Pope Francis Announces That An Indulgence Is Granted To The
Faithful On The Occasion Of
The Extraordinary Jubilee Of Mercy
Greetings, Brothers and Sisters,
Those of you who read the ‘Isidorepeterclarke’ Facebook will be aware that Isidore OP and
Peter OP have embarked on a project
concerning the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. This will be
available as a Media and Pastoral Resource. At this stage we see the need
for information before devotion and
practice. Already we have published “Working the Works.” Now we offer you texts
which indicate the Pope’s view that INDULGENCES ARE ESSENTIAL TO THE JUBILEE
YEAR OF MERCY. In our next presentation we shall try to describe to you what is
an indulgence.
Peter Clarke, OP
“My thought first of all goes to all the faithful
who, whether in individual Dioceses or as pilgrims to Rome, will experience the
grace of the Jubilee. I wish that the Jubilee Indulgence may reach each one as
a genuine experience of God’s mercy, which comes to meet each person in the
Face of the Father who welcomes and forgives, forgetting completely the sin
committed. To experience and obtain the Indulgence, the faithful are called to
make a brief pilgrimage to the Holy Door, open in every Cathedral or in the
churches designated by the Diocesan Bishop, and in the four Papal Basilicas in
Rome, as a sign of the deep desire for true conversion. Likewise, I dispose
that the Indulgence may be obtained in the Shrines in which the Door of Mercy
is open and in the churches which traditionally are identified as Jubilee
Churches. It is important that this moment be linked, first and foremost, to
the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist
with a reflection on mercy. It will be necessary to accompany these
celebrations with the profession of faith and with prayer for me and for the
intentions that I bear in my heart for the good of the Church and of the entire
world.”
Letter to
Archbishop RinoFisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion
of the New Evangelization
“22. A Jubilee also entails the granting of indulgences. This practice will
acquire an even more important meaning in the Holy Year of Mercy. God’s forgiveness
knows no bounds. In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God makes even
more evident his love and its power to destroy all human sin. Reconciliation
with God is made possible through the paschal mystery and the mediation of the
Church. Thus God is always ready to forgive, and he never tires of forgiving in
ways that are continually new and surprising. Nevertheless, all of us know well
the experience of sin. We know that we are called to perfection (cf. Mt 5:48),
yet we feel the heavy burden of sin. Though we feel the transforming power of
grace, we also feel the effects of sin typical of our fallen state. Despite
being forgiven, the conflicting consequences of our sins remain. In the
Sacrament of Reconciliation, God forgives our sins, which he truly blots out;
and yet sin leaves a negative effect on the way we think and act. But the mercy
of God is stronger even than this. It becomes indulgence on
the part of the Father who, through the Bride of Christ, his Church, reaches
the pardoned sinner and frees him from every residue left by the consequences
of sin, enabling him to act with charity, to grow in love rather than to fall
back into sin.
“The Church lives within the communion of the
saints. In the Eucharist, this communion, which is a gift from God, becomes a
spiritual union binding us to the saints and blessed ones whose number is
beyond counting (cf. Rev 7:4).
Their holiness comes to the aid of our weakness in a way that enables the
Church, with her maternal prayers and her way of life, to fortify the weakness
of some with the strength of others. Hence, to live the indulgence of the Holy
Year means to approach the Father’s mercy with the certainty that his
forgiveness extends to the entire life of the believer. To gain an indulgence
is to experience the holiness of the Church, who bestows upon all the fruits of
Christ’s redemption, so that God’s love and forgiveness may extend everywhere.
Let us live this Jubilee intensely, begging the Father to forgive our sins and
to bathe us in his merciful “indulgence.” Pope Francis – ‘The Face of Mercy.’”
Peter Clarke, O.P.
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