The road to heaven is never easy, and yet some people don't even see it. 😂Why? The devil does everything to bring people to hell. Evil beings make it harder for us to go to heaven by making us stupid and ignorant. We might think we're smart but we don't know anything like Jon Snow.
Ignorance + lies + hate = road to hell. That's the most visible path but it's magically transformed to look like you're going to heaven. You might doubt that but here are some ways the devil does it:
Okay, first, for those unaware a plenary indulgence is the "remission of temporal punishment". Temporal punishment is what happens after death when you end up in purgatory even after you have confessed all your sins. Now we should all aim for heaven that's why we have to gain as many indulgences as we can!
St. Therese of Lisieux said we need graces to get to heaven. Don Bosco (St. John Bosco) said we should gain plenary indulgences.
To earn it, one must have the intention of gaining a plenary indulgence when doing each of these:
1 . Go to confession to be in a state of grace and complete detachment of sin. (Free from grave, mortal and even venial sin.)
2 . Go to mass and take Communion.
3 . Pray for the Pope/Holy Father's intention/s. (Our Father and Hail Mary, 1 each.)
4 . Perform certain acts as advocated by the Church to gain it. (For example, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for 30 mins or more, praying the rosary as a group or family, praying the Way of the Cross, etc.)
Note: Steps 2 & 3 is recommended to be done on the same day if possible. All must be done within 20 days at most to gain 1 plenary indulgence. But of course everyone can even gain a plenary indulgence daily if one really works on it diligently.
1. First, of course, is ignorance. Second is religious lukewarmness.
I've been seeing the term occasionally but a tepid and non-devout Catholic like I was will not care about what they see or read. Even if I saw a sign saying steps to gain plenary indulgence, I wouldn't do it. Why? I had no idea what it's for! And why would I do it when I am enjoying and living my life while too busy earning a living?
As someone who had no thoughts of improving my spiritual life or journey to heaven, I just didn't care! Yes I would go to church often (and apparently take sacrilegeous communion) but that was it. I wouldn't even check what plenary indulgence is (or it's purpose) online. Nor would I ask anybody. I was simply uncaring and uninterested.
2. How we learn about it affects what we do with it.
Now if you're into history like me, the way to know about plenary indulgence is via learning the church schism of Protestantants. Ugh what a way to start discovering things huh.
I had "no other interesting way of knowing" what this important church practice was. As mentioned, I wasn't interested when I read the steps (of gaining an indulgence) in a church poster or whatever. It just simply didn't stick due to my ignorance and lack of religiousity. Even my teenage catechism wasn't helpful.
Believe me when I say, even being a cradle Catholic is NOT a fastlane to getting into heaven. Each of us still needs to make an effort to sanctify ourselves. It doesn't happen automatically.
So anyway, let's say it was the "whistleblower" Martin Luther who first called people of today's attention to it. The church selling indulgences? Oh my. If we look further on what happened, thanks to him the Catholic Church was able to correct itself eventually. Unfortunately that meant the plenary indulgence gained a "bad reputation".
At least for me when I learned about that part of church history, it made me think less of gaining any plenary indulgence. I read about it last year and I was still just meh about it. Like who'd want to join in on a "tainted" practice, right? Apparently I was WRONG! VERY WRONG.
Ah that very ignorance of mine caused me to miss too many opportunities to gain important indulgences. I can only regret not doing much then when I think about it now! 😭
Yeah I tried to do the steps during Christmas season but only managed it 2 or 3 times. And while doing it I was like unsure and unconfident about everything. But I still did my best despite not being used to doing such.
On top of that, I can say I was probably "holier" last year than now. Hey I was doing confession almost every week after Lent! Do you see how many missed opportunities I had!?! Ah ignorance is NOT BLISS!!! 😢
I've written about this before so feel free to read these before continuing on:
Now if someone blasphemes against Mama Mary and does not do any acts of reparation and/or contrition, beware! Jesus will only forgive those who asks for forgiveness of such actions. And God's forgiveness means a lot because your soul can go to hell otherwise.
Personally I think not everyone can be saved by the few who pray and do acts of reparation for others. Many go to hell, according to Our Lady of Fatima, because nobody prays for them.
Think about this: There are billions of people on Earth, and how many devout Catholics are there? Or, how many do you personally know? Are they doing the First Saturdays devotion? Do you think many people are doing any acts of reparation in order to appease God's wrath against all the sinners of the world? Your answers to those are the reason why each of us must also carry our own cross and work towards everyone's salvation!
Sinful inclinations + Demonic influence = Difficult Life on Earth. Hard to get to heaven when carrying such a heavy burden. Much more if we didn't have Jesus to show us the Way. If we don't follow Him and His teachings (that includes the Catholic Church's) then we are lost indeed.
God already gave the 10 Commandments to Moses a long, long time ago and yet many are still blind and confused sheep today. So many saints have been instructed by Jesus and Mama Mary for many centuries and yet there are plenty who still do not believe and act. For example:
Amid the false teachings and fake news around us, where's the love for God and each other? If by chance there is love, it is shrouded by deceit. That is the root of our problem on Earth. And what better way to destroy love/God than with confusion + hate of self and others?
Plainly we see how divide and conquer is the devil's strategy. Look at how many Christian denominations are even bickering with each other instead of storing up treasures in Heaven.
All Christians quote things from almost the same Bible all the time. We all claim to follow and love Jesus. In reality, love of God and each other is still mostly in our minds instead of in action.
Demonic entities are infinitely smarter than any human being thus we can be fooled into believing lies and half-truths. (But of course even our guardian angels trumps any of them. Thank God for that! 😉) More info here:
In short, the devil distorts everything God and/or Jesus taught us. Before you even see the road to Heaven so many blocks need to be removed. This is why people can't even get out of the wide and wonderful road to hell.
Only by calling out to God for help and clarity can we eventually start seeing past the blocks. On top of that, He has even given us Mama Mary, the angels and the saints to help us! If we don't take advantage of everything God gave us then let's not wonder why life is in ultra hard mode.
Maybe you have something to add or share too? Feel free to comment.
XOXO,
