THE GREAT PORTIUNCULA PRIVILEGE:
In A.D. 1216, St. Francis of Assisi was inspired by our Lord to ask for a wonderful grace to be granted by the Holy Father, the Pope —
REMISSION OF ALL OF OUR SINS AND TEMPORAL PUNISHMENT DUE TO THEM,
for those, who visited his tiny chapel, named after our Lady, Queen of Angels, called the Portiuncula or the “Little Portion” from:
August 1st at noon (updated) through midnight (updated) of August 2nd, the Feast of our Lady, Queen of Angels, itself.
Thankfully, later on, the Pope made it possible for those, who cannot travel to Assisi, to gain this grace/privilege by going to a parish church or to a Franciscan church — not a private oratory.
1. Ask our Lord and our Lady, Queen of Angels very earnestly to help you to have NO attachment to any sin;
2. Go to Confession 7 days before or 7 days after your visit to the parish/Franciscan church;
3. You must be in a state of grace to gain the Privilege;
4. Go to Holy Communion on the day of your visit,
5. While at the parish or Franciscan church, offer prayers to God for the intentions of the Holy Father, especially the “Our Father”, “Hail, Mary”, and the “Apostles’ Creed” (the Creed, which is prayed with the Holy Rosary).
Also, here are some prayers recommended to be prayed while at the church:
PREPARATORY PRAYER
O Supreme Majesty of God, Most Holy and Undivided Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I, Thy most unworthy creature, adore and praise Thee with all [of ] the Angels and Saints; I protest in Thy Sight, that I am about to perform this exercise of devotion out of love for Thee, and with the pure intention to promote Thy Honor, the salvation of my soul, and the welfare of the entire Militant Church, through The Infinite Merits of Jesus Christ and the Intercession of His Holy Mother; and also to bring assistance to the Poor Souls in Purgatory by means of the indulgences of The Church. I make the intention of gaining the plenary indulgences as perfectly as I am able, once for the remission of the penalties of my sins, [and] the rest I offer for the Souls in Purgatory. [Name them.]
O Lord Jesus Christ! The Infinite Love of Thy Sacred Heart, which caused Thee to die for the poor sinners upon The Cross, has prompted Thee to grant this precious indulgence for the salvation of souls to Thy faithful Servant, St. Francis. Trusting in this, Thy Divine Love, I beg of Thee [that] Thou wilt grant me the grace of a perfect contrition for my sins, that I may gain this indulgence.
Yes, my Divine Savior, before Thee and before Heaven, I confess my numerous and most detestable sins. For all of them, in general, and for each, in particular, I implore Thee for Mercy and Pardon through The Blood, Which Thou hast shed for me in Thy Bitter Passion. I detest them from the bottom of my heart, and begin now to do penance for them out of pure love for Thee, because they have displeased Thee. I have offended Thee so grievously as to deserve hell a thousand times. Have Mercy on me, according to Thy Great Mercy, and grant that I may never offend Thee willfully again.
O Most Blessed Virgin Mary, assist me in my petitions with the same Kindness and Love with which Thou hast assisted the blessed St. Francis in his petition for the granting of this indulgence.
And Thou, blessed St. Francis, by the tears, which Thou hast shed day and night for the conversion of sinners, obtain for me tears of perfect contrition, in order to gain that indulgence, which has been instituted through Thy prayers for the salvation of souls, for myself and the Souls in Purgatory. Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE SOVEREIGN PONTIFF (POPE)
V/erse. Let us pray for our Holy Father, the Pope.
R/esponse. May The Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.
Pray one “Our Father” and one “Hail, Mary”, [as well as the Apostles’ Creed].”
(Taken from: Our Favorite Devotions: Compiled from approved sources, by Right Reverend Monsignor A.A. Lings, pub. by Benziger Brothers, 1897. Imprimatur: Michael Augustine, Archbishop of New York.)
Don’t miss out on this once-a-year opportunity, besides Divine Mercy Sunday.
Ask our Lady, Queen of Angels, to help you gain all possible graces through this Portiuncula Privilege, and see what happens!
Check out: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/angelus/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20090802_en.html
state of grace = in friendship with God; one has no mortal/grave sin on his soul.
