tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14247942.post4030795482432279047..comments2023-08-10T05:32:21.163-04:00Comments on An Examined Life: Why Should You Pay the Price?Vitae Scrutatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12808120163472036743noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14247942.post-75609147875472115742007-09-07T19:20:00.000-04:002007-09-07T19:20:00.000-04:00I think you're on to something with the thought th...I think you're on to something with the thought that embracing the enactment of penance is making penitence (something potential) into something actual.<BR/><BR/>It corresponds to something less systematic that I've been groping towards, that in willingly embracing and performing a penance, one is signifying and effecting contrition, so that the penance is actually a sacramental gift, a ladder mercifully thrust down so that we can climb out of the pit; and by being allowed to participate and cooperate in the work of our own restoration to grace, we can be aware that we are not merely forgiven or exonerated, but so loved that God will readopt us into the redeeming sonship of Christ.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14247942.post-57016058511245152912007-09-07T14:32:00.000-04:002007-09-07T14:32:00.000-04:00Thanks, Scott, for blogging on this. I've been th...Thanks, Scott, for blogging on this. I've been thinking a lot about indulgences and Purgatory the past two weeks, because of a number of threads devoted to Luther's 95 theses over at StandFirminFaith.com. <BR/><BR/>I am finding that the notion of "temporal punishments" is difficult to expound and defend in a cogent and persuasive way. The problem, I think, is the legal-forensic framework in which it is traditionally presented. Within a legal framework, temporal punishments always sounds as punishments externally imposed upon the sinner by God: Christ's atonement frees us from eternal judgment, yet there are still there are other debts to be paid, and if they aren't paid in the here-and-now, then they must be paid in the hereafter. See, e.g., Jimmie Akin's <A HREF="http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/1994/9411fea1.asp" REL="nofollow">discussion of indulgences</A>.<BR/><BR/>I am sympathetic to Orthodox and Protestant critique of this legal-forensic interpretation of temporal punishment. As you note, back in the days of canonical penance, temporal punishments were simply the (often severe) penances imposed upon serious sinners as conditions for readmission to the Holy Eucharist. Indulgences were truly ecclesial acts of mercy. But once canonical penance was replaced by the Irish penitential model, it almost became inevitable that the assigned penance would come to be seen as a work to be performed or punishment to be endured in order to satisfy the justice of God. And so the miraculous mercy of God is moved into the background. <BR/><BR/>The way forward, I think, is to tie penance and indulgences more closely to our need for sanctification and purification, both in this life and in the hereafter. Sin damages the soul. It is this damage that is the temporal punishment (see CCC 1472). If this damage is not healed before our death, then it will and must be healed in Purgatory. The grant of indulgence is not the Church letting us off from paying a debt, but is rather the application of the prayers and good works of the communion of saints to our needed sanctification and purification.<BR/><BR/>I think Peter Kreeft helpfully points the way:<BR/><BR/>"The reason for purgagory is not the past, not an external, legal punishment for past sins, as if our relationship with God were still under the old law. Rather, its reason is the future; it is our rehabilitation; it is training for heaven. For our relationship with God has been radically changed by Christ; we are adopted as his children, and our relationship is now fundamentally filial and familial, not legal. Purgatory is God's loving parental discipline (see Heb 12:5-14)" (<I>Catholic Christianity</I>, pp. 149-151).<BR/><BR/>What do you think?Striderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07859685939890312325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14247942.post-59865841317867477372007-09-07T13:29:00.000-04:002007-09-07T13:29:00.000-04:00a very good explanation although i'm confused re t...a very good explanation although i'm confused re the SSA description..Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com