Penance not Punishment

I grew up in a Catholic School thinking that if I would die immediately after receiving the Sacrament of Confession, I would go straight to heaven.

But then I realized that the Sacrament of Confession cannot erase the consequence of sin because the penitent will still receive temporal punishment in purgatory for the sins committed even if they were already forgiven.

This means that if Purgatory would be a prison facility, it is filled with incarcerated souls being punished for their sins that they were already forgiven.

From my humble understanding, if we pray for the souls in purgatory, we slowly relieve them from their temporal punishment or make there sentence shorter. The Souls in Purgatory cannot pray for themselves but can help those who pray for them. Some even believe that the scary visions of ghosts are actually visions of the tormented souls of relatives who are in purgatory asking for prayers.

Personally, I have lots of experience praying to the souls in purgatory asking simple favors like waking me up at dawn or helping me pass an exam. Nevertheless, if a particular soul would be able to go to Heaven because of your prayers, this Soul becomes a Saint and will be praying for you for the rest of your life and even after your life such as the time that you will be in purgatory if you get pass hell.

However, there is a way to avoid purgatory and this is where INDULGENCE becomes relevant to the picture. The Church actually accords a remission of the temporal punishment (due on account of sin) through an INDULGENCE granted by the Pope and the Bishops in their diocese.

Simply put, if the President or Prime Minister of a country can afford pardon of  sentence, the Pope and the Bishops can afford remission of Purgatory.

To make things more interesting, the Church actually allows you to waive that indulgence, in favor of a soul in purgatory.

The Conditions in order to get an indulgence are as follows:

1) Person must be in the state of grace by the completion of the indulgence.

2) The person must also want to gain the indulgence.

The Conditions for plenary indulgences:

1) Person must be in the state of grace by the completion of the indulgence.

2) The person must also want to gain the indulgence.

3) One is free from all attachment from sin, even venial sins

4) One receives the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist (Within 7 days of the indulgence)

5) One prays for the intentions of the Pope (Apostles Creed, 1 Our Father, and any other prayers)

If a person does not meet the plenary criteria but meets the criteria for a partial indulgence, the individual will obtain the partial indulgence. A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day unless the person is in danger of death.

  The Catechism of St. Pius X states the following:

124 Q. What is an Indulgence?

A. An Indulgence is the remission of the temporal punishment due on account of our sins which have been already pardoned as far as their guilt is concerned — a remission accorded by the Church outside the sacrament of Penance.

125 Q. From whom has the Church received the power to grant Indulgences?

A. The Church has received the power to grant Indulgences from Jesus Christ.

126 Q. In what way does the Church by means of Indulgences remit this temporal punishment?

A. The Church by means of Indulgences remits this temporal punishment by applying to us the superabundant merits of Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Virgin and of the Saints, which constitute what is known as the Treasure of the Church.

127 Q. Who has the power to grant Indulgences?

A. The Pope alone has the power to grant Indulgences in the whole Church, and the Bishop in his own diocese, according to the faculty given him by the Pope.

128 Q. How many kinds of Indulgences are there?

A. Indulgences are of two kinds: plenary and partial.

129 Q. What is a plenary Indulgence?

A. A plenary Indulgence is that by which the whole temporal punishment due to our sins is remitted. Hence, if one were to die after having gained such an Indulgence, he would go straight to Heaven, being, as he is, perfectly exempt from the pains of Purgatory.

130 Q. What is a partial Indulgence?

A. A partial Indulgence is that by which is remitted only a part of the temporal punishment due to our sins.

131 Q. Why does the Church grant Indulgences?

A. In granting Indulgences the Church intends to aid our incapacity to expiate all the temporal punishment in this world, by enabling us to obtain by means of works of piety and Christian charity that which in the first ages Christians gained by the rigour of Canonical penances.

132 Q. What is meant by an Indulgence of forty or a hundred days or of seven years, and the like?

A. By an Indulgence of forty or a hundred days, or of seven years and the like, is meant the remission of so much of the temporal punishment as would have been paid by penances of forty or a hundred days, or seven years, anciently prescribed in the Church.

133 Q. What value should we set on Indulgences?

A. We should set the greatest value on Indulgences because by them we satisfy the justice of God and obtain possession of Heaven sooner and more easily.

134 Q. Which are the conditions necessary to gain Indulgences?

A. The conditions necessary to gain Indulgences are: (1) The state of grace (at least at the final completion of the work), and freedom from those venial faults, the punishment of which we wish to cancel; (2) The fulfilment of all the works the Church enjoins in order to gain the Indulgence; (3) The intention to gain it.

135 Q. Can Indulgences be applied also to the souls in Purgatory?

A. Yes, Indulgences can be applied also to the souls in Purgatory, when he who grants them says that they may be so applied.

136 Q. What is a Jubilee?

A. A Jubilee, which as a rule is granted every twenty-five years, is a Plenary Indulgence to which are attached many privileges and special concessions, such as that of being able to obtain absolution from certain reserved sins and from censures, and the commutation of certain vows.