Catholics have special opportunities to obtain the great grace of a plenary indulgence – the remission of all temporal punishment for sin – in Holy Week, as well as on Divine Mercy Sunday.
(LifeSiteNews) -- Holy Week and the Easter season offer several unique opportunities for the faithful to gain the great grace of a plenary indulgence – the complete remission of all temporal punishment due to sin.
Plenary indulgences can be obtained once a day under the following conditions: detachment from all sin, including venial sin, sacramental Confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the Pope. Plenary indulgences can be gained for oneself or applied to the departed suffering in Purgatory.
“Reconciliation with God does not mean that there are no enduring consequences of sin from which we must be purified. It is precisely in this context that the indulgence becomes important, since it is an expression of the ‘total gift of the mercy of God,’” Pope St. John Paul II taught. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that “every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the ‘temporal punishment’ of sin.”
As Scripture says about Heaven, “nothing unclean shall enter it” (Rev 21:27).
The conditions of Confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the Pontiff’s intentions to gain a plenary indulgence “may be fulfilled several days before or after the performance of the prescribed work; it is, however, fitting that Communion be received and the prayer for the intention of the Holy Father be said on the same day the work is performed,” according to the Vatican’s Manual of Indulgences or Enchiridion Indulgentiarum.
One confession “suffices for gaining several plenary indulgences; but Holy Communion must be received and prayer for the intention of the Holy Father must be recited for the gaining of each plenary indulgence,” the manual notes. A single Our Father and Hail Mary fulfill the requirement to pray for the intentions of the Pope, the manual adds.
Plenary indulgences can be obtained in the following circumstances during Holy Week, according to the Manual of Indulgences:
Holy ThursdayThe faithful can gain a plenary indulgence if they “piously recite the verses of the Tantum ergo after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday during the solemn reposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament.”
The verses of the Tantum ergo can be found here in Latin and English.
Good Friday“A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who
§1 devoutly assist at the adoration of the Cross in the solemn liturgical action of Good Friday; or
§2 personally make the pious Way of the Cross, or devoutly unite themselves to the Way of the Cross while it is being led by the Supreme Pontiff and broadcast live on television or radio.”
“Those legitimately impeded can acquire the same indulgence, if they spend some time, e.g., at least a quarter of an hour, in reading and meditating on the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Holy Saturday“A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who, at the celebration of the Easter Vigil or on the anniversary of their own Baptism, renew their baptismal vows in any legitimately approved formula.”
Any dayThere are also four ways to obtain a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, on any day, according to the Manual of Indulgences:
Deserving of special mention are grants pertaining to those works by any one of which the faithful can obtain a plenary indulgence each day of the year, always safeguarding Norm 18 §1, according to which a plenary indulgence can be acquired no more than once a day:
— adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for at least one half hour
— the pious exercise of the Way of the Cross
— recitation of the Marian rosary or of the hymn Akathistos, in church or an oratory; or in a family, a religious community, or a sodality of the faithful or, in general, when several of the faithful are gathered for any good purpose
— the devout reading or listening to the Sacred Scriptures for at least a half an hour.
“The pious exercise must be made before stations of the Way of the Cross legitimately erected,” the manual states. “To erect the Way of the Cross, fourteen crosses are needed, to which it is customary to attach a picture or image representing the fourteen stations of Jerusalem.”
Divine Mercy SundayAfter Holy Week, a plenary indulgence can also be acquired on Divine Mercy Sunday, the Second Sunday of Easter.
St. John Paul II established that the faithful can obtain a plenary indulgence on the feast if they “take part in the prayers and devotions held in honor of Divine Mercy” in any church or chapel, or if they, “in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. ‘Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!’).”
The Polish nun and mystic St. Faustina Kowalska related in her Diary that she received private revelations in which Jesus told her: “I want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My mercy (1109).”
“The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion will obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment (699),” He said.
