The Jubilee Year is a special year of grace from God. Through a plenary indulgence, grace is granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove the temporal punishment due to sin. Although God’s love and mercy towards us is bottomless, we must have a special disposition to receive His graces. God is not distributing His graces randomly or blindly. Just the opposite is true: He is very specific and not “wasting” His graces. He gives graces to a person who is able to receive them and can use them for good.
In the Jubilee Year, we are encouraged to deepen our faith. This does not come to us automatically – it requires our will, action, engagement and determination. We are called to reject anything that is sinful and open ourselves to what is good. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, obtaining a plenary indulgence – which is a special gift of the Jubilee Year – could seem very easy to receive but, in fact, not so easy as it looks at first glance. With the relatively easy part – visiting a pilgrimage church in Rome or any pilgrimage church like ours – a true conversion of the heart must be present. After our sincere and strong effort to live in holiness, the graces of indulgence are given to us.
Today, I would like to mention another way to receive a plenary indulgence during the Jubilee Year: Acts in the spirit of penance. In fact, acts of penance could be a more demanding way of obtaining an indulgence than visiting a jubilee church, especially when this church is so close to us, like Corpus Christi. The Vatican decree enumerates several initiatives for the Jubilee Year through which we can obtain indulgences during this time:
- By rediscovering the penitential nature of Friday. This can be done by abstaining at least for one day of the week from futile distractions, real and also virtual distractions, for example, the use of the media and/or social networks), or abstaining from superfluous consumption, by fasting or practicing abstinence);
- by donating a proportionate sum of money to the poor;
- by supporting works of a religious or social nature – especially by supporting the defense and protection of life in all its phases.
- by supporting the needy, lonely elderly people, abandoned children, young people in difficulty, or migrants;
- by dedicating a reasonable portion of one’s free time to voluntary activities that are of service to the community or to other similar forms of personal commitment.
These practices are very concrete and could be practiced by everyone, young and old, even by children. We are called to practice them every day and year-round, but undertaking them in the Jubilee Year gives them special significance and meaning and also creates a base for obtaining Indulgence. They especially correspond to the atmosphere of Lent which we entered into this past Wednesday. I would like to encourage each and every one of you, and myself: Do not miss this extraordinary opportunity to go deeper in our Christian faith to discover the real and practical meaning of being Catholic.
Fr. Mark Jurzyk