Have you been through a Holy Door this year? If you have not, I encourage you to make a pilgrimage to one sometime during the next month. The Jubilee Year of Mercy, proclaimed by Pope Francis, will end officially on November 20th. One of the benefits of a Jubilee Year is the granting of special mercies for making a pilgrimage to a Holy Door. Traditionally these Holy Doors are in four churches in Rome. They are opened by the Pope at the beginning of a Jubilee Year and sealed shut by him at its end.
During this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis gave each bishop across the world the ability to proclaim the doors of his cathedral and other churches within his diocese as official Holy Doors. Recognizing that most of us cannot journey to Rome to gain the benefit of going through the Holy Doors there, Pope Francis wanted the graces of making a pilgrimage to be available to ALL—just as God’s mercy is available to all. There is even a way that those who are in prison or homebound by illness may access the graces of going through a Holy Door.
Besides going through the named Holy Door, there are requirements to gain all the special mercies. Specifics can be named by the local bishop. Typically they are: (1) go to communion, preferably at the place of the Holy Door and on that day, but at least within a day or so: (2) go to confession within 2-3 weeks before or after the pilgrimage; (3) say prayers for the intention of the Holy Father (at least an Our Father and Hail Mary); and (4) be free of attachment to sin, including venial sin. The full special mercy of going through a Holy Door is the remission of all temporal purification “due” for past sins—either for ourselves or for someone who has died. This full special mercy is called by the Church a plenary indulgence.
If a person does not meet all the requirements for a plenary indulgence, he or she gains a partial indulgence. A partial indulgence is a grant of remission for some temporal purification due for past sins–for ourselves or a person who has died. They are mercies for each step we take toward accepting the depth and breadth of God’s yoke of love. God meets us on a Holy Door pilgrimage where we are and guides us forward.
Each part of the spiritual journey gives us special mercy. There is some special mercy for going on the pilgrimage—for responding to God’s yearning for us enough to physically go toward God’s calling to us, for going through a Holy Door. There is more special mercy for separating ourselves from sin enough to be free of mortal sin and able to receive Communion. We receive Communion; we let God come “under the roof” of our souls. This gives us special mercy. More mercy is granted as we let God touch us with the mercies and graces of forgiveness: we go to confession, face and name our sins, make an act of contrition, do penance, and receive absolution. Finally, as receive these graces, our hearts are changed. Sin (even a favorite one, like judging or pride) attracts us less. We align ourselves more with God. God, through the Holy Spirit, flows more through us. As that happens, it seems to me, our lives can move to become Holy Doors. Merciful love can become how we live.
Those are beautiful thoughts, beautiful ways to look at journeying through a Holy Door. But what about that word “indulgence?” Did it give you pause when you read it? Weren’t indulgences something that the Church came up with in the Middle Ages that Martin Luther justly named as an abuse of God’s mercy? Aren’t indulgences long gone from the practice of the Catholic faith?
Indulgences are a part of how the Church has dealt with the reality that we Catholic Christians sin. At one time, if you sinned after baptism, a lengthy, public time of penance was required. Still, there was a recognition of God’s mercy, and so some of that required penance could be “indulged,” that is, taken away. What was meant to be a balance of our contrition and God’s mercy eventually came to be an abuse. Indulgences were sold to avoid doing penance. What was meant to be an expression of contrition and mercy came to be a legalization that no longer communicated God’s merciful love. That was what Martin Luther (and many others who stayed within the Church) named as wrong.
But the concept that the Church as a whole could offer its merits to help out those who had sinned remains a part of our Catholic faith. Indulgences remain a part of Catholicism.
I write today about Holy Doors and indulgences because they are a topic that can shed light on today’s Scripture readings. Both St. Paul and Jesus point out today that outward expressions of relationship with God need to have inner meaning.
St. Paul talks about circumcision for new Christians. Many of the Christians in Galatia could not understand that with Christ it had lost its importance. It represented the importance of the Jewish law, but the outward form of the law too often left out the inner bowing of soul to God.
What too often happened is what Jesus names in the Gospel today: “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil.” People went through the outward motions, but missed the opportunity they gave for internal transformation.
That happened in the history of the Church with indulgences.
But indulgences were given to be “special mercies,” reflections of the essential Truth of God’s mercy—His unmerited favor and His willingness to enter with His holiness and love into the chaos of our lives and hearts.
So they remain today. It might be easy to miss the endings of both St. Paul’s writing and Jesus’ statement. St. Paul says, “You are separated from Christ, you who are trying to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we await the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” Jesus says, “You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.”
It isn’t the outside that is important. It is the inside. The outward practice must lead to inner conversion. It is St. Paul’s “faith working through love.” It is Jesus’ “give alms, and everything will be clean for you.”
Reflecting now on my Holy Door pilgrimages and the requirements for the special mercies of indulgences, I can see how my travels have helped me grow in mercy. I am interested in other indulged prayers and actions, because I see them as ways that I can help others through my normal prayer life. I have come to recognize that my “attachment to sin” affects and limits me, even if I do not give in to temptations. I have come to know and love better those who have journeyed with me. I am on the pilgrim’s path. I am journeying deeper into God’s love.
It is not too late to make a Holy Door pilgrimage. Look on the website of your diocese or contact your parish priest to find Holy Doors near you. But don’t just make the trip. Don’t just go through the motions. Make the journey—let it cleanse the inside. Let it increase your faith working through love.
Prayer:
Lord, let the Psalm response today ring in my heart: “Let your mercies come to me, O Lord.” How would you let your mercies come to me today? Help me to see them. Help me to be changed by them. Thank you for your mercies to me. Especially thank you for how you change my heart day by day. Lead me, guide me, Lord, and never let me just go through the external motions of the helps you and the Church give me. In Jesus name. Amen.
Link to today’s readings. Galatians 5: 1-6, from Psalm 119, Luke 11: 37-41.
Want to know more about indulgences? Here is a link to the revised Enchiridion of Indulgences from 1967.
There is a more up to date listing, but I have not found it online. It may be ordered through book sellers online.
