Plenary Indulgence for the Year of Faith

Last week, it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI will grant the faithful Plenary Indulgence on the occasion of the Year of Faith. The announcement says:

During the Year of Faith, which will last from 11 October 2012 to 24 November 2013, Plenary Indulgence for the temporal punishment of sins, imparted by the mercy of God and applicable also to the souls of deceased faithful, may be obtained by all faithful who, truly penitent, take Sacramental Confession and the Eucharist and pray in accordance with the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff.

(A) Each time they attend at least three sermons during the Holy Missions, or at least three lessons on the Acts of the Council or the articles of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in church or any other suitable location.

(B) Each time they visit, in the course of a pilgrimage, a papal basilica, a Christian catacomb, a cathedral church or a holy site designated by the local ordinary for the Year of Faith (for example, minor basilicas and shrines dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Apostles or patron saints), and there participate in a sacred celebration, or at least remain for a congruous period of time in prayer and pious meditation, concluding with the recitation of the Our Father, the Profession of Faith in any legitimate form, and invocations to the Blessed Virgin Mary and, depending on the circumstances, to the Holy Apostles and patron saints.

Touch Him and You Shall Become Pure

Today is the feast of St. Clare of Assisi, the 13^th century saint who rejected noble wealth for a life of poverty and humility.

Inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, Clare followed the deepest desires of her heart at the age of 18 and left everything her aristocratic family had to offer. She became a virgin bride of Christ, courageously dawning a coarse brown habit and letting go of all material things with full faith and trust in God.

Clare was one of the first women to adopt a life of poverty and service. Others followed, and eventually she founded a new religious order: the Poor Clares. These nuns lived much like St. Francis’s friars, accepting no material property and leaving everything up to Divine Providence. The order also adopted St. Clare’s most precious charism: a deep love for the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

We can learn many things from the life of St. Clare of Assisi, but her detachment from all material things is perhaps the most inspiring and certainly the most difficult to imitate today. Pope Benedict XVI addressed this last Sunday in his Angelus address. Earthy desires are not necessarily bad, he said, but it is important to recognize that only God can satisfy the heart: