Stylteralmaldo:
Styl, I think the story that you described does adequately explain what the Catholic thinking on justification and indulgences is. The story is Law, to use Lutheran language. However, with your permission, I would like to reword the story along the lines of Protestant thinking and how we (I believe biblically) understand the Gospel, and how it affects our lives in this world as well as human responsibility, and hence why we reject indulgences.
Two brothers, Charlie and Ben, are playing baseball in the back yard. Ben winds up and throws a perfect strike to Charlie. Charlie hits the ball with his bat and it’s a long ball. The ball travels to the neighbor’s house and breaks the big window of Mr. Johnson. The window that was broken, they knew, was not just an ordinary window. It was priceless, an antique, even. No amount of money they could raise would replace it. The boys run for it because they are afraid. Although they feel a deep sense of remorse at having broken the window, they do not confess their deeds to Mr. Johnson, afraid of what the consequences of their actions will be. Instead, they determine to cover it up by spending their time doing things to make-up for their behavior. They reason that even if they can’t replace the window, they can do enough good things to outweigh it. They resolve to mow Mr. Johnson’s lawn, wash his car, and do chores around the house. Heck, with all of that effort, he wouldn’t possibly suspect they had done anything wrong! All of this, of course, does nothing to fix the broken window.
The next day, Mr. Johnson walks out to the sidewalk and sees the two boys walking down the street and calls them over in a loud voice. Terrified at the sound, the boys put their heads down, murmur a few choice words under their breath, and shuffle slowly towards Mr. Johnson.
They approach him, voices trembling, and say “Yes, sir?” Mr. Johnson kneels down to the level of the two boys and puts a big smile on his face. “How do you like my new window?” The boys look up at him quickly, wondering what in the world he is talking about. They look over to where the window they had broken was and see not a broken window, but a brand new one, perfectly restored, without a hint of a scratch on it! Stunned in disbelief at what had just yesterday been a smashed antique, all they can manage to utter is a “but, but…” Mr. Johnson’s smile grows even bigger. "I know what happened, boys. You see, I had been watching you playing baseball outside. I knew that what you had done was going to happen. I may be an older man, but I sure aint clueless! That window was very important to me. It’s been in my family for dozens of generations. You had every right to run away. It would have been perfectly okay for me to walk over to your house and demand that you and your family repay me for the damages that you had done.
“But, you see, because I knew what you were going to do and what the consequences would be, I planned ahead. Have you ever met my son?” The boys shook their heads quickly, their minds still swimming in shock. “Well, my son that lives with me, he agreed that when the window was broken, he would pay the full damages. I won’t even begin to mention to you how much that cost. But, so that you get an idea, it cost him everything he owned. I love my son, let me tell you, and he loves me just as much. Although it caused immense pain to watch him give up everything he had worked so hard to achieve in his life to make up for your actions, he was only happy to do it, and I was only happy to accept. All of this was arranged before you ever even broke the window. And so…my window is good as new!”
The boys could only a give a murmur, “But…but…but why!?” Mr. Johnson smiled “Because of the goodness of my heart, boys, all because of that.”
The boys put their heads down again, their eyes welling with tears, and could only whisper “I know we’ve done wrong Mr. Johnson, we broke your window. What can we ever do to make it up to you and to your son?” Mr. Johnson’s brow furrowed. "There is nothing to repay. There’s nothing that you owe me. Everything is back to the way that it was and the way it should be. We are friends now, the both of you, and your family as well. I can’t recall ever having talked to either of you before. Over time, we’ll get to know each other much better, I think!
Mr. Johnson stood up, looking down at the two faces that were now beaming with relief, happiness, and joy at the unbelievable generosity they were just shown. “Now that that is all settled and done with…Look at all the work that needs to be done in this neighborhood!” Mr Johnson looked back and forth over the other houses on the street. “That house over there hasn’t had its lawn mowed, in gosh, ages! And that one, look at that car in the driveway. I bet there’s two years of grime on that thing! None of these people seem to be able to take care of their houses very well, and they can’t afford to fix them up much, it seems.”
The boys looked at Mr. Johnson and then at each other and, filled with the joy and peace that all their schemes to repay Mr. Johnson could never bring them, shouted at the top of their lungs, “Here we are! We’ll go and tell those neighbors right away that everything we planned to do to repay you for the window, we’ll now do for them!”
Mr. Johnson nodded, “Very well boys. When you’re finished with all of your hard work, invite the neighbors to my house later for dinner. All of you can come over for a feast that my son and I have prepared for all of you.”
(No analogy, of course, is perfect.)
