All the punishments due to our sins could have been erased last Aug. 2.
Unfortunately, not many priests had told churchgoers about such opportunity. I suspect it’s because they themselves were not aware of that grace. Or perhaps they had forgotten about its existence altogether.
I am referring to the Portiuncula Indulgence that Jesus Christ Himself granted as a favor to St. Francis of Assisi in the 13th century in the village of Portiuncula in Assisi in order to save more souls. It was the first such full indulgence to be approved by the Church.
The Catholic Encyclopedia defines indulgence as “the extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment due, in God’s justice, to sin that has been forgiven, which remission is granted by the Church in the exercise of the power of the keys, through the application of the superabundant merits of Christ and of the saints, and for some just and reasonable motive.”
Full remission from temporal punishment is called Plenary Indulgence, while partial remission is, appropriately, Partial Indulgence. There were conditions in the granting of the Portiuncula Indulgence, as is typical for other indulgences: communion, confession, prayers for the pope.
I did communion and prayers for the pope, but confession was a bit harder to access, because many priests these days do not seem inclined towards the sacrament. One priest I heard in a Mass even declared it was no longer necessary. This declaration, of course, is heresy.
The reason for this column’s topic is for readers to keep the Portiuncula Indulgence in mind up to the next day of its granting, which will be either in the first Saturday or Sunday of August next year. That’s a year off, but then, do some research because there are other earlier days in which Plenary Indulgence can be accessed.
Now, to continue with our Medjugorje monitoring. Last Aug. 2, the Blessed Mother gave us yet another message, and it is as follows:
“Dear children, the reason that I am with you, my mission, is to help you for ‘good’ to win, even though this does not seem possible to you now. I know that you do not understand many things as I also did not understand everything, everything that my Son explained to me while he was growing up alongside me – but I believed him and followed him.
I ask this of you also, to believe me and to follow me. However, my children, to follow me means to love my Son above everything, to love him in every person without making differences. For you to be able to do this, I call you anew to renunciation, prayer and fasting. I am calling you for the Eucharist to be the life of your soul.
I am calling you to be my apostles of light who will spread love and mercy through the world. My children, your life is only a blink in contrast to eternal life. And when you come before my Son, in your hearts he will see how much love you had.
In order to spread love in the right way, I am asking my Son, through love, to grant you unity through him, unity among you, unity between you and your shepherds. Through them my Son always gives himself to you anew and renews your soul. Do not forget this. Thank you. ”
As an afterthought, let me share the following notes from the diary of St. Faustina Kowalska of Jesus of Divine Mercy.
Here, Sister Faustina clearly welcomes the inevitability of death as a happy occasion that ushers one into eternity.
She wrote: “Good night, my Jesus; the bell is calling me to sleep. My Jesus, You see that I am dying from the desire to save souls. Good night, my Beloved; I rejoice at being one day closer to eternity. And if You let me wake up tomorrow, Jesus, I shall begin a new hymn to Your praise.”
