Here is an “Introduction to Indulgences” from www.catholic.org – the “fact driven, faith informed” pro-catholic website. After the introduction you will read “Myths About Indulgences” from www.catholic.com – These are both Catholic websites and gives the current state of affairs and apologetics from a Catholic standpoint.

It is self explanatory and deserves no additional comment from myself. Except to say “OH MY GOD THEY STILL DO THIS CRAP?”

BUT FIRST
An Example of a Modern Catholic Indulgence
From http://catholickermit.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/pope-lourdes-grotto-plenary-indulgence/

Since my home parish of St Bernadette Catholic Church has a grotto dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, visiting and praying at the grotto between Feb 2-11, 2008 qualifies for a special Papal plenary indulgence to encourage renewed holiness, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the appearance of Mary to St Bernadette Soubirous near Lourdes, France.

Our Lady of Lourdes grotto @ St Bernadette Catholic Church, Hollywood, FloridaAn indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment (in this world and in purgatory) due for sins committed. A plenary indulgence is the remission of all punishment.  This is a tremendous gift from the Pope.  To receive the indulgence, one should say the Our Father, Apostleâ€s Creed and the Hail Mary at the grotto along with a prayer for our Popeâ€s intentions and go to confession before Easter Sunday.Our Lady of Lourdes grotto @ St Bernadette Catholic Church, Hollywood, Florida

For more info & details, see article at Catholic News Service (CNS).

Thank you Jesus for your mercy and the Holy Catholic Church you have left us … with the treasury of your merits.  May Our Lady continue to lead us to her Son, Jesus!  Amen.

INTRODUCTION TO INDULGENCES

You don’t hear about indulgences anymore, at least not in Catholic circles. If it could be said that at one time they were over emphasized, it’s surely true that today they’re under-emphasized. Many Catholic simply don’t know what indulgences are, and they’re at a loss to explain the Church’s position on indulgences when challenged by fundamentalists.

And fundamentalists do bring up indulgences, perhaps because they know even less about them than the average, poorly-informed Catholic.

There is surely no better place to turn than to the Enchiridion of Indulgences. “Enchiridion” means “handbook,” and the Enchiridion of Indulgences is the Church’s official handbook on what acts and prayers carry indulgences and what indulgences actually are.

An indulgences is defined as “the remission before God of the temporal punishment due for sins already forgiven as far as their guilt is concerned.” The first thing to note is that forgiveness of a sin is separate from punishment for the sin. Through sacramental confession we obtain forgiveness, but we aren’t let off the hook as far as punishment goes.

Indulgences are two kinds: partial and plenary. A partial indulgences removes part of the temporal punishment due for sins. A plenary indulgence removes all of it. This punishment may come either in this life, in the form of various sufferings, or in the next life, in purgatory. What we don’t get rid of here we suffer there.
TIME OFF FOR GOOD BEHAVIOR?

If you uncover a holy card or prayer book, you’ll notice pious acts or recitation of prayers might carry an indication of time, such as “300 days or “two years.” Most fundamentalists, and even many Catholics, think such phrases refer to how much “time off for good behavior” you’d get in purgatory. If you perform a pious act labeled as “300 days’ partial indulgence,” then you’d spend 300 fewer days in purgatory.

It’s easy to see how misinformed Catholics might scurry around for years, toting up indulgences, keeping a little register in which they add up the days. “Let’s see, last year’s tally comes to one thousand three hundred twelve years, give or take a week or so, and my lifetime tally is now past the twenty thousand mark. I can cancel out a lot of sinning with this!”

Or so some people might think. Well, there are no days or years in purgatory– or in heaven or hell, for that matter — and the indication of days or years attached to partial indulgences never meant you’d get that much time off in purgatory.
AS GOD SEES FIT

What it means was that you’d bet a partial indulgence commensurate with what the early Christians got for doing penances for a certain length of time. But there has never been any way for us to measure how much “good time” that represents. All the Church could say, and all it ever did say, was that your temporal punishment would be reduced — as God saw fit.

