorry removes the guilt but it doesn’t pay the temporal debt caused by the sin. The person must do penance for that to make amends.

Again, in your example, there are two laws that are broken by stealing: a civil law and a divine law. Even if a person gets away with it because they don’t get caught, God knows that person did it in the divine realm and they must a) go to confession, and b) make amends with some penance.

About the indulgence, the Church makes them readily available. You don’t pay them to anyone. That’s not the point. They’re little spiritual works that you do that take you a little out of your way or cause a little extra effort which is a penance for you–a good thing to help make up for the evil of sins you might have committed earlier. It’s a bit like teaching your soul to stop and do it right this time.