Baseballs, Broken Windows, and Plenary Indulgences

To this day, I still remember the parish priest explaining to us kids the concept of “indulgences,” using a very simple analogy.

“Imagine you’re playing baseball in your backyard,” he said. “You take a swing, and when you hit the ball, it goes flying straight through the window of your house! You tell your parents what happened and say sorry, and they accept your apology. However, your action had consequences: the window still needs to be fixed.”

This is where indulgences come in. In fact, the baseball analogy is very similar to Pope Francis’s explanation of why indulgences are important, as seen in Cindy Wooden’s Catholic News Service article:

“Every sin ‘leaves its mark’ even after a person has received forgiveness and absolution through the sacrament of reconciliation,” Pope Francis wrote in the document proclaiming the Holy Year. “Sin has consequences, not only outwardly in the effects of the wrong we do, but also inwardly, inasmuch as ‘every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death, in the state called Purgatory.'”

The great news is that we have many opportunities to receive indulgences during this Jubilee Year 2025. But what exactly is an indulgence, and how do we receive one?

“Indulgences draw on the power of ‘the infinite value, which can never be exhausted, which Christ’s merits have before God’ (CCC 1476) — the power that alone can redeem sin and its consequences,” explains Judy Landrieu Klein of Aleteia. “We are invited to participate in that power each time we pray, each time we turn to God for mercy and forgiveness and each time we ask for an indulgence.”

Plenary indulgences are a specific type. According to Grace Porto of CatholicVote’s The Loop, “The Vatican’s Office of the Apostolic Penitentiary explained that plenary indulgences remove the temporal punishment (Purgatory time) for sins that have already been forgiven.”

In other words, you can obtain a plenary indulgence to completely remove temporal punishment for the sins you have committed, or you can offer the indulgence for the souls in Purgatory.

Although you can customarily only obtain one plenary indulgence per day, according to the Vatican’s decree this Jubilee 2025:

Despite the rule that only one plenary indulgence can be obtained per day, the faithful who have carried out an act of charity on behalf of the souls in Purgatory, if they receive Holy Communion a second time that day, can obtain the plenary indulgence twice on the same day, applicable only to the deceased.

National Catholic Register explains that in order to obtain a plenary indulgence, you must have “detachment from sin (even venial), confession within about 20 days, Communion, and prayer for the Pope’s intentions (e.g., an Our Father and Hail Mary). Each indulgence requires a separate Communion and prayer, ideally on the day of the indulgenced act.”

“While one sacramental confession is adequate for obtaining several plenary indulgences, each individual plenary indulgence requires its own reception of Holy Communion and prayers for the Holy Father’s intentions,” says Jenna M. Cooper of Aleteia. “[S]imply praying ‘for the intentions of the Holy Father’ in a more generic way is sufficient,” or you can pray for the Holy Father’s specific intentions.

There are many options for making the “indulgenced act.”

One of my favorite options is going on pilgrimage to the local Jubilee site(s) that the bishop selected for the diocese. One reason I like this option is because it gives you an opportunity to see churches and shrines that you may never have visited. At my parish, we have a ministry that combines running and prayer, which sometimes makes pilgrimages on foot to various churches around Miami. Those who enjoy the outdoors could consider forming a group to walk to Jubilee sites. I recommend planning ahead, contacting the site to request the sacraments for the day you will be visiting.

National Catholic Register notes that “Those impeded by ‘serious reasons’—cloistered religious, the elderly, the sick, prisoners, caregivers—can get the indulgence by uniting spiritually with pilgrims, especially through EWTN or other media, and reciting an Our Father and Creed, ‘offering up their sufferings or the hardships of their lives.’”

As Theresa Civantos Barber of Aleteia notes, one unique aspect of this Jubilee Year is the emphasis on technology. For instance, people who decide to abstain from “virtual distractions” including social media for at least one day in a week can receive an indulgence! At a recent event, I heard Bishop Thomas Daly of the Diocese of Spokane speak about how Eucharistic Adoration is changing many young people’s lives: “I think there’s a grace that God gives in a very deep and generous way to young people who are unplugged from technology and stay present,” he stated. Maybe those who choose to abstain from technology could consider visiting the Adoration chapel for a few minutes that day, too.

There are many other ways to receive an indulgence, including Eucharistic Visits and Works of Mercy, so I encourage you to check out the specifics and find the options that speak most to you! I highly recommend reading “12 Ways to Obtain a Jubilee Indulgence,” which goes into depth on the many different options available.

Photo by Tim Arterbury on Unsplash