Since some Catholics were confused by the designation of days and years attached to partial indulgences, and since nearly all Protestants got a wrong idea of what those numbers meant, the rules for indulgences were modified in 1967, and now “the grant of a partial indulgence is designated only with the words “partial indulgence,” without any determination of days or years,” according to the Enchiridion.

To receive a partial indulgence, you have to recite the prayer or do the act of charity assigned. You have to be in the state of grace at least by the completion of the prescribed work. The rule says” at the completion” because often part of the prescribed work is going to confession, and you might not be in the state of grace before you do that. The other thing required is having a general intention to gain the indulgence. If you perform the required act but don’t want to gain the indulgence, obviously you won’t gain it.

The requirements for a plenary indulgence are tougher than for a partial. After all, a plenary indulgence remove all the temporal punishment due for the sins committed up to that time.

(If you sin later, of course, the temporal punishment connected with the new sins isn’t covered by the earlier plenary indulgence, but, at least the punishment for the old sins isn’t revived.)

“To acquire a plenary indulgence,” says the Enchiridion, “it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfill the following three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion, and prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even venial sin, be absent.”

THE TOUGHEST REQUIREMENT

The greatest hurdle is the last. Making a good confession is not particularly difficult, and going to Communion and praying for the Pope’s intentions are easier still. It’s being free from all attachment to sin that’s hard and it’s quite possible that even evi-dently good people, who seek plenary indulgences regularly, never, in their whole lives, obtain one, because they are unwilling to relinquish their favorite little sins.

There is an account of St. Philip Neri, who died in 1595, preaching a jubilee indulgence in a crowed church. A revelation was given to him that only two people in the church were actually getting it, an old char-woman and the saint himself. Not exactly encouraging, huh? But don’t worry. If you aren’t perfectly disposed and can’t get the plenary indulgence. you’ll at least come away with a partial.

It should be pointed out that the first three conditions may be fulfilled several days before or after doing the prescribed work, through receiving Communion and praying for the Pope are usually done the same day the work is performed.

By the way, the standard prayers for the Pope are one Our Father and one Creed, though you’re at liberty to substitute other prayers.
VARIOUS GRANTS

The bulk of the Enchiridion is a listing of indulgenced prayers and acts. First come three “general grants.”

The first says “a partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who, in the performance of their duties and in bearing the trials of life, raise their mind with humble confidence to God, adding — even if only mentally– some pious invocation.” It is noted that this grant “is intended to serve as an incentive to the faithful to practice the commandment of Christ that `they must always pray and not lose heart'” (Luke 18:1)

The second general grant is this: “A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who, in a spirit of faith and mercy, give of themselves or of their goods to serve their brothers in need.” This grant “is intended to serve as an incentive to the faithful to perform more frequent acts of charity and mercy,” as Christ commanded (John 13:15, Acts 10:38).

The third general grant provides that “a partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who, in a spirit of penance, voluntarily deprive them-selves of what is licit and pleasing to them.” This provision is meant “to move the faithful to bridle their passions and thus to bring to their bodies into subjection and to conform themselves to Christ in his poverty and suffering” (Matt 8:20, Matt 16:24).
PROVISIONS

After the discussion of the general grants comes a listing of miscellaneous prayers and acts to which indulgences are attached. This list is much shorter than in former years, the Church having decided to limit indulgences to the most important works.

There is no room or need to mention all the pious acts which are indulgenced, but it’s worth noting that a plenary indulgence is given for the recitation of the rosary in a church or family group (and not just the recitation, of course, but the fulfilling of the usual conditions for a plenary indulgence).

Likewise, first communicants and those who “assist at the sacred ceremonies of a First Communion — for example, the parents — can receive a plenary indulgence. And the same reward is given to those who, “with the veneration due the divine word, make a spiritual reading from Sacred Scripture” for at least half an hour. Even making the Sign of the Cross has a partial indulgence attached to it.

MYTHS ABOUT INDULGENCES

Indulgences. The very word stirs up more misconceptions than perhaps any other teaching in Catholic theology. Those who attack the Church for its use of indulgences rely upon—and take advantage of—the ignorance of both Catholics and non-Catholics.

What is an indulgence? The Church explains, “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain defined conditions through the Churchâ€s help when, as a minister of redemption, she dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions won by Christ and the saints” (Indulgentarium Doctrina 1). To see the biblical foundations for indulgences, see the Catholic Answers tract A Primer on Indulgences.

Step number one in explaining indulgences is to know what they are. Step number two is to clarify what they are not. Here are the seven most common myths about indulgences:

Myth 1: A person can buy his way out of hell with indulgences.

This charge is without foundation. Since indulgences remit only temporal penalties, they cannot remit the eternal penalty of hell. Once a person is in hell, no amount of indulgences will ever change that fact. The only way to avoid hell is by appealing to Godâ€s eternal mercy while still alive. After death, oneâ€s eternal fate is set (Heb. 9:27).

Myth 2: A person can buy indulgences for sins not yet committed.

The Church has always taught that indulgences do not apply to sins not yet committed. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes, “[An indulgence] is not a permission to commit sin, nor a pardon of future sin; neither could be granted by any power.”

Myth 3: A person can “buy forgiveness” with indulgences.

The definition of indulgences presupposes that forgiveness has already taken place: “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven” (Indulgentarium Doctrina 1, emphasis added). Indulgences in no way forgive sins. They deal only with punishments left after sins have been forgiven.

Myth 4: Indulgences were invented as a means for the Church to raise money.
Indulgences developed from reflection on the sacrament of reconciliation. They are a way of shortening the penance of sacramental discipline and were in use centuries before money-related problems appeared.

Myth 5: An indulgence will shorten your time in purgatory by a fixed number of days.

The number of days which used to be attached to indulgences were references to the period of penance one might undergo during life on earth. The Catholic Church does not claim to know anything about how long or short purgatory is in general, much less in a specific personâ€s case.

Myth 6: A person can buy indulgences.

The Council of Trent instituted severe reforms in the practice of granting indulgences, and, because of prior abuses, “in 1567 Pope Pius V canceled all grants of indulgences involving any fees or other financial transactions” (Catholic Encyclopedia). This act proved the Churchâ€s seriousness about removing abuses from indulgences.

Myth 7: A person used to be able to buy indulgences.

One never could “buy” indulgences. The financial scandal surrounding indulgences, the scandal that gave Martin Luther an excuse for his heterodoxy, involved alms—indulgences in which the giving of alms to some charitable fund or foundation was used as the occasion to grant the indulgence. There was no outright selling of indulgences. The Catholic Encyclopedia states: “[I]t is easy to see how abuses crept in. Among the good works which might be encouraged by being made the condition of an indulgence, almsgiving would naturally hold a conspicuous place. . . . It is well to observe that in these purposes there is nothing essentially evil. To give money to God or to the poor is a praiseworthy act, and, when it is done from right motives, it will surely not go unrewarded.”

Being able to explain these seven myths will be a large step in helping others to understand indulgences. But, there are still questions to be asked:

“How many of oneâ€s temporal penalties can be remitted?”

Potentially, all of them. The Church recognizes that Christ and the saints are interested in helping penitents deal with the aftermath of their sins, as indicated by the fact they always pray for us (Heb. 7:25, Rev. 5:8). Fulfilling its role in the administration of temporal penalties, the Church draws upon the rich supply of rewards God chose to bestow on the saints, who pleased him, and on his Son, who pleased him most of all.

