Victor R. Claveau, MJ
This doctrine of the Church is an echo of Scripture and Tradition. The Old Testament is a history of the relations between God and Israel. This history is in a great measure the recital of the blessings that God bestowed upon this group of people as a reward for their fidelity to Him; it also makes clear that the punishments He imposed were occasioned by infidelity. What is most important is that these rewards and punishments were in some way dependent upon the actions of Israel.
The teaching of the New Testament is the doctrine that salvation has come for mankind through Jesus, and that each person can share in it by accepting Jesus’ gratuitous invitation to His kingdom, the Church.
“In presenting the individual’s role in attaining salvation, the Gospel writers make clear that Christ’s kingdom is a free gift to men, but they also point out that in taking it from Israel of old, Christ intended to extend His kingdom to those who would yield the fruits of it. Numerous instances in the Gospel insist that a reward has been promised to man’s works. For example, the Gospels attach the promise of a reward to love of enemies,[1] almsgiving,[2] forgiveness,[3] fasting,[4] faith,[5] perseverance in face of persecution,[6] and following Christ.[7] This correlation between works and reward is highlighted especially in the parable of the talents.[8] There the gratuity of God’s gifts and the notion that a reward is given for willingly using these gifts are placed side by side; and the parable suggests that God, in bestowing rewards, takes human efforts into account. It is valid to conclude that man’s efforts to serve God have a value. The Gospel writers by their general reiteration that a man’s work can deserve a reward thus provide the basic concept of merit.”[9]… “The Justified Man has an acquired intrinsic dignity, and God continues to act in a manner truly consonant with His nature, when He liberally rewards the good acts of such a man. For this reason theologians hold that a man in grace can congruently merit special a grace (even the grace of justification itself) for another man. This doctrine is basic to the understanding Catholics hold regarding the propriety of praying for another. Finally, a man who is the state of sin cannot congruently merit the grace of repentance for himself—nor can he merit in behalf of another. The reason for maintaining this position is the fact that loss of grace deprives a man of any basis for a title to God’s liberality.”[10] (Emphasis mine)
Further, the New Testament declares the meritoriousness of good works before God. “But the just shall live for evermore: and their reward is with the Lord.”[11] “Be not afraid to be justified even to death: for the reward of God continues forever.”[12] Christ Himself adds a special reward to each of the Eight Beatitudes and he ends with this fundamental thought: “Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven.”[13] In His description of the Last Judgment, He makes the possession of eternal bliss depend on the practice of the corporal works of mercy.[14] Although Saint Paul insists on nothing more strongly than the absolute gratuitousness of Christian grace, still he acknowledges merits founded on grace and also the reward due to them on the part of God, which he variously calls “prize”[15] “reward”,[16] “crown of justice.”[17] It is worthy of note that, these and many others good works are not represented as mere adjuncts of justifying faith, but as real fruits of justification and, in part, causes of our eternal happiness. And the greater the merit, the greater will be the reward in heaven.[18] Thus the Bible itself refutes the assertion that the idea of merit is originally foreign to the Gospel. That Christian grace can be merited either by the observance of the Jewish law or by mere natural works, this alone is foreign to the Bible. On the other hand, eternal reward is promised in the Bible to those supernatural works which are performed in the state of grace, and that because they are meritorious.[19]
In accord with the Bible, the Church teaches that the external work has a moral value only when and insofar as it proceeds from a right interior disposition and intention.[20] In other words, the beneficial act must be done solely out of the love of God; not for any personal benefit. In a beautiful play on words St. Augustine says: Bonos mores faciunt boni amores. Good loves make good lives.”[21]
Our good works can and do have merit and will be rewarded. The good works may be done either directly for the honor and glory of God or indirectly by doing good to our neighbor, for God regards as done to Himself what is done to our neighbor.[22] Whenever we perform a spiritual or corporal work of mercy while in a state of grace, simply out of love for Christ and not for personal gain, we gain merit. This merit provides satisfaction to Christ. The performance of every good work involves a certain amount of hardship or sacrifice and consequently self-denial, and this when borne out of love of God, compensates for past sins. “Above all hold unfailing your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.”[23] The Catechism quotes St. John of the Cross: “At the evening of our life, we shall be judged on our love.”[24] Perfect love covers all sins.
Saint Cyprian:
“When we offend God willfully, we make ourselves liable to His justice for a debt of punishment, which contrition (Confession) and absolution are not always sufficient to cancel. On the other hand, Jesus, His Blessed Mother, and His saints have acquired by their superabundant sufferings an inexhaustible treasury of satisfactory merits. These satisfactions would be useless unless they are given to those who might benefit from them. God allows these satisfactions to be transferred from the Treasury of Merit to individuals or to the poor souls in purgatory, by the power of the Keys of the Church.”[25]
Starting from these principles, which are grounded upon faith, let us examine the ways such a transfer or donation of satisfactory merits can take place within the Church.
There are three ways in which this transfer may take place. First, it may be made by a private individual of the Church; secondly, by a limited community of the faithful bound together by a common profession of faith, such as a religious community or the faithful in a parish, or third, this transfer may be made out of the Treasury of the whole Church, by those authorized to dispense these merits. The first two ways are not indulgences.
Each of us may accumulate an individual treasury of merit. We can make satisfaction for others by asking God to transfer the merit we have gained to another living person. There can be no doubt that an individual may apply to another his own satisfactions.
Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea relates that the Apostle John had succeeded in bringing back to the fold of Christ a thief who had been committing crimes for many years and despaired of finding God’s mercy. St. John encouraged him by saying, “Why, my son, dost thou flee from me, your own father, unarmed, aged? Pity me, my son; fear not; thou hast still hope of life. I will give account to Christ for thee. If need be, I will willingly endure thy death as the Lord suffered death for us. For thee will I give up my life.”[26] Thus, Saint John gave to this sinner the satisfactions from his personal treasury, which he himself had acquired.
Accordingly, individuals in the state of grace can make satisfactions for the sins of others. This type of transfer, however, made by an individual member of the Church and unwarranted by the endorsement of the Church, is not considered to be an indulgence. Indulgences are granted out of the Treasury of Merit, whereas this concession originates from a private person’s spiritual fund.
[1] Matthew 5:46.
[2] Ibid. 6:1.
[3] Ibid. 6:15.
[4]Ibid. 6:18.
[5] Luke 12:8
[6] Matthew 13:18.
[7] Ibid. 11:29.
[8] Luke 19:11.
[9] New Catholic Encyclopedia, (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company), 1967, Vol. IX, p. 683.
[10] Ibid. p.686.
[11] Wisdom 5:16.
[12] Sirach 18:22.
[13] Matthew 5:12.
[14] Matthew 25:34 sqq.
[15] Philippians 3:14; 1 Corinthians 9:24.
[16] Colossians 3:24; 1 Corinthians 3:8.
[17] 2 Timothy 4:7 sq.; cf. James 1:12.
[18] cf. Matthew 16:27; 1 Corinthians 3:8; 2 Corinthians 9:6.
[19] cf. Matthew 25:34 sqq.; Romans 2:6 sqq.; 2 Corinthians 5:10.
[20] cf. Matthew 6:1 sqq.; Mark 12:41 sqq.; 1 Corinthians 10:31, etc.
[21] Sermon 3, n. 11.
[22] Concerning Repentance. Book 2, Chapter 10, 96.
[23] Peter 4:8.
[24] Catechism of the Catholic Church §1022; by St. John of the Cross.
[25] Cyprian of Carthage, A treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop, 14.
[26] The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series, Vol. 1, The Church History of Eusebius, (Grand Rapids, MI. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991), p. 152.