An indulgence is attached to the work: Reading of Sacred Scripture.
For Who: Anyone
For When: Any day of the year
For Where: Any location
Partial or Plenary: Both
As written in the Manuel of Indulgences, under Grant 30:
30
READING OF SACRED SCRIPTURE
§1 A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who read the Sacred Scriptures as spiritual reading, from a text approved by competent authority and with the reverence due to the divine word, for at least a half an hour; if the time is less, the indulgence will be partial.
§2 If for some good reason a person is unable to read the Sacred Scriptures, a plenaryor partial indulgence is granted, as above, if the text of Sacred Scripture is listened to while another person is reading or if it is heard by means of a video or audio recording.
So, a PLENARY Indulgence is granted to those who, in addition to fulfilling all the other requirements, reads the Sacred Scripture as spiritual reading and in the reverence due to it for at least a half an hour. The text is also approved by a competent authority Furthermore, A PLENARY Indulgence may also be granted to the faithful if; for some good reason that a person is unable to read the Sacred Scriptures, they listen to another person reading, a video recording or an audio recording, under the same rules as above.
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A PARTIAL Indulgence is granted to those who read Sacred Scripture, who either intending to only obtaining a partial indulgence this way, or to those attempting to gain a plenary indulgence but they fail to obtain it in some way or another. Some examples of what this may look like are:
1) The reading of Sacred Scripture, though qualifiable in every other way, was not read for at least a half an hour.
2) The same situation as above, but one was listens to another person reading, a video recording or an audio recording.
3) The other conditions necessary to gain a Plenary Indulgence are less than fulfilled.
4) One’s state of heart is contrite, but not fully detached from affections towards sin.
5) Though qualifiable in every other way, a Plenary Indulgence has already been obtained for that day in another way.
These are only a few instances that would lead to a partial indulgence, either by choice or by accident.
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Examining further, please allow me to address portions of this indulgence so that we may ponder deeper as to what are reasonable perimeters and expectations to have as we attempt to gain this indulgence:
Addressing “a text approved.”
In this world there are many, many linguistic interpretations and sources that have Sacred Scripture in them. The Bible itself is the leading source and the most complete source of the Sacred Scripture. However, this Grant has a certain openness to other sources that carry Sacred Scripture. Just off the top of my head, I’m thinking of things like pocket bibles that only hold the gospels or new testament, Mass aids that compile the daily readings, or even smartphone apps that are geared towards scripture. Certainly these items, especially if they are promoted or put to use by the Church, wouldn’t cause any issue if we used them for gaining this indulgence.
At least, there should be no problem with it as these are merely items that carries Sacred Scripture. Something that we would more likely have to be careful about is what translation of scripture we should be using. Whether in a bible or a scripture aid it's important to note that there are over 60 translations of Sacred Scripture in the English language alone. (count based off available translations through the website biblegateway.com). Why so many? Well when an interpreter takes a text, like Scripture, with the purpose of rewriting it in a new language or in a way that will be better digested by a reader (usually done in the same language), that interpreter has some very important decisions to make of how he translates that text.
Referring to the photo here, this gives a visual of the 3 most likely ways an interpreter can choose to produce a translation. Each way of interpretation has its pros and cons, but the Church often finds that half way between Thought-for-Thought interpretations ("Dynamic") and Word-for-Word interpretations ("Literal") give the best interpretations. "Paraphrase" or Idea-for-idea interpretations are often not recommended.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has a list of approved translations that can be found HERE which leads us into our next address...
Addressing “competent authority.”
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is certainly a competent authority. However, there is no official definition or perimeters given to define what “competent authority” actually means or who it all includes. I’ll start by saying I would recommend trusting in higher Catholic authorities like this counsel, just to be safe. At that level we can have confidence that decisions, discussions and discernments are happening at length before any official statements are released... So as to not mislead the laity.
But I also know, and want to propose to you, that sometimes people (like myself) like to be much stricter than needed when things are unclear. By being stricter it prevents people from straying to far away. However, I know that sometimes it also serves to cut off other valid options by being too strict! Does “competent authority” only include large counsels and up? Or, could this include the discretion of a smaller counsel or your local bishop? How about the discretion of your local priest? Or could it include even the discretion of lay ministers that are entrusted by the church to teach and serve you, especially if what they are entrusted with is teaching on the bible? I don’t have a definitive answer to this question, but it sure gives us something to think about.
Addressing “reverence due to the divine word.”
The Church has always held a high reverence for Sacred Scripture, and in this indulgence that doesn't change. Found in the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (CCC) it says this:
“103 For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord's Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God's Word and Christ's Body.66
104 In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, "but as what it really is, the word of God".67 "In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them."68
This means this indulgence would not be satisfied by us reading Sacred Scripture in the same way that we would, let's say, read a text book. Nor in a way like we may read a scripted drama. The Scriptures are alive! All though we may not always feel emotional about it we should always be able to recognize that as we enter into Scripture we are embarking on an encounter with God.
Addressing “some good reason” and why a person may be unable to read the Sacred Scriptures.
In official Indulgence documents there is often a lot of care taken to address those who are impeded. Certainly those who have an impediment that prevents them from reading at length or at all qualifies them for this exception, no questions asked.
However, similar to what I mentioned above in the “competent authority” address, sometimes people like to be much stricter than they need to be when things are unclear. Unclear like what are the limits of “some good reason” that may not go as far as an impediments? What is the range of reasons that apply and how long-standing does this prevention of reading have to be?
For example, I occasionally will turn on an audio bible at the end of the day while I’m laying in bed (my eyes are too tired to read) or when I’m driving in my car I naturally have to listen so as to keep my eyes on the road. Certainly these are reasons why I wouldn’t be able to read in the moment, but are they within the range of what would be considered a “good” reason, or are they not? This would be another thing to think about and perhaps discuss with peers and pastors.
Addressing “by means of a video or audio recording.”
With the practice of indulgences being so long-standing, sometimes I have to remind myself that the Church is really very good at keeping them up to speed in our current times. That is, our current age of media on demand. Youtube, Google, Zoom calls, podcasts, apps, streaming services, etc. you name it! So when this and other indulgences address video and audio recordings, this is not just from a time when we had to rent or record videos for our TVs, or purchase/check out of the library a cassette or CD. Should I need to look up a half an hour’s worth of scripture text, a voice recording or even a live stream of the very thing I need, it is right at my fingertips.
So this about sums up this particular indulgence Grant. Again, I remind you that this Grant is one of only a few that can be done every day (it’s not dependent on a special day or occasion). For myself, often when I attend Masses on the weekend or occasionally on week days, I find that this is one of my go-to’s actions to obtain an indulgence. For a partial indulgence, and just to make sure I lay my eyes on a bit scripture every day, I have a Catholic Bible app downloaded on my phone and set to send me a verse notification once a day. This alone should be good for obtaining a partial indulgence, as long as I fulfill the additional requirement of a contrite heart. Truly this indulgence Grant type should be one of the easiest we can incorporate into our lives, and I encourage you to do just that.
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