Daily Archives: 2013/01/01

§ 1. A plenary indulgence is granted to the Christian faithful who, in a church or in an oratory, are present [take part] in a recitation or solemn chant of: …

1° the hymn Veni Creator … on the first day of the year, imploring divine assistance for the whole of the coming year…

Veni, Creator Spiritus,
mentes tuorum visita,
imple superna gratia
quae tu creasti pectora.

Qui diceris Paraclitus,
altissima donum Dei,
fons vivus, ignis, caritas,
et spiritalis unctio.

Tu, septiformis munere,
digitus paternae dexterae,
Tu rite promissum Patris,
sermone ditans guttura.

Accende lumen sensibus:
infunde amorem cordibus:
infirma nostri corporis
virtute firmans perpeti.

Hostem repellas longius,
pacemque dones protinus:
ductore sic te praevio
vitemus omne noxium.

Per te sciamus da Patrem,
noscamus atque Filium;
Teque utrisque Spiritum
credamus omni tempore.

Deo Patri sit gloria,
et Filio, qui a mortuis
surrexit, ac Paraclito,
in saeculorum saecula.
Amen.

Translation from EWTN:

Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest,
and in our souls take up Thy rest;
come with Thy grace and heavenly aid
to fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

O comforter, to Thee we cry,
O heavenly gift of God Most High,
O fount of life and fire of love,
and sweet anointing from above.

Thou in Thy sevenfold gifts are known;
Thou, finger of God’s hand we own;
Thou, promise of the Father, Thou
Who dost the tongue with power imbue.

Kindle our sense from above,
and make our hearts o’erflow with love;
with patience firm and virtue high
the weakness of our flesh supply.

Far from us drive the foe we dread,
and grant us Thy peace instead;
so shall we not, with Thee for guide,
turn from the path of life aside.

Oh, may Thy grace on us bestow
the Father and the Son to know;
and Thee, through endless times confessed,
of both the eternal Spirit blest.

Now to the Father and the Son,
Who rose from death, be glory given,
with Thou, O Holy Comforter,
henceforth by all in earth and heaven.
Amen.

The usual conditions for any plenary indulgence:

• Sacramental confession, within about 20 days before or after
• Eucharistic communion, preferably on the day, or the days before or after
• Prayer for the intentions of Supreme Pontiff, for instance, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Glory Be
• The will to be detached from even venial sin

I’m hoping my little Holy Souls Hermitage Chapel counts, and that the way I sing this, perhaps quite pitifully, will count as “solemn”!

I intend to ask our Lord to free my own soul from all that would stop its flight, please God, straight to heaven should I die any time soon!

Although only one plenary indulgence can be had per day for oneself or for a soul in purgatory (not someone else who is living on earth), I nevertheless intend to pray a rosary and ask our Lord to free the soul of a priest in purgatory. If he flies off to heaven because of this, perhaps he will greet me at the gates of heaven and help to welcome me, as I hope, into the eternal habitations, as they are called in the Gospels.

Nota Bene: Don’t think that our Lord is misery in indulging souls with His good graces. He is good and kind. There are many, however, who insist that an indulgence is farcical, that there is no such thing, insisting that the soul has to be virtually enjoying the beatific vision, transformed in grace as much as the Immaculate Conception, before any indulgence would be granted by our Lord, which, by the way, would make the indulgence superfluous, right?

No, no. The will to be detached from even venial sin means that this is one’s intention. It does not mean that one is not weak. Honestly!