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Showing posts with the label indulgences

Bringing in the New Year

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Happy New Year and Happy New Decade! At Blackfen we saw in the New Year as we have done for some years now, by an hour of adoration from 11pm, concluding with Benediction and the singing of the Te Deum to thank God for all the graces and blessings He has given to us during the past year. This morning, after Mass, we sang the Veni Creator Spiritus to ask for His grace for the coming year. Both devotions are enriched by the Church with a plenary indulgence - and as we know, plenary indulgences are not impossible . Here is a video taken by Mulier Fortis of the singing of the Te Deum. After the parish Mass, I went up to central London, to the beautiful Church of St James's, Spanish Place, to assist as subdeacon at High Mass which has been organised for many years by the Latin Mass Society . This is the first time that I have joined this celebration and it was really most impressive; the Church was full, and there were several clergy in choir, the senior member being the illustrious ...
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Anniversary of Baptism

Thinking of anniversaries, I have only just noticed (shame on me!) that today is the anniversary of my Baptism. The Church offers us a plenary indulgence if, at the Easter Vigil or on the anniversary of our baptism, we renew the promises made on our behalf. Off to do that now ...
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Simply an exchange of gifts

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On Thursday 27 February, Pope Benedict met with priests of the Rome diocese and engaged in a Pope's Question and Answer session in the Vatican’s Hall of Blessings. One of the priests asked about work with young people. (In this quotation from the Holy Father's reply, bear in mind that in Italy, youth groups are often called the "Oratorio.") To be sure, a youth center that merely offers games and something to drink would be absolutely superfluous. The point of an oratory really has to be cultural formation, the formation of a human and Christian personality, which must become a mature personality. Another priest, the Salesian Fr Riggi, asked about indulgences and other devotions which were not abolished by Vatican II but are seldom spoken about. In this part of his reply, the Holy Father offered some considerations regarding indulgences: I would say that it’s simply a matter of an exchange of gifts. That is, when there’s something good in the Church, it’s meant for al...
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Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all of you. Let us pray for one another that God will grant us many graces during 2009. Many thanks to Emile-James of Vocation Station for sending this video of some Marian chants from Fontgombault for the solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God. After getting back from Stonyhurst last night, we had adoration of the Blessed Sacrament concluding with Benediction and the singing of the Te Deum at midnight to thank God for the graces and benefits we have received from Him during the past year. It was kind of the people of Blackfen to accompany the Te Deum with fireworks :-) This morning we sang the Veni Creator Spiritus after Mass to implore God's help for the coming year. A plenary indulgence can be gained by devoutly assisting at the solemn singing or recitation in a Church or Oratory of the Te Deum on 31 December and the Veni Creator on 1 January.
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Popular posts from this blog

Saint Gabriel

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The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
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Plenary indulgences not impossible

Dilexit Prior in Letters from a Young Catholic asked some useful questions today about indulgences. I thought it would be best to do a post here especially to cover the controversial question of detachment from venial sin. But first the other questions: The conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence Pope Paul VI set down a number of norms relating to indulgences at the end of Indulgentiarum Doctrina . Norm 7 states: To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfil three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent. If this disposition is in any way less than complete, or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be only partial, except for the provisions contained in n.11 for those who are “impeded.” It is worth reading the other norms bec...
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Portiuncula indulgence tomorrow (and indulgences generally)

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Tomorrow, 2 August, you can gain a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions ( see below ) by visiting a parish Church and there reciting the Our Father and the Creed . This is called the Portiuncula indulgence and goes back to St Francis of Assisi. Fr Z has the details . Don't forget that you can also gain a plenary indulgence by visiting a Church on the day of the titular feast, and there reciting the Our Father and the Creed . I made a list of other indulgences: please see the post Plenary indulgences for particular days which has a link to the list. The post has some background information which you may find helpful since indulgences are not well understood today - which is not surprising since indulgences are not included in most Catholic education curricula, and most priests never preach about them. Therefore many Catholics are left with whatever silly, half-baked, ill-informed nonsense about indulgences happens to be current. If you want to understand the theology...
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Our Easter Faith: Not a Pious Crème Fraiche

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In public life, some basically well-meaning figures have the graciousness to wish us well at Easter and to recognise the importance of the Christian feast day. Perhaps they might assure us that their thoughts are with us at this time. That is kind of them and in Christian charity we should thank them for their kindness, but Easter should be a great deal more than that for us. We must believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the grave, in the flesh, and lives for eternity. We cannot treat Easter as a jolly holiday that heralds spring, or the remembrance of a significant event from the past. It must change us today and every day, change who we are and what we do. The Christian faith cannot be a mild custard or blancmange of religiosity. (I am showing my age. Nowadays, I should say that it cannot be reduced to a pious crème fraiche .) We bow down and adore the King of Kings, risen from the tomb, who, “[…] continues for ever,...
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Blessing of the New Painting of St Bede at Clapham Park

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This morning, the parish priest at Clapham Park, Fr Marcus Holden, blessed a new picture of the parish's patron, Saint Bede, painted by James Tildsley. It is sited over a recently installed side altar near the rear of the Church. The altar itself was acquired from Antique Church Furnishings . The website gives the information that the altar was built and carved by a nun in a convent near Liverpool. It is a beautiful piece of work and it is always a joy when such works of art find a suitable and dignified home. The inscription on the gradine is AMANS AMATUS AMOR. The sellers translate this as “Loving is the object of love” which is a reasonable stab at “dynamic equivalence”. Today the parish's relic of St Bede was exposed for veneration in its distinctive brightly-coloured reliquary. After the blessing, there was High Mass with Fr Holden as celebrant, Fr Littleton deacon, and myself subdeacon. That gave me the enjoyable task of chant...
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