“Full remission”; so that if you gained a plenary indulgence and died immediately afterwards, you would go at once to Heaven.  Persons go to Purgatory, as you know, to have the temporal punishment blotted out; but if you have no temporal punishment to make satisfaction for, there is no Purgatory for you.  Gaining a plenary indulgence requires proper dispositions, as you may understand from its very great advantages.  To gain it we must not only hate sin and be heartily sorry even for our venial sins, but we must not have a desire for even venial sin.  We should always try to gain a plenary indulgence, for in so doing we always gain at least part of it, or a partial indulgence, greater or less according to our dispositions.

235 Q. What is a partial indulgence?  A. A partial indulgence is the remission of a part of the temporal punishment due to sin.

236 Q. How does the Church by means of indulgences remit the temporal punishment due to sins?  A. The Church by means of indulgences remits the temporal punishment due to sin by applying to us the merits of Jesus Christ, and the superabundant satisfactions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the saints, which merits and satisfactions are its spiritual treasury.

“Superabundant” means more than was necessary. (See explanation of communion of saints in the “Creed.”)

237 Q. What must we do to gain an indulgence?  A. To gain an indulgence we must be in a state of grace and perform the works enjoined.

“Works”—­to visit certain churches or altars; to give alms; to say certain prayers, etc.  For a plenary indulgence it is required in addition to go to confession and Holy Communion, and to pray for the intention of our Holy Father the Pope; for this last requirement it is sufficient to recite one Our Father and one Hail Mary.  Now, what does praying for the intention of the Pope or bishop or anyone else mean?  It does not mean that you are to pray for the Pope himself, but for whatever he is praying for or wishes you to pray for.  For instance, on one day the Holy Father may be praying for the success of some missions that he is establishing in pagan lands; on another, he may be praying that the enemies of the Church may not succeed in their plans against it; on another, he may be praying for the conversion of some nation, and so on; whatever he is praying for or wishes you to pray for is called his intention.

There are three basic ways of gaining a partial indulgence.  A partial indulgence can be gained by:  1) raising one’s heart to God amidst the duties and trials of life and making a pious invocation, even only mentally; 2) giving of oneself or one’s goods to those in need; 3) voluntarily depriving oneself of something pleasing, in a spirit of penance.

A partial indulgence is also granted for reciting various well-known prayers, such as the acts of faith, hope, charity and contrition, and for performing certain acts of devotion, such as making a Spiritual Communion.