Catholic Online Forum

Can someone help me understand what is meanth by "the removal of attachment to sin," which is one of the conditions necessary to receive a plenary indulgence?

It seems easy enough, but as I think on it (perhaps too much), I am not sure how I do this.

Thoughts?

_________________
Kris H.

"He is Your best servant who desires not so much to hear from You what may be comfortable to his own will, but rather to conform his will to whatever he shall hear from You."--St. Augustine of Hippo

Kris,

I was going to post the same question, but you beat me to it.

It'd be great to see some authoritative references on the matter.

_________________
Kevin W.

Fiat! Your Will Be Done.

Last night at Mass our pastor was talking about that and he said to choose one sin that was particularly troublesome and concentrate on that.

Can anyone explain what temporal means?

_________________
Mary-Love

Jesus, I trust in You.

Temporal often is contrasted with eternal, in terms of punishments due to sin.

The eternal punishment is separation from God. This punishment is wiped away by the Sacrament of Confession.

Temporal punishment is punishment that takes place in "time"--here on earth. It's like when you did something wrong as a child, apologized to your parents, they forgave you (kind of like God does), but you still had to have a punishment of some kind (like being grounded).

Purgatory is where we serve the grounded-like temporal punishments, even though we are forgiven. A plenary indulgence removes the need; in essence, it is like doing something so good that you don't need to be grounded anymore. It is in this way that a plenary indulgence removes all temporal punishments, if all conditions are met.

_________________
Kris H.

"He is Your best servant who desires not so much to hear from You what may be comfortable to his own will, but rather to conform his will to whatever he shall hear from You."--St. Augustine of Hippo

My understanding of "attatchment" to sin, is that one needs to be free of anything in our life that blocks God's working freely in our life. In other words, if we prefer anything before God, we are inordinately attatched to that person, place or thing, thus preventing us from being freely at God's disposal to accomplish His will in and for us.

Does that make any sense?

Marianne

Kris,

Every sin has to have some element that makes it attractive to us.
There is something about it that we enjoy or we would not commit the sin.

If the glutton did not enjoy the food, would he choose to harm himself by eating so much?

So when we go to confession, we focus on how ugly our sins really are. We realize that by choosing sin, we crucify the Lord. We resolve to amend our ways, to avoid sin itself and the near occasions of sin.

But we still tend to feel the attraction of our "favorite" sin. It still calls to us somehow. This is what we have to get rid of, which is the attachment to sin. I know we can't beat it by ourselves. Our sin is an addiction just as surely as any other addiction, even if the legal or physical consequences are different, the inward twisting of the soul is the same.

We get this attachment lessened by asking for help to fight it.
I have hopes that if we ask for the help often and especially when we are about to perform a work of indulgence, that just maybe this temporary freedom from attachment to sin may go a long way toward the indulgence requirement----not because of our merit, but due to the great mercy of the Lord always ready to exceed anyone's hopes. All the more so if our prayer is for the relief of someone else, like a poor soul in purgatory.

(If anyone who's educated tells you different, remember this is just my little opinion founded only upon bits and pieces I've gathered.)

Kevin,

Nicely said!!

Marianne

Kevin,



Thanks for this.

If I understand correctly, then, to lessen our attachment to sin we should

a. Ask for help
b. Perform acts of faith, hope, charity, self-denial, and abandonment to God's will, offered up to God for His help in turning us away from our attachment to sin

Is that correct? If so, I think this helps. It is so easy to say "lessen attachment to sin." It is so hard to figure out how. It appears, from what you wrote, that it is done by an emptying of self, "I must decrease, so Christ can increase."

Any other thoughts out there?

_________________
Kris H.

"He is Your best servant who desires not so much to hear from You what may be comfortable to his own will, but rather to conform his will to whatever he shall hear from You."--St. Augustine of Hippo

I just thought of other ways. Kevin, as he often does, provoked some thoughts.

a. St. Francis de Sales, in his extraordinary book An Introduction to the Devout Life, has several meditations that are designed not only to help us repent of sin, but to detest it altogether. Among these meditations are mediating on what it must be like in heaven, purgatory, and hell, and how sin prevents us or delays us from our supreme end of eternity with God. Perhaps using these meditations is a way to lessen attachment.

b. Truly conducting thorough daily examinations of conscience, where one not only evaluates what one did wrong that day, but makes firm resolutions to correct even venial imperfections, might be a way to do this.

c. Mortification--not necessarily wearing a cilice or hairshirt, but perhaps fasting, not salting food, or perhaps drinking water instead of a soft drink, or taking a tepid shower instead of a hot one, offered up for the intention. In this way, like Paul, we pummel our body and subdue it, filling up what is lacking in the suffering of Christ.

d. Meditation on the Passion and Death, and our role in making it happen. Praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, and recognizing at each point the suffering of Christ, and how it is because of our attachment to and commission of sins.

...

_________________
Kris H.

"He is Your best servant who desires not so much to hear from You what may be comfortable to his own will, but rather to conform his will to whatever he shall hear from You."--St. Augustine of Hippo

Kris,

I don't guess we can ever win the battle in this lifetime. We will always have at least some "attachment to sin" lingering on looking for a moment of weakness. And our enemy is the world, the devil, and the self, an enemy that never gives up trying. But if we soldier on, battling like you suggest, how can we fail?

There is a school whose motto is stated as a question, but no question mark is ever shown. DEUS NOBIS, QUIS CONTRA At length, I realized no question mark is needed because there is no answer.

Kevin,

Good points, but the conditions for a plenary indulgence seem to indicate not an intent to remove all attachment, but an actual removal. Seems a high bar to jump over.

_________________
Kris H.

"He is Your best servant who desires not so much to hear from You what may be comfortable to his own will, but rather to conform his will to whatever he shall hear from You."--St. Augustine of Hippo

Marianne,

Sorry I missed this. I think you are definitely onto something here, too. Attachment to anything, not just sin, that distracts us from God is misplaced.

_________________
Kris H.

"He is Your best servant who desires not so much to hear from You what may be comfortable to his own will, but rather to conform his will to whatever he shall hear from You."--St. Augustine of Hippo

JMJ

All,

In regards to the requirement for a plenary indulgence, the concupiscence that is outside or "below" our reason is not the attachment that is spoken of. Rather, it is the attachments that arise and grow stronger from our will not resisting the inclination to sin.

Pope John Paul II wrote on this...

_________________
To be Salt of the Earth and Light of the World is both the dignity and obligation of being Christian.

All,

My understanding of John Paul ll's comments above are that to receive the indulgence (but really something to strive for always) is to have an internal desire to avoid any sin whatsoever, a complete conversion of heart. Am I interpreting correctly? I'm most likely not spelling correctly

Kevin,

Yes, when I re-read my post, I realized I had overlooked the focus on specific sins and was thinking of an internal attitude of loving and serving God alone, which in turn radiates into loving and serving him in everyone we deal with and also with all of His creation.

Marianne