The rewards on which the Church draws are infinite because Christ is God, so the rewards he accrued are infinite and never can be exhausted. His rewards alone, apart from the saintsâ€, could remove all temporal penalties from everyone, everywhere. The rewards of the saints are added to Christâ€s—not because anything is lacking in his, but because it is fitting that they be united with his rewards as the saints are united with him. Although immense, their rewards are finite, but his are infinite.

“If the Church has the resources to wipe out everyoneâ€s temporal penalties, why doesnâ€t it do so?”

Because God does not wish this to be done. God himself instituted the pattern of temporal penalties being left behind. They fulfill valid functions, one of them disciplinary. If a child were never disciplined, he would never learn obedience. God disciplines us as his children — “the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Heb. 12:6) — so some temporal penalties must remain.

The Church cannot wipe out, with a stroke of the pen, so to speak, everyoneâ€s temporal punishments because their remission depends on the dispositions of the persons who suffer those temporal punishments. Just as repentance and faith are needed for the remission of eternal penalties, so they are needed for the remission of temporal penalties. Pope Paul VI stated, “Indulgences cannot be gained without a sincere conversion of outlook and unity with God”(Indulgentarium Doctrina 11). We might say that the degree of remission depends on how well the penitent has learned his lesson.

“How does one determine by what amount penalties have been lessened?”

Before Vatican II each indulgence was said to remove a certain number of “days” from oneâ€s discipline—for instance, an act might gain “300 days†indulgence”—but the use of the term “days” confused people, giving them the mistaken impression that in purgatory time as we know it still exists and that we can calculate our “good time” in a mechanical way. The number of days associated with indulgences actually never meant that that much “time” would be taken off oneâ€s stay in purgatory. Instead, it meant that an indefinite but partial (not complete) amount of remission would be granted, proportionate to what ancient Christians would have received for performing that many days†penance. So, someone gaining 300 days†indulgence gained roughly what an early Christian would have gained by, say, reciting a particular prayer on arising for 300 days.

To overcome the confusion Paul VI issued a revision of the handbook (Enchiridion is the formal name) of indulgences. Today, numbers of days are not associated with indulgences. They are either plenary or partial.

“Whatâ€s the difference between a partial and a plenary indulgence?”

“An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin” (Indulgentarium Doctrina 2, 3). Only God knows exactly how efficacious any particular partial indulgence is or whether a plenary indulgence was received at all.

“Donâ€t indulgences duplicate or even negate the work of Christ?”

Despite the biblical underpinnings of indulgences, some are sharply critical of them and insist the doctrine supplants the work of Christ and turns us into our own saviors. This objection results from confusion about the nature of indulgences and about how Christâ€s work is applied to us.

Indulgences apply only to temporal penalties, not to eternal ones. The Bible indicates that these penalties may remain after a sin has been forgiven and that God lessens these penalties as rewards to those who have pleased him. Since the Bible indicates this, Christâ€s work cannot be said to have been supplanted by indulgences.

The merits of Christ, since they are infinite, comprise most of those in the treasury of merits. By applying these to believers, the Church acts as Christâ€s servant in the application of what he has done for us, and we know from Scripture that Christâ€s work is applied to us over time and not in one big lump (Phil. 2:12, 1 Pet. 1:9).

“Isnâ€t it better to put all of the emphasis on Christ alone?”

If we ignore the fact of indulgences, we neglect what Christ does through us, and we fail to recognize the value of what he has done in us. Paul used this very sort of language: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christâ€s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Col. 1:24).

Even though Christâ€s sufferings were superabundant (far more than needed to pay for anything), Paul spoke of completing what was “lacking” in Christâ€s sufferings. If this mode of speech was permissible for Paul, it is permissible for us, even though the Catholic language about indulgences is far less shocking than was Paulâ€s language about his own role in salvation.

Catholics should not be defensive about indulgences. They are based on principles straight from the Bible, and we can be confident not only that indulgences exist, but that they are useful and worth obtaining.

