Dear Carolyn,
On January 1, 1967, Pope Paul VI published an "Apostolic
Constitution on the Revision of Indulgences". The complete text
is found in volume one of Flannery's translation of the documents
of the 2nd Vatican Council. The Pope teaches that the Church
grants indulgences, not only to help us expiate our sins in
virtue of our unity with Christ our Redeemer, but also to
encourage us to do works of piety, repentance, and love,
especially those which lead to growth in faith and which help the
common good. (Therefore, the very practice of gaining
indulgences tends to strengthen us in those very dispositions
needed to gain indulgences even more fully.)
To gain indulgences, the Pope writes, we must have the necessary
dispositions: to love God, to hate sin, to trust in Christ's
merits, and to believe we receive great help by our belonging to
the Communion of Saints. We must grow in sincere conversion of
outlook and unity with God.
Further, it is necessary to be free from all attachment to any
sin at all, even venial sin. If this condition is not perfectly
fulfilled, the indulgence gained will be only partial.
Your question is: what is attachment to sin? Let us first
consider what it is NOT. Attachment to sin is not a security
that we will not commit any sin in the future. (Actually, we do
not know ANYTHING for sure about our future. Right now there may
be a blood clot on its way to my brain.) Anyway, suppose that I
will commit a sin later today, and that there will be a
concomitant willingness AT THAT TIME, by God's grace and my own
cooperation with his grace RIGHT NOW, I can be free of attachment
to sin RIGHT NOW, and so be able to obtain the indulgence.
So what is this freedom from attachment to sin? St. Ignatius of
Loyola says: "I am in possession of it if my state of mind is
such that I neither desire nor even prefer to have riches rather
than poverty, to seek honor rather than dishonor, to have a long
life rather than a short one, provided that here be the same
opportunity to serve God our Lord, and to save my soul. Nor
would I, FOR THE SAKE OF ALL CREATION OR FOR THE PURPOSE OF
SAVING MY LIFE, CONSIDER COMMITTING A SINGLE VENIAL SIN"
(Spiritual Exercise, Second Week).
The Church has been around the block a few times. She would not
offer plenary indulgences and encourage us to aspire to gain them
if they were impossible for us. We surely cannot gain them by
our own strength, but we can hope for the grace from God, and he
will not refuse us. We can do all things in him who strengthens
us (Philippians 4:13).
Sincerely in Christ,
Father Mateo
- Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit -
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