What is a Plenary Indulgence...(helping souls get to Heaven) for the Year of Mercy (8 December 2015- 20 November 2016)
A plenary indulgence removes all temporal punishment due for confessed sins. Let me explain, we know that all the sins that we confess are forgiven to us by God, even if it is a grave sin that deserves hell, God’s forgiveness won for us on the cross saves us from the eternal consequences of our sins- hell.
However, if I sinned, though Christ forgives me when I go to Confession, there is still a consequence in time (this is called the “temporal” consequences of sins). Our sins though forgiven by God still leave wounds on those we hurt, they leave a stench. What a plenary indulgence does is cleans up the stench my sins leave behind, so that I don’t have to clean this up in purgatory. All of this is as a result of God’s amazing mercy and the price Christ was willing to pay for me on the cross.
So can you imagine that each time you walk through these Holy Doors- (They are the inside doors at the back of the Chapel outlined by the purple wall), every time you pass through these doors and pray the above prayers and try to detach from sin, Jesus is cleaning us up and all the shattered pieces our sins leave behind! Can you believe what a year of Grace is taking place?!! Note that you can come to receive 1 a day for nearly a whole year!!!; and it can be offered for yourself or for a deceased soul in purgatory.
However, if I sinned, though Christ forgives me when I go to Confession, there is still a consequence in time (this is called the “temporal” consequences of sins). Our sins though forgiven by God still leave wounds on those we hurt, they leave a stench. What a plenary indulgence does is cleans up the stench my sins leave behind, so that I don’t have to clean this up in purgatory. All of this is as a result of God’s amazing mercy and the price Christ was willing to pay for me on the cross.
So can you imagine that each time you walk through these Holy Doors- (They are the inside doors at the back of the Chapel outlined by the purple wall), every time you pass through these doors and pray the above prayers and try to detach from sin, Jesus is cleaning us up and all the shattered pieces our sins leave behind! Can you believe what a year of Grace is taking place?!! Note that you can come to receive 1 a day for nearly a whole year!!!; and it can be offered for yourself or for a deceased soul in purgatory.
How do I receive a plenary indulgence...
+Plenary Indulgence for The Year of Mercy (8 December 2015-20 November 2016)
Pope Francis laid out the following conditions for obtaining the Jubilee Indulgence in a September 1, 2015 letter to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.
The Jubilee Indulgence may be obtained by the following:
• Those who make a pilgrimage to and pass through the Holy Door or Door of Mercy or have fulfilled one of the other conditions under which Pope Francis has granted the Jubilee Indulgence as will be explained below (i.e., the sick, imprisoned, or anyone who carries out in person a work of mercy). In addition to the usual conditions which require a heart well-disposed for the grace to bring its desired fruits, the faithful should stop in prayer to fulfill the final actions asked for:
Prayers to be recited after crossing through the door or preforming a Spiritual or Corporal Work of Mercy:
Prayer of Pope Francis for the Jubilee
Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father,
and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.
Show us your face and we will be saved.
Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money;
the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things;
made Peter weep after his betrayal, and assured Paradise to the repentant thief.
Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the Samaritan woman:
“If you knew the gift of God!”
You are the visible face of the invisible Father,
of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy:
let the Church be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and glorified.
You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weakness
in order that they may feel compassion for those in ignorance and error:
let everyone who approaches them feel sought after, loved, and forgiven by God.
Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing,
so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord,
and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor,
proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed,
and restore sight to the blind.
We ask this of you, Lord Jesus, through the intercession of Mary, Mother of
Mercy; you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and
ever. Amen.
OTHER MEANS OF OBTAINING A PLENNARY INDULGENCE IN JUBILEE YEAR:
Additionally, Pope Francis permits the following to gain a Plenary indulgence during the jubilee:
Corporal Works of Mercy
1. To feed the hungry
2. To give drink to the thirsty
3. To clothe the naked
4. To give shelter to the homeless
5. To visit the sick
6. To ransom the captive
7. To bury the dead
Spiritual Works of Mercy
1. To instruct the ignorant
2. To counsel the doubtful
3. To admonish the sinners
4. To bear wrongs patiently
5. To forgive offences willingly
6. To comfort the afflicted
7. To pray for the living and the dead
Pope Francis laid out the following conditions for obtaining the Jubilee Indulgence in a September 1, 2015 letter to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.
