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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

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