In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
If we carefully read the text of Daniel chapter 4 verse 24, the Lord says there: "by upright
actions break with your sins, break with your crimes by showing mercy to the poor, and so
live long and peacefully." and in Tobit chapter 4 verse 10 it says: " For almsgiving delivers
from death and saves people from passing down to darkness.”
Also the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1471 says: "The doctrine and practice of indulgences
in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance."
But what are indulgences?
To understand what they are, we must distinguish in all sin the guilt and the temporal penance
due for sins.
Guilt, or sin itself, is forgiven by confession or by sincere repentance, through the sacrament
of reconciliation especially if there is perfect contrition or perfect repentance.
But, once the sin or offense committed against God has been forgiven, the temporal penance
due for sin remains active and needs to be removed, that is, the debt that we have with
God and with others, due to the emptiness or gap that sin has left in our soul.
This debt or temporal penance is removed by our good works, prayers and voluntary penances.
Hence after confession a penance is imposed.
In the early Church great public penances were imposed.
Currently in the Church there is an infinite treasury of merits obtained by our Lord Jesus
Christ, by our mother the Virgin Mary and the saints; and from this treasury, the Church
can offer to "fill up" the emptiness or debt owed by our sins.
To achieve this, the forgiveness of sins is mandatory as an indispensable condition.
For this reason, it is always required, before receiving indulgences, to confess through
the sacrament of reconciliation, receive communion and pray for the Pope, as general conditions.
Indulgences can be partial or plenary, depending on whether part or all of the debt owed for
sins is removed.
In order for us to go directly to heaven after death without going through purgatory, we
must obtain a plenary indulgence.
Plenary indulgences can be applied to oneself or to souls in purgatory.
Currently, the Church allows only one plenary indulgence to be earned per day.
As we explained before, once our sins have been forgiven through the sacrament of reconciliation,
the debt or temporal penance of the sins committed is still active, which must be purified, healed
or removed in purgatory.
If a plenary indulgence is achieved, it means that all the debts due for our sins are removed
and with a totally clean soul, we can go directly to heaven.
How do we get the Plenary Indulgences?
First, by making a good confession and asking the priest on the last day of our life to
give us the apostolic blessing to which is attached a plenary indulgence.
Now, one may think that he might not have time for anything, because he could die of
a heart attack or an accident or simply from an illness that does not allow him to realize
anything or perhaps be in a coma.
In these cases, if we have fulfilled the devotion of the first nine Fridays, we have the assurance
and promise of our Lord Jesus Christ Who said: "they will not die in My misfortune or without
having received the sacraments."
This means that God will make the soul receive, at least, the sacrament of the anointing of
the sick with the absolution of sins and the apostolic blessing, which is accompanied by
the plenary indulgence.
All this can be received, even if we are unconscious.
But probably God will give us life until we can consciously receive the last sacraments
of the Church, especially if throughout our lives we have asked for this grace through
Saint Joseph, the patron saint of the good death; and, if we have prayed the Hail Mary
with devotion and love, saying: "Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."
If we are conscious in the last moments, we can apply to ourselves the plenary indulgence,
even if there is no priest, giving to ourselves the apostolic blessing, if we are truly sorry
for our sins, and asking for the grace of the plenary indulgence.
The only condition set by Pope Saint Paul VI is provided that during one's life one
had the habit of praying some prayers.
And also Pope Saint Paul VI recommended that a cross or a crucifix be used to give oneself the blessing.
With all certainty, God will take care of us in those last moments and will grant us
the grace of having a priest to prepare us for the journey after we die.
This has been able to be verified by many of our priests.
There were very clear cases in which the patient had been dying for several days or weeks.
And the same day that the priest arrived at his town, away from the parish, that same
day, after receiving absolution and the anointing of the sick with the apostolic blessing, he
died a few hours later with great peace.
In this sense, it is very important that the family members do not neglect, out of fear,
to call the priest when the sick person is seriously ill, to give him the last sacraments
and this person can die in peace.
And don't forget to pray for the dying man the divine mercy chaplet.
First, you pray the Our Father, The Hail Mary and The Apostles' Creed.
Then, on the beads of the Our Father of the rosary, it is said: Eternal Father, I offer
You the body, blood, soul and divinity of your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ
in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
And on the Hail Mary beads it is said: For the sake of His sorrowful Passion have mercy
on us and on the whole world.
Jesus has promised immense graces.
He said to Saint Faustina Kowalska on December 11th, 1936: "At the hour of death I will defend
as My Glory every soul that prays this chaplet and, if others pray it near the dying person,
they will obtain the same forgiveness for the dying person.
When the chaplet of the divine mercy is prayed for a dying person, the anger of God is appeased
and the inscrutable mercy envelops the soul and the bowels of My mercy are moved by the painful Passion."
We have talked about the plenary indulgence applied to oneself and especially receiving
it at the moment of death in order to go directly to heaven.
When a loved one dies or if we want to help a person who already died what we can do is
offer masses, sacrifices and good works for that person to relieve him in purgatory, where
we all must go, except for the holy ones or those who get in the last moment absolution
and the plenary indulgence.
We can apply a plenary indulgence only to other persons who are dead, which God gives
us through the merits of Jesus Christ and the intercession of the Church.
It can be achieved in the easiest way, so normally in two days the soul of our loved
one would be in heaven, although the person should have spent 40 years in purgatory for his sins.
established after the magisterial Apostolic Constitution of Pope Saint Paul VI it is said
it is said that a plenary indulgence can be obtained if the person who is going to earn the plenary
indulgences for the deceased has met all the following conditions:
And what is the corresponding work?
what do you need to do to earn the plenary indulgence for the deceased?
You will need to do one of the following conditions:
Now, it is practically impossible that we do not have any affection for venial sins,
in other words having a hundred percent clean soul is humanly impossible.
So if we cannot earn the plenary indulgence in one day, perhaps we can earn it in two days.
But it is something really amazing to think that in two days we can take our loved one
or the person we want to help to heaven.
Every effort is worth it!
Of course, offering Masses, doing perpetual enrollments which are perpetual masses, and
offering holy rosaries or good works are good and effective ways, but faster and easier
is to get the plenary indulgence in a couple of days.
Which does not mean that we should not continue praying for the deceased to express our memory
and our love.
That is worth a lot before God, Who, if the deceased is already in heaven, will offer
our prayers to other deceased in need.
Prayer is always effective and is never lost.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.