Indulgence vs. Promise

Every year, as we draw close to Divine Mercy Sunday, I see this debate: Which is greater, the Promise of Divine Mercy Sunday or the Plenary Indulgence.

The Promise of Divine Mercy started in the 1930’s with Christ’s relationship with a specific religious nun named Sister Maria Faustina. For a little less than a decade, this sister received a serious of visions that especially emphasis Christ’s desire for man to rely on His Divine Mercy. This is a passage that Sister Faustina wrote in her Diary of Christ’s call to establish a special day of promise.

“My daughter, tell the whole world about my inconceivable mercy. I desire that the feast of mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially poor sinners. On that day the very depths of my tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of my mercy. The soul that will go to confession and receive holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. … My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter” (Diary, No. 699).

After official review and approval of both Sister Faustina and her writings, Faustina was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II on April 30, 2000. On this same day, at the canonization homily, the Pope stated that “from now on throughout the church (the second Sunday of Easter) will be called Divine Mercy Sunday.” And so Divine Mercy Sunday was established as a liturgical celebration, with the promise Christ made assumably in effect.

The Indulgence of Divine Mercy was established on June 13, 2002, also by Pope St. John Paul II. The Decree for this can be found in the Manuel of Indulgences, and the indulgence criteria reads as such:

“A plenary indulgence, granted under the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer for the intentions of Supreme Pontiff) to the faithful who, on the Second Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday, in any church or chapel, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held in honour of Divine Mercy, or who, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g., “Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!”); A partial indulgence, granted to the faithful who, at least with a contrite heart, pray to the merciful Lord Jesus a legitimately approved invocation.”

So which IS greater? The promise of Divine Mercy Sunday or the Plenary Indulgence?

Many sources answer this question and say that the promise is greater, while fewer to no sources claim that the indulgence is greater. The reasons they sight is because the promise has less requirements to meet than the indulgence.

In order to gain the promise the requirements are understood to be: Go to confession, Receive communion, be in a State of Grace, and place complete trust in Jesus.

In order to gain the *plenary indulgence the requirements are: Go to confession, Receive communion, Pray for the Pope’s intentions, have a heart Detached from sin, and complete a (Divine Mercy Sunday) indulgenced work. Other basic conditions must also be met for plenary indulgences, like being in a State of Grace, Baptized, and not Excommunicated.

Both promise the remission of sin and punishment, and must take place on Divine Mercy Sunday (although, to clarify, the partial indulgences may be done on any day).

Now I will dive into my opinion and answer to this question...

Based off of these observations, it would appear that the Promise (4 requirements) is less demanding than the Indulgence (8 requirements). But I want to point out that, with a very limited exception for persons on their deathbed, the requirements are actually more equal to each other then they appear.

In order to fulfill the requirements for the Promise, you must also be Baptized and not Excommunicated (in order to partake in communion) which would make the requirements number more like 4 to 6. Of those 4 and 6 requirements, 3 of them are exactly the same for both devotions. Go to confession, Receive communion, and be in a State of Grace. I would argue lastly that the effort to be Detached from sin and placing one’s complete trust in Jesus are actions that are similar in effort (That is; prayerfully resolving, to the best of your ability, to Trust or Detach). Usually sources argue that Detachment is harder to achieve than Trust, but I don’t think so. I believe that, when you surrender anything to God, one thing is not any easier or harder than the other.

Ultimately, all of this is to point out that I do not believe the Promise or Indulgence to be all that different from each other. Certainly not different enough to argue that one is necessarily greater because it is easier.

So how would I personally argue which is greater over the other? My answer is actually this: That together, both are greater than either one is alone!

Like I mentioned, the efforts needed for both are mostly equal (With the Indulgence requiring a few more prayers for both the Pope’s intentions and for the indulgence work.) Also, like I mentioned, 3 of the requirements are the exact same for both the Promise and the Indulgence. And since there is no such thing as limiting a confession or reception of communion to a single intention, we may assume that fulfilling the 3 mutual requirements would not need to be preformed twice in order to satisfy the two devotion. They may simultaneously satisfy both the Promise and the Indulgence. At this point, once you have completed these 3 same requirements, you would be over half way in completing both of these devotions at once.

From this point you could make a single prayerful resolution to both Renounce any Attachment to Sin and to fully Trust in Jesus. This would make it so that the Promise of Divine Mercy would be fulfilled and the only additional things to do for the Indulgence would be to pray for the Pope’s intentions and to either “take part in the prayers and devotions held in honour of Divine Mercy” (in any church or chapel), or “in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament..., recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus” (in any church or chapel). Please note that, considering that communion must be received on Divine Mercy Sunday, in order to gain the Promise, you would likely already be in a church or chapel that would qualify for the indulgence. Again, all of this is to point out that the requirements for the Promise and Indulgence are not very different from each other. And, in fact, they go hand-in-hand so that if you are actively working on one of them you are basically completing the other.

