Holy Souls, Indulgences and Treasury of Merit

The Saints are those who are in Heaven whilst the Holy Souls are the souls in Purgatory. The Holy Souls are in Purgatory because although they died in a state of sanctifying grace and were truly sorry for all their sins - and thus were friends of God - they had not done sufficient penance for all their sins, whereas the Saints had! 

Now, if by the Passion and death of Jesus we have been forgiven the guilt of sin and thus the eternal punishment for sin (Hell) in and through the sacraments, there is still the temporal punishment due for sin as sin harms both the Church and the world in time and space. The Church has been given the power of the keys by Jesus to Peter and the Apostles to bind and loose; to forgive sins and to withhold forgiveness; to excommunicate and bring back into full communion; to bind people to their sins and to set them free; to withhold mercy and to apply it! It is this power of the Keys that stands over the reality of human freedom as exercised throughout human history by freely chosen acts of every human being for good or evil. 

St. Paul said, ‘Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the Church.’ From a utilitarian viewpoint, a bedridden victim of some disease appears to have “nothing to offer”.  But then, when Jesus hung on the cross he too seemed to have accomplished nothing useful for six hours. In fact, he accomplished the redemption of the world.  A suffering soul likewise can join his or her sufferings to Jesus and, in this mysterious exchange of love, do great and wonderful things for others. Especially for the Holy Souls in Purgatory!

We now come to the treasury of merit that acts like a dam keeping back the flood waters of sin that would otherwise have overwhelmed our world and brought it to an end! The treasury of merit is built by the works of Christ, Our Lady and the Saints. We too can contribute to this treasury when, in a state of grace, we offer up our trials, sufferings, tribulations and works of faith, hope and charity that occur in our earthly lives. By doing so we supernaturalise these natural acts and give them a vertical and a horizontal effect in effecting goodness over evil such that God’s grace works through our actions to make our actions powers of grace as they are done in a state of grace! If the totality of human sin is like a mountain then this treasury of merit as mercy is like an ocean. 

The Magisterium of the Church (the Pope and Bishops) by the power of the keys attaches indulgences to certain acts which remit, either partially or fully (plenary), the temporal punishments due for our sins and sins of the Holy Souls; what the Church calls partial or plenary indulgences. Indulgences apply the treasury of merit obtained by the works of Our Lord, Our Lady and the Saints to sinners on earth and in Purgatory that offsets the temporal punishments due for repented sins. What a wonderful gift of mercy are these indulgences! They reflect both God’s justice and God’s mercy and our freedom to cooperate with this grace.

The gift of Indulgences reflect both the mercy and justice of God but it also reflects human freedom that cooperates with grace. This means the treasury of merit is applied by us in a particular place, in a particular time for a particular purpose by our particular will as informed by truth held by faith in our particular minds. Notice the specificity and particularity of this gift of mercy which reflects the gift-nature of Grace. The infinite treasury of merit is applied by a finite human mind and will in a specific way in time and space as God does not ever take away human free will. Thus,  the Holy Soul at his or her funeral does need the Requiem Mass, but also needs Masses to be offered by us for him or her, indeed the Holy Souls need our prayers at the graveside, in the cemetery and our acts of penance. 

NOTE: Plenary indulgence is now attached to the whole of November when we pray for the holy souls, go to the cemetery and have masses offered for the holy souls!