Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This May we are embarking on a pilgrimage to celebrate a festival of indulgences—a journey to taste God’s merciful love.
Ours is a merciful God who is always ready to forgive. But He is also a Holy God. We often think of forgiveness in terms of forgiving and forgetting. The reality is that sins have consequences. Even though God is forgiving and ever-ready to forgive, the reality remains that God is Holy and the justice due to His holiness means that we do have to pay the price of our sins that have been forgiven.
The act of forgiveness does restore relationships and it does remove guilt. However, it does not necessarily remove the physical, social legal effects of one’s action. For example. I have slandered a parishioner. I realised my sin. I asked for forgiveness and the kind parishioner forgave me. That act restored our relationship. However, the consequence of my sin of slander continues and the slandered person continues to pay the price of my forgiven sin. We should not buy into the lie that there are no consequences when we have sinned. There are. We pay the consequences either here on earth. Think of King David who suffered for the sins he committed. Or we pay the consequences in purgatory.
Thus, a plenary indulgence represents the remission of temporal punishment (time in Purgatory) for sins already forgiven through confession. It wipes away all punishment owed for past sins. We can obtain a plenary indulgence once per day. Since we are sinners, a plenary does not cover future sins. That means we can get it more than once.
This journey of God’s mercy will take us to two Churches, amongst others. Firstly, this year marks the 800th anniversary of the Transitus of St Francis of Assisi. A visit to a Franciscan Church where the relic of St Francis is kept can gain us a plenary indulgence. Secondly, the Church of the Holy Family is celebrating her 125th anniversary and central to this jubilee is the granting of a plenary indulgence by the Apostolic Penitentiary on behalf of the Holy Father.
The conditions attached to the gaining of indulgence are
1. Detachment from all sin which means to have an interior disposition that desires not to sin or not be attached to sin.
2. Going for the Sacrament of Confession (within 15 days of visiting Holy Family Church or St Francis of Assisi Church).
3. Participate in the Eucharist that is attending and receiving Holy Communion.
4. Pray for the Pope’s Intention.
We are mounting 3 buses that will bring us to the Church of St Jude in Rawang, Church of St Francis of Assisi in Cheras on 18th May and the next day, 19th May, we will visit the Church of St Francis Xavier in Petaling Jaya and end up celebrating Mass in Church of the Holy Family in Kajang.
Time is short. Sign up now before the places are taken up. “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage." (Ps 84:5)
God bless
Padre
亲爱的主内弟兄姐妹们：
今年五月，我们将踏上一段寻求大赦的朝圣之旅——一段亲身体验天主仁慈之爱的旅程。
我们的天主是仁慈的天主，时常准备宽恕我们的天主。但祂同时也是圣洁的天主。我们常把宽恕理解为既往不咎。然而现实是，犯了罪是须要承担后果的。虽然天主宽恕我们，并且随时愿意给予宽恕，但祂的圣洁以及与之相称的公义却意味着即使罪已被宽恕，我们仍需为这些罪付出代价。
宽恕的行为确实能修复关系，也能除去罪疚；但它不一定会消除这些行为身体、社会或法律上所带来的后果。举个例子：我曾诽谤一位堂区教友，后来我意识到自己的罪，向对方请求宽恕，而那位善良的教友也原谅了我。这个宽恕恢复了我们的关系，但诽谤所造成的后果仍然存在，被诽谤的人仍在承受因我犯的罪所带来的伤害。我们不应相信“犯罪没有后果”这种谎言——事实上是有的。我们要么在今世承担后果，例如达味王因其所犯的罪而受苦；要么在炼狱中偿还。
因此，全大赦是指对那些已经通过告解而被赦免的罪及其“暂罚”（即在炼狱中的补赎时间）的免除。它能消除因过去的罪过所应受的一切惩罚。我们每天可以获得一次全大赦。由于我们仍是罪人，全大赦并不涵盖未来所犯的罪，因此我们可以多次获得全大赦。
这次体验天主仁慈的朝圣，将带领我们前往几座教堂的其中两座。首先，今年是圣方济‧亚西西“归主”（Transitus）800周年。前往一座保存圣方济圣髑的方济各会教堂朝圣，可获得全大赦。其次，圣家堂正在庆祝成立125周年，而此次庆典的核心之一，是宗座圣赦院代表教宗颁赐的全大赦。
获得大赦的条件如下：
1) 与一切罪恶脱离，即内心真诚渴望不再犯罪，也不依恋任何罪。
2) 办和好圣事（在参访圣家堂或圣方济‧亚西西堂后15天内）。
3) 参与感恩祭，即参与弥撒并领受圣体。
4) 为教宗的意向祈祷。
我们将安排三辆巴士：5月18日前往万扰的圣犹达堂，以及蕉赖的圣方济‧亚西西堂；翌日5月19日，将前往八打灵再也的圣方济‧沙勿略堂，并在加影的圣家堂参与弥撒作为行程的结束。
时间紧迫，请尽快报名，以免向隅。“那以你作为自己的助佑，居心朝圣的人，真是有福！”（咏84:6）
愿天主降福你们！
杨光明神父
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