From the desk of the pastor for Jan. 26, 2025

The Lord be with you! Not only does God forgive our eternal punishment, He also helps us to be purified from our temporal punishment. The Church assists us in this by sharing from her treasury of graces.

Like last article let us turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:What is an indulgence? "An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.” "An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin.” Indulgences may be applied to the living or the dead. (CCC 1471).

Indulgences do not remit the sin itself or take the place of seeking God’s Mercy. Instead, indulgences aid us in the act of repenting fully from our past transgressions. By formalizing the process of obtaining indulgences for ourselves and others, the Church leads us into practices that nurture and strengthen our Faith. The Church has so greatly desired this purification that she has sometimes allowed her ministers to offer indulgences imprudently. Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation because he thought that indulgences were being distributed to the detriment of the poor.

How do we gain indulgences? First, the Church designates certain activities that grant either a plenary or partial indulgence. Second, we do one of those activities with the intention of obtaining the indulgence. Third, we need to be in the state of grace (no mortal sin) when doing the indulgence. Fourth, we have the interior disposition to reject all sin, pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, and go to Confession and Communion within three weeks (before or after the act obtaining the indulgence).

For Jubilee 2025 the following actions obtain a plenary indulgence:

• Make a pilgrimage to a jubilee site in Rome or the Holy Land
• Making a pious visit to a jubilee site so erected by the local bishop (more on that below)
• Participate in a public work of mercy and penance

In the Diocese of Cleveland the following pilgrimage sites have been designated: St. Edward Parish, Ashland; Cathedral of St. John The Evangelist, Cleveland; St. Mary Parish, Chardon; Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, Lorain; St. Colette Parish, Brunswick; Queen of Heaven Parish, Uniontown; Ss. Peter and Paul Parish, Doylestown; Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine, Euclid; Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine, Parma Heights; and the Shrine of Saint Ann, Highland Heights.

We will have more information about this in future bulletins. For now let us all resolve to use this jubilee as an opportunity for grace. May Our Mother Mary lead us leads us deeper into Her Son’s Divine Mercy.

In His Sacred Heart,
Fr. John