Pope Paul VI declared, “[T]he Church invites all its children to think over and weigh up in their minds as well as they can how the use of indulgences benefits their lives and all Christian society…. Supported by these truths, holy Mother Church again recommends the practice of indulgences to the faithful. It has been very dear to Christian people for many centuries as well as in our own day. Experience proves this” (Indulgentarium Doctrina, 9, 11).

HOW TO GAIN AN INDULGENCE

To gain any indulgence you must be a Catholic in a state of grace. You must be a Catholic in order to be under the Churchâ€s jurisdiction, and you must be in a state of grace because apart from Godâ€s grace none of your actions are fundamentally pleasing to God (meritorious). You also must have at least the habitual intention of gaining an indulgence by the act performed.

To gain a partial indulgence, you must perform with a contrite heart the act to which the indulgence is attached.

To gain a plenary indulgence you must perform the act with a contrite heart, plus you must go to confession (one confession may suffice for several plenary indulgences), receive Holy Communion, and pray for the popeâ€s intentions. (An Our Father and a Hail Mary said for the popeâ€s intentions are sufficient, although you are free to substitute other prayers of your own choice.) The final condition is that you must be free from all attachment to sin, including venial sin.

If you attempt to receive a plenary indulgence, but are unable to meet the last condition, a partial indulgence is received instead.

Below are indulgences listed in the Handbook of Indulgences (New York: Catholic Book Publishing, 1991). Note that there is an indulgence for Bible reading. So, rather than discouraging Bible reading, the Catholic Church promotes it by giving indulgences for it! (This was the case long before Vatican II.)

• An act of spiritual communion, expressed in any devout formula whatsoever, is endowed with a partial indulgence.

• A partial indulgence is granted the Christian faithful who devoutly spend time in mental prayer.

• A plenary indulgence is granted when the rosary is recited in a church or oratory or when it is recited in a family, a religious community, or a pious association. A partial indulgence is granted for its recitation in all other circumstances.

• A partial indulgence is granted the Christian faithful who read sacred Scripture with the veneration due Godâ€s word and as a form of spiritual reading. The indulgence will be a plenary one when such reading is done for at least one-half hour [provided the other conditions are met].

• A partial indulgence is granted to the Christian faithful who devoutly sign themselves with the cross while saying the customary formula: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

In summary, the practice of indulgences neither takes away nor adds to the work of Christ. It is his work, through his body the Church, raising up children in his own likeness. “The Christian who seeks to purify himself of his sin and to become holy with the help of Godâ€s grace is not alone. ‘The life of each of Godâ€s children is joined in Christ and through Christ in a wonderful way to the life of all the other Christian brethren in the supernatural unity of the Mystical Body of Christ, as in a single mystical person— (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1474 [Indulgentarium Doctrina 5]).

NIHIL OBSTAT: I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004

IMPRIMATUR: In accord with 1983 CIC 827
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004

