Bible Question: The prayer to St. Michael if repeated daily has an indulgece of 3 years , what is that referring to and mean? |
Bible Answer: Praying to saints is a popular Roman Catholic devotion; but it is not Bible-based, i.e. it does not say anywhere in the Bible that a prayer to St. Michael repeated daily will gain any indulgence at all. According to the Roman Catholic Church, "An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment for sin the guilt of which is already forgiven, which a properly disposed member of the Christian faithful obtains under certain and definite conditions. It is granted by the Church which, as the minister of redemption, authoritatively dispenses and applies the treasury of the merits of Christ and the Saints." I.e. The Catholic Church believes that souls will suffer in Purgatory for their forgiven sins, for non-forgiven ones they will get to hell. By indulgence the punishment is eliminated partially or completely. Besides, there is no direct Biblical evidence for the existence of Purgatory either. So the answer to your question is, shortly: it means that if you repeat a prayer to St. Michael from now on until the end of your life, you will not suffer in Purgatory for sins equivalent to 3 years in your life. But, as I said, neither this, nor the existence of Purgatory is stated anywhere in the Bible; the Roman Catholic Church claims to know them by Revelation. God bless you, Zsuzsi |