Dear Sisters, dear brethren in Christ, a little later this year we will celebrate the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi, which took place on 3rd October 1226 near the Italian city of Assisi where he had been born in 1181. The precise place of his death was just outside the tiny chapel of our Lady of the Angels, an ancient chapel which had been given to Francis for his use by the Benedictine monks who had custody of it, and for this reason, Francis called it his own ‘little portion’, or in Latin, the Portiuncola. Nowadays, this primitive yet beautiful stone chapel sits inside the vast basilica of our Lady of the Angels which was constructed around and over it many centuries later to protect it. On account of its importance as a Franciscan shrine, the dedication to Our Lady of the Angels became a favourite Franciscan name given to many churches throughout the Franciscan world. That is why when the Spanish Franciscans brought the faith to California in the 16th century, they built many mission churches, and one of them was destined to become one of the greatest of all American cities named in Spanish: S Maria de los Angeles, which most people know simply as ‘Los Angeles’.
The reason why I mention all that today is because this is a special day connected with S Maria degli Angeli (to give it its original Italian form of the name) all because of St Francis. One night Francis was praying in the Portiuncola, when Our Lord and Our Lady appeared to him and asked him what he desired. Thinking of others and recognizing his own sinfulness, Francis spoke. "O God, although I am a great sinner, I beseech You to grant a full pardon of all sins to all who, having repented and confessed their sins, shall visit this church”. Our Lord answered, "Francis, you ask much, but you are worthy of greater things, and greater things you shall have."
The Lord granted what Francis asked and Pope Honorius III ratified it. So was born the Portiuncola Indulgence, a full pardon of all sins given to those who visited the chapel of the Portiuncola specifically on 2nd August each year. Originally the Indulgence was attached only to the Porticuncola. However, subsequent Popes expanded the number of places in which this Indulgence can be gained, yet it has always remained firmly anchored to this day, 2nd August, which is why I am talking about it today, so that we may all have the opportunity to take advantage of it.
As I said, the Indulgence originally granted only to those who visited the Portiuncola on this day, was gradually extended to basilicas and cathedral churches, and final to parish churches. Alas, that doesn’t include this chapel! That leads me to the next point: what does one have to do when one gets to the right place to receive the indulgence? The Church’s requirements for gaining any indulgence which offers full pardon for all sins are straightforward: one Our Father, one Apostles’ Creed, and one other prayer at your own choice. In addition you must pray for the Pope’s intentions (e.g. an Our Father and a Hail Mary are perfectly acceptable) and you need to be detached from sin, without affection for even venial sin. Finally, you need to have either been to confession recently, i.e. within the last three weeks, or, failing that, you must actually do so within the next three weeks, – and most importantly, you must receive Holy Communion at the time of getting the Indulgence, so today.
When this Indulgence is properly received, you can enjoy remission not just of all past sin, but of all punishment due to past sins, including all those which you have confessed and for which you have done penance. For it is a mistake to think that going to confession and receiving absolution remits all that we owe to God’s justice for sins past. If, on the other hand, you are not able fully to be free from attachment to sin of some kind, then you can still gain the grace of the Indulgence, but not in full – only partially, but even so, this is still worth gaining. Every grace counts!
So you may wonder what is the true nature of Indulgences like this in the life of the Church, and specifically in the life of ordinary Christians like you and me? What is their meaning and how do they actually achieve anything? The answer lies in the mercy of God and its dispensation. God has chosen to give to His Church the power not just to forgive sins, but also the power to remit punishment for sins. But in order for us to reap the benefit, we must actively engage with the grace God offers us. Grace is not magic, nor is it a free pass to do as we like and not face the consequences. Grace is God’s loving power which has been won for us by Christ our Lord through His Passion and Death. This is why the Church has such power, given to her by Christ. He not only forgives sins, but transforms those whom He heals of sin by the power of His grace. It is that transforming power that can be made wonderfully effective by God’s own generosity in the form of indulgences. They may seem oddly mechanical at first: do this, go there, say these prayers, fulfil this requirement, etc. and there have been those who dismiss them for that reason, because they seem somehow unrelated to the love of God. But this is to misunderstand the way in which God chooses to dispense these graces.
First of all, the word ‘grace’, means a ‘gift freely given’. Some people falsely get the impression that the Church offers indulgences as something you can buy. The prayers we say and things we must do are like the price we must pay for that which God offers us. But this is entirely wrong. We cannot buy grace. We cannot buy anything from God. He gives us what He wills. What He asks of us is to show that we are willing to receive what He offers. Take the first reading from Isaiah as a good example of this. The prophet expresses these words of the Lord our God: ‘Come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and price.’ You see how Isaiah says that it is as though we buy what is offered to us, but in reality we don’t buy anything from God with money. When our Lord did His great signs or miracles, He did so only when those who asked for them believed that He could do what they asked. They did not have to pay, but they did have to show that they were willing to accept freely what was offered freely. Their faith was like ‘buying’ from God. So it is with us and when we receive indulgences. They are a gift from God, freely given by Him which we buy without money. The truth is that the price of what is given, the price of grace, far exceeds anything we could ever pay anyway!
But what is the Church’s role in this? Why did St Francis have to get Pope Honorius to ratify, that is, approve, the Portiuncola Indulgence which our Lord had said to him that He was willing to grant? It is because our Lord gave the Church he power of the keys to unlock and to minister graces. To Peter and the Apostles He had said: ‘whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven’ and on the day of Resurrection He said: ‘Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven’. This, therefore, is Christ’s own power, won for us by his death and resurrection and poured out in the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is why the Church has the power to administer the graces that come from the infinite merits of Christ. That is why the offer of an indulgence is an inestimably great gift, far surpassing all that we might have to do to receive it.
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