Skip to main content
Indulgences in the Catholic Church.
As a Convert from Methodism I found "indulgences" to be a difficult idea to grasp. But a very simple, older Priest who is now deceased, gave me a simple but clear understanding. It's been enough for me for 45 years now.
An indulgence is a form of love, not from us to God, but from God to us. Or it can be a form of love from people who truly care about us to us.
I imagine purgatory not as a "place" somewhere in the universe with material objects and material torture, but as the experience of sometimes painful letting go of things that we have no business owning, like resentment, gossip, selfishness, an addiction to something spiritually, mentally or physically unhealthy. It is a realization of exactly who we are and the pain and suffering that we have inflicted on ourselves trying to cling to sin and the pain and suffering that we have inflicted on others because of our self-will. Jesus looks us deeply into our soul and says how much He loves us, but that we must let go of all of this and realize that only He can take those away from us, but we have to let go. An "Indulgence" is the experience of God's love and the love of others who support us and encourage us to let go of those things. Imagine, of you will, that you have a son or a daughter or another family member who is clinging to a painful anger at someone. They suffer because they cling to that anger and go over it and over it in their mind. They remember things that the person did to them and tell the story over and over again because they are so hurt. You finally go to them and say: "You have to kick that person out of your head. You are letting that person live rent free there!" You do it because you see it's tormenting your loved one. The finally get it and you help them let go of those memories not because they didn't happen or that they are now OK with them, but because these memories are torturing them. Your love helps them to be free of that and they finally go on with a more joyful life.
I think Purgatory starts right now in this life in such things. An indulgence is God's love and the love of others helping us let go of the sins and character defects that keep us from soaring with God in eternal love and freedom.
I have a meditation on my YouTube channel that is designed for letting go of resentments and sins YouTube FrJohnRCC

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hello to all This is my first blog post.    I am a Catholic Priest in Ministry in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. I was Ordained in 1981 by Timothy Cardinal Manning. I've been assigned to parishes all over the Archdiocese, taught Catholic Church History and Doctrine, been a Jail Chaplain (Part time), Chaplain for Law Enforcement and am currently Chaplain for the Downey Firefighters. I have been at this Parish as Pastor since 2003. I just retired as Pastor and have begun a new phase of ministry in which I can minister, but don't have to do administration.  I speak fairly good English, for a guy who was born in Indiana and raised in California. I also speak fairly good German and Spanish.  So far I've filled in for a Pastor who was on vacation, gone to Scotland where I am the official "Padre in Residence" in a Castle owned by a family in Texas, done German Mass in Los Angeles and Anaheim on a few occasions and minister to the people where I live in their Sacramental...
Post a Comment
Read more
Demonic Conjuring? By Fr. John Higgins Last week a few young people were talking with me. They are good kids who are members of our "Life Teen" group and do a lot to help our parish. One of them said that she had watched several movies and documentaries on demonic possession and "conjuring". She asked what I thought about it. I smiled and said "Sit down, this is going to take awhile." She said "Oh, I don't want to take up too much of your time, just give me the short version". She was trying to not be a burden. I said: "Go get some other teens. We'll have a good time. Bring me a soda!" She laughed and ran off. A few minutes later she came back with several other teens and a couple of young adults. I got them to sit down and described what I thought of it all. I won't get into all of the details, but I told them that the only power that demons directly have is to frighten and tempt us. I said that I had seen some people who I...
Post a Comment
Read more
Real Christianity How many times have I heard: "I'm a nice person and I try not to judge others" as a profession of faith? How many times have I heard Christians say "Well, just be nice and you will make it to Heaven!"? How many times have I heard people say: "I made my First Communion and I made my Confirmation"? These people think that Christianity is all about being a good person and getting a prize for it. This isn't Christianity at all! It's watered down Christianity that's as effective as Madam Toussaint and her crystal ball or the guy on stage who keeps shouting that if you give him money you'll grow rich and get to Heaven that way. Being "Nice" has nothing to do with Christianity. "Making" a Sacrament isn't possible. "Only God can judge me" is a farce and an excuse for immoral behavior. Don't be a "Watered Down" anything! Believe in Jesus Christ, realize that He loves you and then ...
Post a Comment
Read more