12/20/2020
Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,
Christmas is almost upon us! It's a great time of the year and I hope that your Christmas is very merry. Pope Francis has given us a great Christmas present this year by calling this year the Year of St. Joseph! There are many special graces God will dispense to us this year. There are a number of indulgences (opportunities to gain special graces) this year and there is a cheat sheet for them below. We're working on what special events we should hold this year in honor of St. Joseph (and if you have any great ideas about that let us know!)
Last Sunday some of the Masses were not live-streamed. We're sorry about that! Spectrum's internet service went out in parts of the West Village that weekend and we had no internet service until Sunday afternoon, so the Masses couldn't be live-streamed.
Year of St. Joseph Indulgences Information:
Below is a summary of how to use indulgences and what the special indulgences are for the Year of St. Joseph. The summary is written by Maria Cicero, our parish expert on indulgences. Afterward, I’ve included an excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on indulgences for background.
We should take joy in these indulgences especially as we celebrate Christmas. Christ came to grant us His mercy – and indulgences are one way in which we participate in God’s mercy. They are channels of His grace that heal and transform us and those we love and thus are a part of God’s salvation. By removing the temporal penalties of sin they free us from our afflictions and bring us and our loved ones the joy and peace God wants for us.
The bottom line is that indulgences help people out of purgatory faster and so it's a good and pious practice to use indulgences to help those whom we love who have already departed from this world. We can still help them and show our love for them. They can also help us too!
Have a blessed Advent & a Merry Christmas,
Fr. Boniface
Summary of how to use indulgences & the special ones this year,
by Maria Cicero:
Pope Francis announced that a special year dedicated to St. Joseph will occur from December 8, 2020 – December 8, 2021. The Pope hailed St. Joseph as a model of fatherhood and a key intercessor in modern times. The December 8 date holds much meaning, not only as the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception but this year, it marked the 150th anniversary of Pope Pius IX proclaiming St. Joseph as the Patron Saint of the Universal Church.
The Apostolic Penitentiary also issued a decree granting the faithful special indulgences during this special year to celebrate the anniversary and “to perpetuate the entrustment of the whole Church to the powerful patronage of the Custodian of Jesus.”
What is a plenary indulgence?
Plenary indulgences remit all temporal punishment due to sin and are obtained through participation in prayer and good works. They must be accompanied by full detachment from sin, including venial sin, as well as sacramental Confession*, Eucharistic Communion* and prayer for the Pope’s intentions*. The faithful can obtain plenary indulgences for themselves, or they can apply them to the dead.
*These sacred rites and prayers should be carried out within several days (about 20) before or after the indulgenced act. The prayer for the Pope's intentions is left to the choice of the faithful, but an "Our Father" and a "Hail Mary" are suggested. One sacramental Confession suffices for several plenary indulgences, but a separate Holy Communion and a separate prayer for the Holy Father's intentions are required for each plenary indulgence.
During the Year of St. Joseph, there are 12 unique ways to receive a plenary indulgence:
- By meditating for at least 30 minutes on the Lord’s Prayer. The decree reads that “St. Joseph invites us to rediscover our filial relationship with the Father, to renew fidelity to prayer, to listen and correspond with profound discernment to God’s will.”
- By participating in a spiritual retreat for at least one day that includes a meditation on St. Joseph.
- By entrusting one’s daily work and activity to the protection of St. Joseph.
- By praying for St. Joseph’s intercession for the unemployed so that they can find dignifying work. On May 1, 1955, Pope Pius XII instituted the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker “with the intent that the dignity of work be recognized by all, and that it inspires social life and laws, based on the fair distribution of rights and duties.”
- By praying for persecuted Christians by reciting the Litany to St. Joseph, the Akathistos to St. Joseph (for Byzantine Catholics), or any other prayer to St. Joseph that’s appropriate for other liturgical traditions. The decree also notes that “the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt shows us that God is there where man is in danger, where man suffers, where he runs away, where he experiences rejection and abandonment.”
- By following St. Joseph’s example and performing a corporal work of mercy. Examples include feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the imprisoned, visiting the sick, and burying the dead.
- By performing one of the spiritual works of mercy, such as comforting the sorrowful, counseling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, admonishing the sinner, bearing wrongs patiently, forgiving injuries, and praying for the living and the dead. The decree notes that St. Joseph “encourages us to rediscover the value of silence, prudence, and loyalty in carrying out our duties.”
- By engaged couples praying the rosary together.
- By families praying the rosary together so that “all Christian families may be stimulated to recreate the same atmosphere of intimate communion, love, and prayer that was in the Holy Family.”
- By praying an approved prayer to St. Joseph (e.g., “To you, O blessed Joseph…..”) on any day of the Year of St. Joseph, but especially on: December 27 (Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph); March 19 (Solemnity of St. Joseph); May 1 (Feast of St. Joseph the Worker); the 19th of each month; every Wednesday (the traditional day of the week for devotions to St. Joseph); St. Joseph’s Sunday (the Sunday after Christmas in the Byzantine tradition); and suitable days of other liturgical rites in the Eastern Catholic Churches.
- By engaging in an act of piety in honor of St. Joseph on any day of the Year of St. Joseph, but especially on those days mentioned directly above in #10.
- The elderly, the sick, the dying, and all of those who are unable to leave their homes, primarily due to the COVID pandemic, have special permission to receive an indulgence by offering their pains, discomforts, and hardships to God, along with a prayer to St. Joseph, who is the Hope of the Sick and the Patron Saint of a Happy Death. These people must also have the intention to fulfill all of the conditions for an indulgence as soon as possible.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1471-3:
What is an indulgence?
“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 prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.”
“An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin.” The faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead.83
The Punishments of Sin
1472 To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the “eternal punishment” of sin. On the other hand 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. This purification frees one from what is called the “temporal punishment” of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain. (1861; 1031)
1473 The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the “old man” and to put on the “new man.” (2447)