The Jubilee Indulgence may be obtained by the following:
• Those who make a pilgrimage to and pass through the Holy Door or Door of Mercy or have fulfilled one of the other conditions under which Pope Francis has granted the Jubilee Indulgence as will be explained below (i.e., the sick, imprisoned, or anyone who carries out in person a work of mercy). In addition to the usual conditions which require a heart well-disposed for the grace to bring its desired fruits, the faithful should stop in prayer to fulfill the final actions asked for:
Prayers to be recited after crossing through the door or preforming a Spiritual or Corporal Work of Mercy:
- Prayer these prayers for the Holy Father and his intentions
- The Creed, an “Our Father”- the prayers in which Jesus himself taught us to turn as children to the Father
- Hail Mary
- Considering the spirit of this Holy Year, it is suggested pilgrims recite Pope Francis’ Jubilee Prayer (found below)
- Conclude time of prayer with an invocation to the merciful Lord, Jesus (“Merciful Jesus, I trust in You”)
- Receive Holy Communion on the day you desire to receive the indulgence
- Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation within 8 days before or after
- For the intention of winning a plenary indulgence for yourself or someone who has passed away.
Prayer of Pope Francis for the Jubilee
Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father,
and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.
Show us your face and we will be saved.
Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money;
the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things;
made Peter weep after his betrayal, and assured Paradise to the repentant thief.
Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the Samaritan woman:
“If you knew the gift of God!”
You are the visible face of the invisible Father,
of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy:
let the Church be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and glorified.
You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weakness
in order that they may feel compassion for those in ignorance and error:
let everyone who approaches them feel sought after, loved, and forgiven by God.
Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing,
so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord,
and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor,
proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed,
and restore sight to the blind.
We ask this of you, Lord Jesus, through the intercession of Mary, Mother of
Mercy; you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and
ever. Amen.
OTHER MEANS OF OBTAINING A PLENNARY INDULGENCE IN JUBILEE YEAR:
Additionally, Pope Francis permits the following to gain a Plenary indulgence during the jubilee:
- The sick and the elderly who are unable to go on pilgrimage may receive the Jubilee Indulgence by “living with faith and joyful hope this moment of trial [and] receiving communion or attending Holy Mass and community prayer, even through the various means of communication.”
- Those who are incarcerated “may obtain the Indulgence in the chapels of the prisons.” The Holy Father adds: “May the gesture of directing their thought and prayer to the Father each time they cross the threshold of their cell signify for them their passage through the Holy Door, because the mercy of God is able to transform hearts, and is also able to transform bars into an experience of freedom.”
- Those who perform the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. “Each time that one of the faithful personally performs one or more of these actions, he or she shall surely obtain the Jubilee Indulgence. Hence the commitment to live by mercy so as to obtain the grace of complete and exhaustive forgiveness by the power of the love of the Father who excludes no one.”
Corporal Works of Mercy
1. To feed the hungry
2. To give drink to the thirsty
3. To clothe the naked
4. To give shelter to the homeless
5. To visit the sick
6. To ransom the captive
7. To bury the dead
Spiritual Works of Mercy
1. To instruct the ignorant
2. To counsel the doubtful
3. To admonish the sinners
4. To bear wrongs patiently
5. To forgive offences willingly
6. To comfort the afflicted
7. To pray for the living and the dead
- The deceased. The Holy Father reminds us that we may gain the Jubilee Indulgence not only for ourselves, but for the deceased as well. He states: “…as we remember them in the Eucharistic celebration, thus we can, in the great mystery of the Communion of Saints, pray for them, that the merciful Face of the Father free them of every remnant of fault and strongly embrace them in the unending beatitude.”