MOST FILIPINO Catholics in this supposedly Catholic country know Magandang Gabi Vice or It’s Showtime or Ang Probinsyano or Aldub. But indulgence? Even during Holy Week?
In these last times, any reasonable Catholic should at least dig anew his religious chest to find unusual treasures, with indulgences being a serious gem. Especially on the Sunday after Easter Sunday which the St. Pope John Paul II declared as Divine Mercy Sunday.
So, what is indulgence?
Wikipedia has a very accurate and simple definition, saying an indulgence is “a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins” and that “it may reduce the ‘temporal punishment for sin’ after death, in the state or process of purification called Purgatory.”
Taking seriously the recent warnings from the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and even Jesus Christ Himself, Catholics should take the lead for conversion and, for their sake, for availing themselves of indulgences. Yes, that’s plural because there are two kinds: full or plenary, and partial indulgences, each in turn having varieties.
Partial indulgences remove part of the temporal punishment due to sins. A plenary indulgence removes all of it. This punishment may come either in this life, in the form of various sufferings, or in the next life, in Purgatory.
This Divine Mercy Sunday, Catholics will have anew the chance to avail themselves of plenary indulgence.
Here are more details on how to be entitled to Divine Mercy full indulgence: it is granted under the usual conditions namely sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer for the intentions of the Pope in any church or chapel, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin. In the church or chapel, the faithful, before the Blessed Sacrament, should also recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!). In the meantime, woe to a few priests who seem to be allergic towards the Sacrament of Reconciliation. During the Apu church Friday masses in Angeles City where priests are supposed to hear Confessions morning and afternoon, at least one priest consistently arrives rather late to hear Confessions, if at all. Last Friday, he didn’t show up, to the great disappointment of several penitents, some of whom opted to just leave.
At the Holy Rosary parish church also in Angeles, there had been times when priests showed up late, again if at all, during scheduled Confessions. At times, a line of penitents would materialize at one of the confessionals, despite not knowing which of confessionals would be used. A priest would belatedly arrive and upon seeing the long line at the confessional, would decide to hold confession afar in one of the pews, prompting a race towards him. As expected, the young ones with oiled limbs would leave far, far behind old folk who had arrived earlier, but would now lament lack of justice right before the Blessed Sacrament. This used to be a typical scenario before Fr. Francis Dizon became parish priest; I don’t know if this has changed for good since I have long ceased going to Confession there because of such incidents.
We can’t help recalling the statement of the Blessed Mother in her apparition in Garabandal in 1965: “Many cardinals, many bishops, and many priests are following the road to perdition and are bringing many souls with them.”
Also, there’s St. Padre Pio who told one visionary of Garabandal (he was still on earth at that time) as follows: “I give you only one counsel: Pray and make others pray, because the world is at the beginning of perdition where cardinals, bishops and priests are on the road to perdition and are taking many Catholics with them. People do not believe in you or in your conversations with the Lady in White, but they will believe when it is too late”.
