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Commutation of the Work |
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| Commutation: |
Confessors (i.e. any priest
with faculties to hear confessor) can commute, on behalf of those
legitimately impeded, both the work prescribed and the conditions
required. This can be done inside or outside of confession. The general
norm of commutation is that it be into some moral equivalent of the
prescribed work or conditions, but which are within the capacity of the
one benefiting from the commutation. |
Cloistered
Religious, the
Infirm and the
Homebound:
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Cloistered men and women
religious, the infirm, and those who are unable to leave their house, can
carry out, in lieu of a visit to a certain church:
- a visit to a chapel of their house (convent,
monastery, hospital, prison etc.), or,
- if this is impossible, spiritually unite
themselves with those carrying out a prescribed work, offering their
prayers, sufferings and discomforts to God
Thus, even a person who is unable to leave their bed
or their room can gain the Jubilee Indulgence by spiritually uniting themselves to those
who are carrying our a work, such as a pilgrimage to the Holy Places,
offering as their own work their prayers and infirmities.
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The following conditions
must be fulfilled whenever we seek to gain a Plenary Indulgence (complete
remission of the temporal punishment due to sin). These general conditions
are in addition to the specific conditions of the indulgenced work (e.g. a
pilgrimage).
- Be Baptized and not excommunicated from the
Catholic Church
- A subject of the one granting the indulgence.
(Since it is the Pope granting the Jubilee Indulgence all Catholics of
any Rite meet this condition.)
- Be in the State of Grace, at least at the end of
doing the indulgenced work.
- Have at least a General Intention to gain the
indulgence. (This can be fulfilled by making a general intention at
the beginning of the day to gain the indulgences for which one is
eligible that day, or, by making a specific intention at the time of
doing the indulgenced work.)
- Do the Prescribed Work. (This is the pilgrimage,
charity, penitence, etc., and any conditions associated the specific indulgenced
work.)
- Sacramental Confession, several days before or
after the indulgenced work. In a Feb. 2000 document on Indulgences the
Apostolic Penitentiary stated that the allowable time should be
considered to be "about 20 days." One confession suffices
for several plenary indulgences.
- Communion, several days before or after (to
"about 20 days"), but is most fittingly received on the day
that the work is done. A unique Communion is necessary for each
plenary indulgence.
- Prayers for the Intentions of the Pope (such as an Our Father and Hail Mary, though no particular prayer is
prescribed). These prayers may be made several days before or after,
but are most fittingly made on the day the work is done.
- Detachment from all sin, even venial sin.
Incomplete detachment from sin would result in the receipt of only a
partial indulgence for that work. It is this disposition to renounce
all attachment to our sins which opens our heart to the receipt of the
full remission of the temporal guilt of sin, which God desires
to grant us through the Church.
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