Usually, when talking about indulgences, I have a hard time explaining what they are:
What is an indulgence? The Church explains, "An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain defined conditions through the Church’s help when, as a minister of redemption, she dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions won by Christ and the saints" (Indulgentarium Doctrina 1).
Got that? It's as clear as mud.
I even know a priest who doesn't believe in indulgences. It is very hard to understand.
But not for my candidates in RCIA. They immediately connected indulgence with good time. You see, I do RCIA in a prison, and the inmates understood indulgences, almost instinctively. It's call good time:
Good time is remission before the state, courts, and legal authorities of the temporal punishment due to crimes where time has already been served, which the inmate who is duly disposed gains under certain defined conditions through which the correctional institution's help when, as a minister of justice determination, she dispenses and applies with authority the power of satisfactions given to her by the state's courts.*
I'm going to call this frame of reference cognitive intelligence.
* Book of Faith ;-)
What is an indulgence? The Church explains, "An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain defined conditions through the Church’s help when, as a minister of redemption, she dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions won by Christ and the saints" (Indulgentarium Doctrina 1).
Got that? It's as clear as mud.
I even know a priest who doesn't believe in indulgences. It is very hard to understand.
But not for my candidates in RCIA. They immediately connected indulgence with good time. You see, I do RCIA in a prison, and the inmates understood indulgences, almost instinctively. It's call good time:
Good time is remission before the state, courts, and legal authorities of the temporal punishment due to crimes where time has already been served, which the inmate who is duly disposed gains under certain defined conditions through which the correctional institution's help when, as a minister of justice determination, she dispenses and applies with authority the power of satisfactions given to her by the state's courts.*
I'm going to call this frame of reference cognitive intelligence.
* Book of Faith ;-)
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