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Special Notice for the Month of November

10-28-2020From the desk of Fr. Villa

This year due to the pandemic, you can gain a plenary indulgence for the faithful departed on any eight days during the month of November by devoutly visit a cemetery and, even if only mentally, pray for the faithful departed; [Note: one plenary indulgence for each day, if the usual conditions are met listed below. The eight days chosen do not have to be consecutive. This indulgence is exclusively for the benefit of souls in purgatory. You can also gain a plenary indulgence for the faithful departed on November 2, All Souls Day by piously visiting a church or oratory and prayer the Our Father and the Apostles Creed. May you have a blessed November praying for your departed kin and friends.

An Indulgence? What does that mean?

An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven, which the faithful Christian, duly disposed, can gain under certain prescribed conditions. It is either plenary or partial. A plenary indulgence completely removes the temporal punishment due to sin while a partial indulgence removes part of that punishment. The temporal punishment due to sin is an unhealthy attachment to creatures, the tendency to do the sin again

Recall that all sin has two consequences it either kills (mortal sin) or weakens (venial sin) the life of grace which is our union with God the Blessed Trinity. Even after forgiveness that sin leaves a wound. This wound is the unhealthy attachment to creatures which must be purified. In other words our love for God must be purified of rival loves which exist in opposition to Him and harm our relation with Him. Hence it is important that we pray for our deceased daily, offer sacrifices and indulgences for them, and assist them by having Masses offered for the repose of their souls. 

We do not go it alone in our need to make up for our sins. Every Christian is joined to Christ but he or she is joined to all the other Christians who make up the Body of Christ, the family of the Church including those being purified in Purgatory and the angels and saints in heaven. 

Hence there is an everlasting link of love which joins all Christians together. In this exchange the holiness of one profits the other. 

This holiness includes Christ’s merits and all the spiritual goods of the all the members of Christ’s Body especially the prayers and good works of the Virgin Mary and the saints. They are truly immense, and pristine in their value before God. 

The Church through her power to bind and loose in Christ’s name through an indulgence gives the Christian a special share in the holiness of the treasury of the Church to help heal his or her own wounds from sin but also to be applied to those of our family who are being purified in the afterlife in the state called purgatory.

Hence indulgences involve shared love flowing from the mercy of God which heals. To gain the indulgence, do the act prescribed by the Church; go to Confession and Communion within the week; pray for the Holy Father the Pope; and be free from all attachment to sin even venial sin. Only God knows whether the plenary indulgence is gained.

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