Indulgences...

Terra of Australia Incognita has very kindly reminded us all that there are indulgences available during the Year of the Priest.

Firstly there are plenary and partial indulgences available for priests. It's the Year of the Priest, so that seems fair enough. However, there are also indulgences available for the rest of us...

I'm going to concentrate on the "rest of us" bit... the priests can go to Terra's blog and check out Section A for themselves, if they haven't already found it!

The Plenary Indulgence is granted to all the faithful who are truly repentant who, in a church or in a chapel, devoutly attend the divine Sacrifice of Mass and offer prayers to Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest, for the priests of the Church, and any other good work which they have done on that day, so that he may sanctify them and form them in accordance with His Heart, as long as they have made expiation for their sins through sacramental confession and prayed in accordance with the Supreme Pontiff's intentions:

- on the days in which the Year for Priests begins and ends, (19 June 2009 and 19 June 2010)

- on the first Thursday of the month, (hey, twelve to choose from!)

- or on any other day established by the local Ordinaries for the benefit of the faithful.

So, basically, by going to Mass, Confession (within a week either side), praying for priests and praying for the Holy Father's intentions, one can clock up a plenary indulgence either for oneself or for a soul in Purgatory. In fact, there's a minimum of fourteen indulgences going begging! If you want to consider it in purely self-interested terms, that's fourteen souls sprung from Purgatory who will be busy showing their gratitude by praying for you for all eternity...

Anyway, there are also partial indulgences up for grabs, for all the faithful, every time they devoutly recite five Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glorias in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to obtain that priests be preserved in purity and holiness of life.