Indulgences

What is an indulgence? According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, an indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven
(CCC 1471). For example, lets say Bob stole a piece of gum. Bob feels guilty, returns the gum, then goes to confession. Even though he was absolved of all sin, he still bears the guilt of his sin, and he may also be watched when he goes shopping at the store. An indulgence is simply a task one performs to reconcile with the party that one has sinned against. So lets say that the manager of the store sees that Bob is a nice kid, he may give him a task to earn back the trust of the store. Once Bob does said task, he will be able to freely shop at the store.

In real life, indulgences are used by the Catholic Church on occasion. However, only the Pope and his bishops may assign them. The Pope has the ability to give them as he sees fit, however, the bishops may only give an indulgence once a year, and they have a set of restricted guidelines to follow.

All of us here are sinners. Those of us in the Catholic Church go to confession and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. However, too often we do not take the extra step to reconcile with those we have hurt. Accepting responsibility for your actions may give you good character, but reconciling with those you have sinned against can make you holy. So long as there is a rift between the affected parties, the relationship will never be the same.