Month: March 2019

At Our Lady of Victory in Paris Texas, parishioners can gain Plenary Indulgences, which remove the temporal punishment of sin.

The Church prescribes four primary Indulgences for the Lenten Season. On Fridays, the Prayer Before the Cross gains a Plenary Indulgence.

The Stations of the Cross.

Each Friday evening during Lent, parishioners of Our Lady of Victory gather to take part in this devotion. Making the Stations of the Cross along with the three conditions can lead to a plenary indulgence.

The official Church’s Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, or Manual of Indulgences, Fourth Edition, says:
The basic way is that the faithful “personally make the pious Way of the Cross.”

The manual prescribes that this “pious exercise must be made before stations of the Way of the Cross legitimately erected”. Our Lady of Victory does this by “representing the 14 stations of Jerusalem.”

We follow the prescribed method with the Deacon leading and his party (progressing) from one station to the next while we follow the “14 devotional readings and vocal prayers.”

Reciting the Rosary

“Devoutly recite the Marian Rosary in a church or oratory, or in a family, a religious community, or an association of the faithful, and in general when several of the faithful gather for some honest purpose,” states the manual of the basic ways.

The first three are most applicable for everyone for Lent: in a church, or an oratory, or in a family. The manual also reminds us that the five-decade rosary is sufficient but all five decades have to be done without interruption.

After daily Mass, you should stay as one of the attendees may lead the Rosary spontaneously.

Eucharistic Adoration

“Visit the Blessed Sacrament for adoration lasting at least a half hour.”

Reading or listening to Sacred Scriptures

“Read the Sacred Scriptures as spiritual reading, from a text approved by a competent authority, and with the reverence due to the divine word, for at least a half an hour; if the time is less, the indulgence will be partial.” Or if you’re unable to read it, you can listen to it being read.”

Three Necessary Conditions 

Conditions exist for receiving a plenary indulgence for doing any of the prescribed works. Each aids our Lenten journey. The manual insists we must “have the interior disposition of complete detachment from sin, even venial sin.”

• Sacramentally confess our sins
• Receive Holy Communion.
• Pray for the intentions of the Holy Father. One Our Father and one Hail Mary fully satisfies this.

The Church says we must take Holy Communion and pray for the intentions of the Holy Father for each Plenary Indulgence we wish to gain. One sacramental confession does suffice for gaining several plenary indulgences.

Yet “it is, however, fitting that Communion be received and the prayer for the intention of the Holy Father be said on the same day the work is performed.”

The manual also reminds, one must be baptized and in the state of grace at the time to receive an indulgence and our “interior disposition (should remain with) complete detachment from sin, even venial sin.” Otherwise, the indulgence becomes partial, not plenary.

We do not receive indulgences unintentionally or by accident. We must, at the minimum, have a general intention to gain the indulgence.

The Church does not leave out those who cannot fulfill all the conditions. The manual has answers and aids. “For the sake of those legitimately impeded, confessors can commute both the work prescribed and the conditions required (except, obviously, detachment from even venial sin).”

Prayer Before the Cross

The faithful can receive a partial indulgence if they recite the prayer after Communion before a crucifix.

On the Fridays of Lent, the indulgence is a plenary indulgence
Grant 8 § 1, 2º in the
Manual of Indulgences

Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus,
while before Thy face I humbly kneel and,
with burning soul,
pray and beseech Thee
to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments
of faith, hope and charity;
true contrition for my sins,
and a firm purpose of amendment.
While I contemplate,
with great love and tender pity,
Thy five most precious wounds,
pondering over them within me
and calling to mind the words which David,
Thy prophet, said of Thee, my Jesus:
They have pierced My hands and My feet,
they have numbered all My bones.”
Amen.

I sat in Church Friday night after taking part in the Solemn Lenten Practice of Stations of the Cross. I noticed a range of feelings passing through my body as we journeyed with Jesus. Our Priest and Deacon helped make the Way of the Cross so real.

