The Church teaches that it offers the grace of Indulgences from the “treasury of merit,” also called the “treasury of the Church.” This refers to the spiritual reservoir of merit accumulated through the infinite merits of Jesus Christ, especially through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection; the superabundant merits of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is considered sinless and full of grace; and the merits of the saints, who lived lives of heroic virtue that manifested God’s grace into the world. These “merits” are not material or monetary, but spiritual benefits—graces that can be applied to others by the Church.
What gives the Church the “authority” to dispense the merits to others?
- Christ promised his Church the power to bind and loose on earth, saying, “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 18:18). As the context makes clear, binding and loosing cover Church discipline, and Church discipline involves administering and removing temporal penalties.
- One could also look to Matthew 16:19 where Peter is told by Jesus, “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Most would look at those two verses and offer, “…OK, but that applies just to Sacramental Confession, right?” Sacramental Confession is the priest (the Church) acting as “sacramental steward” for God’s forgiveness. Let’s be clear. The priest does not forgive sins. He absolves which is the earthly action, the announcement, of the grace of God’s forgiveness. Indulgences operate on the same principle. The Church sees itself as a steward of these spiritual goods, able to apply them for the benefit of souls.
“OK, but when did Jesus bless one person based on the merits of another? “And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.” (Mt 9:2) It wasn’t the faith of the paralytic, it was the faith of his friends. The merits of others were a gift to the paralytic. The “treasury of merit” is a gift by which God uses the Church when He removes temporal penalties. This is the essence of the doctrine of indulgences.
Image credit: All Souls’ Day | Jakub Schikaneder, 1888 | National Gallery Prague | PD-US
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Please forgive my ignorance, but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around forgiveness and remaining temporal punishment. I believe the Church’s teaching on purgatory and I understand your analogy, but as a father and friend I’ve forgiven transgressions, debts, etc. Once forgiven, it’s done. Over. Forgotten. There is no thought of ‘you still owe me ……….’. Aren’t there sayings in the Old Testament about ‘I will remember their sins no more’? Similar words? When Jesus forgave he told the person to go and don’t do that thing again. Nothing about a future ‘pay back’. The thief on his right is a perfect example. “Today you will be with me in Paradise”.