Some examples of mortal sins are:
has received The Most Holy Eucharist in Holy Communion, while in a state of mortal sin; has enabled someone else to do this or not discouraged someone else from doing this; has desecrated or has enabled someone else to desecrate Jesus-Looking-Like-Bread in The Most Holy Eucharist — some of these are sacrileges, which can only be forgiven by the Holy Father — they are called “reserved sins” — if you have committed one or more reserved sins, contact a Bishop directly, go to Confession, and have him contact the Holy Father for absolution of the sin/s, as soon as possible. (You could ask a Priest to contact the Bishop for you, to arrange this.)
has put someone or something else before God and obeying His Ten Commandments, not doing God’s Will, concerning an important matter, when it was obvious what was supposed to be done; has been deeply involved in the occult (astrology, seances, “psychics”, fortune-telling, “crystals”, Tarot cards, yoga or other Eastern forms of exercise or “martial arts”, knowing that this is against God and is inviting evil spirits in),
has taken our Lord’s Name in vain, using it as an exclamation, and especially with a cuss word,
has sworn, using God’s Name, falsely, or for no good reason,
has missed, for no urgent reason Holy Mass on Sunday or on another holyday of obligation,
has not honored his father and mother or other legitimate authority (including government at all levels), when not being asked to sin, and when it is concerning a serious matter (including driving regulations, etc.),
has used any type of “birth control”, including those, which chemically kill babies — the Pill, the Patch, the Shot, the IUD, etc.); has helped with or been involved in any way in promoting surgical abortion, including voting for someone, who supports it, i.e., Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Brian Higgins, Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, etc., (be sure to check elected officials’ voting records, speeches, their party’s platform, and favorite “charities” to find out the truth about their stance on abortion and contraception); has gotten drunk; has used illegal drugs, prescription drugs, or other chemicals to get high; has mutilated himself by “cutting” or other means, or has enabled others to do; has gotten angry enough to kill someone else; hates someone else; wants bad things to happen to someone else — a curse, etc.
has committed adultery/fornication either physically or mentally with someone else; has committed masturbation; has committed any homosexual act, mentally or physically; has looked at, on purpose or has not averted his eyes from pornographic images, indecently dressed people, etc.
has stolen a day’s wages worth of money or items; has stolen drugs or medical equipment, which helps to keep others alive, etc.
has ruined someone’s reputation for no urgent reason; has lied in an important matter; has lied about a person, who is much in the public eye or is influential, etc.
has coveted deeply someone else’s husband/wife, keeps thinking about him/her, entertains fantasies about him/her, including those, who are divorced and have not obtained an annulment and, thus, are not free to have any relationship with another partner,
and has coveted deeply someone else’s property, possibly to the point of hating the other person, because the person has something, which this person does not have,…)
For a more complete examination of conscience, you could go to:
http://www.beginningcatholic.com/catholic-examination-of-conscience.html
If you are Catholic, get to a Priest, ASAP, if you have committed one or more of the above sins, and ask The Blessed Virgin Mary to help you to make a good, valid Confession in all ways. This means that:
1. You confess at least all mortal sins and the number of times committed (if you have to estimate, make it as accurate as possible, and let the Priest know that you are estimating — Jesus already knows), details are not usually needed, unless you need advice about something;
2. You are sorry for your sins, at least, because if you died without having confessed them, you would go to hell for all eternity, but, ideally, because you are sorry for damaging your relationship with God and for hurting Jesus’ Most Sacred Heart;
3. Make a plan on how to avoid committing any mortal sin, and resolve firmly to keep it — without this firm purpose of amendment — basically to die rather than commit another mortal sin and break your relationship with Jesus — you will not have a valid Confession.
Then, go to Confession, at least weekly, if you are serious about wanting to go to Heaven, when you die.
Also, get the Manual of Indulgences of A.D. 1999, 4th edition, and start gaining indulgences for yourself to help pay off your temporal punishment (your penance does not always pay off your debt to Jesus, so you perform extra, Church-approved works, which help pay off the rest of your debt to Jesus. Since Jesus gavest the Keys to the Kingdom of GOD/Heaven to St. Peter, each succeeding Pope has the same power to loose and bind, including approval of some important prayers or actions, which will gain us partial or plenary/complete forgiveness of our temporal punishment. (See: St. Matthew, Chapter 16, verses 16–19) For example: you steal a smartphone from someone. You tell the person, that you are sorry. He forgives you. But, what do you do when he asks you where the smartphone is or where the money is, to pay for another one? That’s your temporal punishment. It’s your leftover debt to Jesus for forgiven sins when your penance does not pay it all off. )
We can and should also offer these indulgenced works and prayers to God for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, to pay off their debt of temporal punishment and help them to get to Heaven. They suffer a lot and are also our brothers and sisters. They are also very grateful to us, their benefactors, and they can pray for us both while in Purgatory and in Heaven!
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