ARTICLES

Jubilee Indulgence

Take Advantage of Millennial Opportunity

By Anne Knight

It's more than half over now, but if you still haven't done anything about it, take heart. You still have four months left to celebrate the sort of holy year which won't come around again for another thousand years: the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, which begins the third millennium after Christ's birth. Can't get motivated? Perhaps this will pique your interest: In his 1994 apostolic letter, "On the Coming of the Third Millennium, Pope John Paul II made reference to "that new springtime of Christian life which will be revealed by the Great Jubilee, if Christians are docile to the action of the Holy Spirit."

The Catholic Almanac defines a holy year as "a year during which the pope grants the plenary Jubilee indulgence to the faithful who fulfill certain conditions." The first recorded holy year or Jubilee year was proclaimed in 1300 by Pope Boniface VIII. Most have been held at 25-year intervals, although there are exceptions for extraordinary holy years. The custom has Biblical roots. In ancient Israel, every fifty years a "year of the Lord's favor" (Isaiah 61:1-2) was celebrated, which entailed family reunification, return of ancestral land to its original owners, freeing slaves and debt forgiveness. While the practice of a pope granting special plenary indulgences during a Jubilee year is not new, John Paul II has added several innovative methods for obtaining them. Traditionally the plenary Jubilee indulgence is granted in connection with pilgrimage. For Jubilee 2000 it is also granted for performing any of several prescribed works of charity and penitence.

The general conditions for receiving any plenary indulgence are the following: 1) Be baptized and not excommunicated from the Catholic Church. 2) Be a subject of the one granting the indulgence. (Since the pope grants the Jubilee Indulgence, all Catholics of any rite meet this condition.) 3) Be in the state of grace, at least when the indulgenced work is completed. 4) Detach oneself from all sin, even venial sin, which is also a requirement for receiving absolution through sacramental reconciliation. 5) Have at least a general intention to gain a plenary indulgence. 6) Do the prescribed work (i.e., the act of pilgrimage, charity, penitence, etc. and any conditions associated with the specific indulgenced work). 7) Receive sacramental reconciliation within several days before or after performing the indulgenced work(s). In a February 2000 document on indulgences the Vatican's Office of the Apostolic Penitentiary stated that the allowable time should be considered to be "about 20 days." One confession suffices for several plenary indulgences. 8) Receive Holy Communion within several days before or after ("about 20 days") performing the indulgenced work. It is most appropriate for Communion to be received on the day the indulgenced work is done. Unlike the requirements for receiving sacramental reconciliation, a unique Communion is necessary for each plenary indulgence gained. 9) Say prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father (such as an Our Father and Hail Mary, although no particular prayer is prescribed). These prayers may be said several days before or after doing the indulgenced work, but are most fittingly said on the day the work is done. Plenary indulgences cannot be received more than once daily.

The Great Jubilee 2000 plenary indulgence can be granted for making any of four types of pious pilgrimage. In Rome, it can be gained for visiting any of the four patriarchal basilicas (Saint Peter's, Most Holy Savior at the Lateran, Saint Mary Major and the Basilica of Saint Paul on the Ostian Way) or any of these four locations: the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, the Basilica of Saint Lawrence in Campo Verano, the Shrine of Our Lady of Divine Love and the Christian Catacombs. In the Holy Land, it can be gained by visiting the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem or the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. In dioceses and other ecclesiastical territories, one can receive the Jubilee plenary indulgence by visiting churches or other places designated by a bishop. (See the News Shorts section in this issue for a complete listing of designated Jubilee 2000 pilgrimage churches in Northern California.) The Jubilee plenary indulgence may also be gained at any of the California missions. While at the pilgrimage site, Jubilee pilgrims can choose from any of these three options to complete the requirements for gaining the indulgence: 1) take part devoutly in Mass or another liturgical celebration such as Lauds or Vespers, or 2) make some pious exercise (examples: the Stations of the Cross, the Rosary, Divine Mercy chaplet, the Byzantine Rite's Akathistos Marian hymn), or 3) as a group or individually, spend some time in Eucharistic adoration and pious meditations, ending with the "Our Father," the profession of faith in any approved form (examples: the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed) and prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Holy Father is also granting the plenary indulgence for a new form of pilgrimage: "In any place, if they [the faithful] visit for a suitable time their brothers and sisters in need or in difficulty (the sick, the imprisoned, the elderly living alone, the handicapped, etc.) as if making a pilgrimage to Christ present in them (cf. Mt. 25:34-36), and fulfilling the usual spiritual and sacramental conditions and saying the usual prayers."

According to the 1998 papal bull, the Great Jubilee 2000 plenary indulgence can also be gained by performing any one of the following works of charity and penitence, in addition to fulfilling the usual general conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence: 1) "Abstaining for at least one whole day from unnecessary consumption (e.g., from smoking or alcohol, or fasting or practicing abstinence according to the general rules of the Church and the norms laid down by the Bishops' Conferences) and donating a proportionate sum of money to the poor." 2) "Supporting by a significant contribution works of a religious or social nature (especially for the benefit of abandoned children, young people in trouble, the elderly in need, foreigners in various countries seeking better living conditions)." 3) "Devoting a suitable portion of personal free time to activities benefiting the community, or other similar forms of personal sacrifice." Any Catholic priest with faculties of hearing confessions can commute (modify) both the work prescribed and the conditions required for obtaining the Jubilee plenary indulgence for those Catholics who face legitimate impediments to gaining the indulgence in the usual manner. This can be done inside or outside of confession. The general rule is that it be a moral equivalent of the usual prescribed work or conditions, but which are within the capacity of the one who seeks the commutation. Instead of a visit to a designated pilgrimage church or site, cloistered men and women religious, the infirm and those unable to leave their house can gain the plenary indulgence by doing the following: 1) visiting a chapel of their house, convent, monastery, hospital, prison, etc., or 2) if this is impossible, spiritually uniting themselves with those carrying out a prescribed indulgenced work (such as a pilgrimage or act of charity or penitence), offering their prayers, sufferings and discomforts to God as their own work. Thus, even someone who is unable to leave their bed or their room can gain the Jubilee plenary indulgence.

For more information, contact your local parish or diocese, or the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Jubilee 2000 office (202-541-3244, www.nccbuscc.org/jubilee) or check the Vatican's Jubilee 2000 web site, www.jubil2000.org, or other reputable Catholic web sites such as the Eternal Word Television Network's web site (www.ewtn.com/jubilee).

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