Why, still, would you want to put in the additional effort to achieve both devotions? So far I have presented the argument that most sources do; that the Promise requires less actions to achieve it (even if, after examination, it is only easier by a little bit). However, if I was forced to say that only one of these was greater then the other, I would be reluctant to not mention the benefits that indulgences have, even some benefits that I view as Greater then the Divine Mercy Promise. The first benefit is that indulgences may not only be applied to one’s self, but they may also be offered for the poor souls in purgatory. Secondly, Indulgences also have the benefit of being a devotion that can be acquired every day of the year, which is not a benefit of Divine Mercy Promise. Could these reasons be enough to challenge the usual claim that the Promise is greater? Perhaps. But sticking to my original answer, I argue that these benefits are precisely the reason that makes both of these devotions complimentary for each other.

A plenary indulgence may only be gained one-per-day (with limited exceptions) and it is assumed that the Divine Mercy Promise may also only be gained once on the day of Divine Mercy Sunday. But since the Promise is not an indulgence, and visa versa, it is conceivable that both of these devotions, which both promise remission of sin/punishment, may be gained on the same day. The Promise may only be applied to one’s self, while the indulgence may be applied to one’s self or to the select group of poor souls. The application to the poor souls in purgatory is precisely what draws me to indulgences in the first place, and in unison these two devotions would allow that you do not have to choose whether to give or retain the remission you receive. You may do both! So, what I personally prefer and promote is to obtaining both of these in the same day. In this way, are utilizing both gifts to the fullest, and you are not caught in a dilemma of choosing either your soul or the needs of other poor souls.

So, when Divine Mercy comes, this is my recommended ‘to do’ list:

1) go to confession (around the time of Divine Mercy Sunday, although it is generally understood that it does not have to be on the exact date of Divine Mercy Sunday. You may consider going 20 days before or after if you follow the indulgence recommendations)

2) receive eucharistic communion (most sources agree that, in order to gain the Promise, you must go specifically on Divine Mercy Sunday or on that Saturday vigil.)

3) make prayerful resolutions to Renounce any Attachment to Sin and to fully Trust in Jesus.

4) pray an Our Father and Hail Mary (or other prayers done in devotion, maybe even the divine Mercy chaplet) for the Pope’s intentions. (This may be done up to 20 days before or after, and you do not need to know the Pope’s specific intentions so long as you pray ‘for the Pope’s intentions.’)

5) complete either of the indulgence works for Divine Mercy (I recommend reciting an Our Father (separate from the one for the Pope’s intentions), the Creed, and pray to the merciful Lord Jesus before the Blessed Sacrament, since you will likely be at church with the Eucharist in the tabernacle already. There’s no specific criteria for if the prayer prayed to the Merciful Lord Jesus must be ‘approved’ or not, but I would recommend that the safest prayer options would be either the one recommended above, (“Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!”) or any prayer from the Divine Mercy Chaplet.)

Note: being in a State of Grace (and Baptized, and not Excommunicated) on Divine Mercy Sunday should be as available to us as it is on a normal day. So long as you are Christian/Catholic in good standing and have not committed *unconfessed mortal sin, it is safe to believe that you would not have to do anything additional to re/gain any of these statuses.

Now, before I conclude, I do have to mention one other thing. Divine Mercy Sunday is not the only instance that has a Promise and an Indulgence attached to it. I am not fully versed in the history behind the origins of all of the indulgences, but just in the few years I haves studied them examples have come to light that are very similar to Divine Mercy. For example, August 2 is known as the day of the “Portiuncula” indulgence. This day has a similar story that involves a promise made to St. Francis, who was given the promise that, if anyone does certain requirements (similar to the Divine Mercy requirements), and they specifically visit the Portiuncula church near Assisi Italy, that Christ would grant that person the same remissions of sin/punishment. Later the Church granted an indulgence themed after this promise too. Another example might come from the history of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, although I’m still exploring at history so I’m not sure.

I present this information to show that having an Indulgence created to reflect a promise is not unheard of, and that in these cases too I would recommend that doing both the Promise and the Indulgence are great when they are in doneunison (not that one is greater than the other). So, if you ever hear of two similar devotions, please consider utilizing both if you can. The blessings of God are only limitless if we don’t limits them ourselves.