Hello. Recently, I received the following question:

The answer is that you have to intend to obtain the indulgence before you perform the action that has the plenary indulgence attached to it. In your example, praying the Rosary is the action that has the indulgence. To gain a plenary indulgence you would have to intend to obtain the indulgence before you said the Rosary itself. Here are a few other thoughts about gaining indulgences.

One valid confession can be used for a period of time, about a week. During that time, you can earn multiple plenary indulgences (but only one a day), because that valid confession can be applied to all the plenary indulgences you could earn during that time. If you sadly fall into mortal sin, you would have to go to confession again before you could earn another indulgence (whether partial or plenary) because you must always be in a state of grace to earn any indulgence.

However, please understand the mercy of God for those who love Him. Even though you missed the opportunity to earn the plenary indulgence, you can still offer it up after the fact. You won’t gain the plenary indulgence, but you will certainly gain something. Nothing is ever wasted when it is offered up to Jesus. God is very generous.

Also, there are a number of prayers and devotions that have tremendous promises attached to them, but do not require the extra conditions that indulgences do. For example, the Saint Gertrude prayer, which we encourage people to pray, is very simple. When this is said with sincere devotion (not quickly or while allowing our mind to wander), Our Lord has promised that He will release at least 1,000 souls! For just a minute or less of our time, we can help release over one thousand souls from Purgatory.

And there are other prayers like these which we hope to post in the Catholic Kingdom soon.

Finally, I want to share a spiritual secret with you. This secret will help your prayers become very powerful - even before you become a Saint (which of course is my deepest prayer for you). This practice has been used throughout the 2,000 years of Roman Catholicism and can be found in the lives of the Saints.

It is based on Jesus' Own Life. Do you remember the story when He fed thousands of people miraculously? It was getting late, and there was not enough food for the crowd which was listening to Jesus. The Apostles wanted to send them away, but Jesus told them to see if anyone had any food. A small child was found who had a little bread and fish. This was given to the Apostles, who placed it into a basket and took it to Christ. Jesus blessed the tiny bit of food and sent His disciples to feed the people. After the many thousands had eaten their fill, there was still extra food.

How does this story help explain the secret to making your prayers more powerful? It is simply this: The small child represents us. The tiny bit of food is all of our thoughts, words and deeds that have any merit and can be offered to God. This includes all of our prayers, good works, sacrifices, alms, etc. The Apostles represent all the Holy Angels and Saints in Heaven. The basket is the most wonderful Mother of God - the Blessed Virgin Mary. More specifically, the basket represents Her Immaculate Heart.

So when we offer anything to God, we unite ourselves to all of Heaven. Then we ask them to bring our offering to the Queen of Heaven and Earth, imploring Her to offer it to Her Divine Son for us. By following this little practice, we will infinitely increase the power of all we offer God and it will be infinitely more pleasing to Him.

There are those sad people who somehow feel cheated that they can't go directly to God on their own. This secret is not for them. Remember, it was a small child that had only a tiny bit of food. It was not a big, old, wise or wealthy person. It was someone little and poor. This secret, then, is for those who consider themselves in need of help from the Holy Angels, Saints, and Our Blessed Mother. If you are one of these, then make this secret your own.

A sample formula for this prayer is as follows:

"In Jesus’ Most Holy Name, I unite myself with all of Heaven and Purgatory. And I beg all the Holy Angels, Saints and Souls in Purgatory to offer all the merits of Heaven to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for _________________ (here mention the person or intention you are praying for) and I beg each of them to implore Our Lady to obtain for me what I ask - if it is acceptable to God’s Most Holy Will.”

This prayer can very easily be applied to large groups in need, like: “all those who will die this day or night throughout the world”, “all the souls in Purgatory”, “all of those in need of conversion”, etc.

Soon, many thousands will be fed with grace. Although remember that, for your benefit, God will not let you see too much of the good that He produces from your little scraps of “bread and fish”. He does not want you to become proud. But I guarantee you that, if you are faithful to this practice, you will see a great difference in the way that God answers your prayer requests.

And do not forget to pray for yourself - for your own holiness. I will talk about Roman Catholic spirituality soon. Until then, a very short, yet powerful, prayer is : “Oh Jesus, I desire to give You my whole mind, heart, body and soul, with all of my strength. Please give me Your whole Self, with all of Your strength”.

Remember, that nothing and no one is as important in your life as you becoming a Catholic Saint. It is why you are alive - why God created you out of nothing. Let us pray for each other, that we will be faithful to our most important vocation - the vocation of perfect holiness and union with God, in this life, before we die. We cannot do this by ourselves. But, with God … “all things are possible”!

Until we speak again …

May Our Lord and Our Lady fill you, and all those you love, with every true peace, blessing and grace … now and forever.

Yours in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary,