How will you obtain the many graces the Catholic Church offers during the Lenten season?
Lent is a 40-day penitential season of preparation for the celebration of Easter. During this sacred time, Catholics are called to deeper prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and repentance, with particular meditation on the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ.
During this important time on the liturgical calendar, the faithful can obtain plenary indulgences in various ways. One of those ways is the beautiful Prayer Before a Crucifix to Jesus Christ Crucified.
What is a plenary indulgence?
According to the Manual of Indulgences , a plenary indulgence is the total remission "before God of the temporal punishment for sins, whose guilt is forgiven" and can be earned for oneself or for a deceased relative in purgatory.
Praying the Stations of the Cross and the Holy Rosary, spending time in Eucharistic Adoration, or studying the Holy Scriptures are also ways to earn a plenary indulgence.
However, there is another simple way the Church offers an opportunity for a plenary indulgence.
On Fridays during Lent, Catholics can recite the prayer, "En ego, O bone et dulcissime Iesu," before a crucifix after receiving Holy Communion.
According to the Manual of Indulgences, Fourth Edition,
"A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who on any of the Fridays of Lent devoutly recite after Communion the prayer, 'En ego, O bone et dulcissime Iesu,' before a crucifix."
Additionally, the faithful may obtain a partial indulgence if the prayer is recited on another day of the year as thanksgiving after communion.
The Prayer Before a Crucifix to Jesus Christ Crucified ("En ego, O bone et dulcissime Iesu"):
"Behold, O kind and most sweet Jesus,
I cast myself upon my knees in thy sight,
and with the most fervent desire of my soul,
I pray and beseech thee that thou wouldst impress upon my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, with true contrition for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment; while with deep affection and grief of soul I ponder within myself and mentally contemplate thy five wounds, having before my eyes the words which David the prophet put on thy lips concerning thee: “My hands and my feet they have pierced, they have numbered all my bones.”
Here is the "Prayer Before a Crucifix to Jesus Christ Crucified" in the video below:
In addition to reciting the prayer above, one must meet three usual conditions to obtain the plenary indulgence.
What are the three usual conditions of a plenary indulgence?
1) Go to Confession
2) Receive Communion
3) Pray for the Pope’s intentions (The Church suggests one Our Father and one Hail Mary.)
The individual must also be completely detached from sin to obtain a plenary indulgence. If he or she is not detached, the indulgence becomes partial.