I wonder if having died twice during my own life has anything to do with the sorrow I felt when I noticed the absence of so many of you. Elderly people talk about realizing the brief span of our lives when it seems too late to do anything about it. “Life is short, and we don’t realize it until it’s too late.” I know the feeling, but I also knew it as a child. Wishing we would have made different choices does not lead to salvation.

I have no doubts about an afterlife. I also have no doubts about Jesus. The two years I suffered through religious school at a Rabbinical Synagogue left no doubt. After the final destruction of Judea, Rabbis codified their teachings in the books called the Talmud. In the Talmud, the authors mention Jesus more than any other person.

Of the many religious sects in Judea, only the Pharisees and Nazoreans survived the Roman annihilation. The latter also known as the Church of Jerusalem survived because we moved across the Jordan to Pella where the Romans left us alone.

The Talmud said nothing about the Eucharist, even though Orthodox Hebrews try to practice their own version of it. The books said nothing about the Treasury of Merit created by Jesus and given to the first Pope, Peter, and his successors. The Pope has granted many Plenary Indulgences during Lent, chief among them? The Stations of the Cross.

Where do you go on Friday nights during Lent?

When I learned about the Church’s Treasury of Merit, I knew that the gospels answered the questions posed by the Rabbi’s for two thousand years. I also knew the Church would give me access to the path than I did not find in those near-death experiences.

Christ’s mercy exists and thank God, His plan includes giving His Vicar the power to dispense His Treasure and forgive the punishment of temporal sin. That punishment keeps us from reaching Heaven unabated as we must expiate it in purgatory. Frankly, I do not want to pass through purgatory on my way to Christ’s Kingdom.

Can you help me explain the indignation we allow our Lord to suffer by ignoring Him on Friday nights during Lent? What justification exists for passing up the opportunity to gain a Plenary Indulgence from the Church’s Treasury offered by our Sovereign Pontiff? On Friday nights of Lent, please come to the Church and take part in the 14 Stations of the Cross, accept your treasure. If you do not feel you need it, give it to a soul in purgatory who cannot progress without our prayers.
Your brother in the Lord
 
The 14 Stations of the Cross represent events from Jesus’ passion and death. At each station we use our senses and our imagination to reflect prayerfully upon Jesus’ suffering, Death, and Resurrection.

The Stations of the Cross reorient our soul’s journey to God. Popular devotions like the Stations of the Cross can help us cultivate a rich spiritual life. They help us to know God and His beloved Son deeply.

1. Jesus Is Condemned to Death.
Pontius Pilate condemns Jesus to death.
2. Jesus Takes Up His Cross.
Jesus willingly accepts and patiently bears his cross.
3. Jesus Falls the First Time.
Weakened by torments and by loss of blood, Jesus falls beneath his cross.
4. Jesus Meets His Sorrowful Mother.
Jesus meets his mother, Mary, who is filled with grief.
5. Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross.
Soldiers force Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross.
6. Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus.
Veronica steps through the crowd to wipe the face of Jesus.
7. Jesus Falls a Second Time.
Jesus falls beneath the weight of the cross a second time.
8. Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem.
Jesus tells the women to weep not for him but for themselves and for their children.
9. Jesus Falls the Third Time.
Weakened almost to the point of death, Jesus falls a third time.
10. Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments.
The soldiers strip Jesus of his garments, treating him as a common criminal.
11. Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross.
Jesus’ hands and feet are nailed to the cross.
12. Jesus Dies on the Cross.
After suffering greatly on the cross, Jesus bows his head and dies.
13. Jesus Is Taken Down From the Cross.
The lifeless body of Jesus is tenderly placed in the arms of Mary, his mother.
14. Jesus Is Laid in the Tomb.
Jesus’ disciples place his body in the tomb.

The closing prayer—sometimes included as a 15th station—reflects on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.