For sourced quotes please refer to wikiquote.org

• All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.
• Anyone who is to find Christ must first find the church. How could anyone know where Christ is and what faith is in him unless he knew where his believers are?
• Be a sinner and sin strongly, but more strongly have faith and rejoice in Christ.
• Be thou comforted, little dog, Thou too in Resurrection shall have a little golden tail.
• Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.
• Blood alone moves the wheels of history.
• Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
• Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.
• Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.
• Faith is a living and unshakable confidence, a belief in the grace of God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for its sake.
• Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.
• Faith is permitting ourselves to be seized by the things we do not see.
• Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding.
• First I shake the whole Apple tree, that the ripest might fall. Then I climb the tree and shake each limb, and then each branch and then each twig, and then I look under each leaf.
• For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.
• For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel.
• Forgiveness is God’s command.
• God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.
• God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars.
• Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth; help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart.
• I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth.
• I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, Self.
• I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen. *NOTE – It is accepted historically that Martin Luther did not actually say “Here I Stand” – but the rest of the phrase is accurate.*
• I feel much freer now that I am certain the pope is the Antichrist.
• I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.
• I more fear what is within me than what comes from without.
• I shall never be a heretic; I may err in dispute, but I do not wish to decide anything finally; on the other hand, I am not bound by the opinions of men.
• If he have faith, the believer cannot be restrained. He betrays himself. He breaks out. He confesses and teaches this gospel to the people at the risk of life itself.
• If I am not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don’t want to go there.
• If you are not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don’t want to go there.
• If you young fellows were wise, the devil couldn’t do anything to you, but since you aren’t wise, you need us who are old.
• Justice is a temporary thing that must at last come to an end; but the conscience is eternal and will never die.
• Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.
• Music is the art of the prophets and the gift of God.
• My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.
• Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.
• Nothing good ever comes of violence.
• Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.
• Peace if possible, truth at all costs.
• Peace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace.
• People must have righteous principals in the first, and then they will not fail to perform virtuous actions.
• Pray, and let God worry.
• Prayer is a strong wall and fortress of the church; it is a goodly Christian weapon.
• Reason is a whore, the greatest enemy that faith has.
• Reason is the enemy of faith.
• The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.
• The fewer the words, the better the prayer.
• The God of this world is riches, pleasure and pride.
• The Lord commonly gives riches to foolish people, to whom he gives nothing else.
• The man who has the will to undergo all labor may win to any good.
• The reproduction of mankind is a great marvel and mystery. Had God consulted me in the matter, I should have advised him to continue the generation of the species by fashioning them out of clay.
• The will is a beast of burden. If God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills; if Satan mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills; Nor can it choose its rider… the riders contend for its possession.
• There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.
• To gather with God’s people in united adoration of the Father is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer.
• War is the greatest plague that can affect humanity; it destroys religion, it destroys states, it destroys families. Any scourge is preferable to it.
• War is the greatest plague that can afflict humanity, it destroys religion, it destroys states, it destroys families. Any scourge is preferable to it.
• Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.
• When I am angry I can pray well and preach well.
• When schools flourish, all flourishes.
• You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.
• You should not believe your conscience and your feelings more than the word which the Lord who receives sinners preaches to you.

QUOTES FROM WIKIQUOTE:

Sourced

* Wir sein pettler. Hoc est verum.
o We are beggars: this is true.
o “The Last Written Words of Luther,” Table Talk No. 5468, 1546-02-16, in James A. Kellerman, Tr., Dr. Martin Luthers Werke, (Weimar: Hermann Boehlaus Nachfolger, 1909), Band 85 (TR 5) 317–318. [1]

* By God’s grace, I know Satan very well. If Satan can turn God’s Word upside down and pervert the Scriptures, what will he do with my words — or the words of others?
o Confession Concerning Christ’s Supper, Part 3. Robert E. Smith, tr. Dr. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtsusgabe. (Weimar: Herman Boehlaus Nachfolger, 1909), pp.499-500. [2]

* Faith is a living, bold trust in God’s grace, so certain of God’s favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God’s grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace.
o An Introduction to St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans from Dr. Martin Luthers Vermischte Deutsche Schriften. Johann K. Irmischer, ed. Vol. 63(Erlangen: Heyder and Zimmer, 1854), pp.124-125. (EA 63:124-125)[3]

* If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (sin boldly), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign.
o Letter 99, Paragraph 13. Erika Bullmann Flores, Tr. from: Dr. Martin Luther’s Saemmtliche Schriften Dr. Johann Georg Walch Ed. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, N.D.), Vol. 15, cols. 2585-2590. [4]

* What does it mean to have a god? or, what is God? Answer: A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him from the [whole] heart; as I have often said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and trust be right, then is your god also true; and, on the other hand, if your trust be false and wrong, then you have not the true God; for these two belong together faith and God. That now, I say, upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god.
o Large Catechism 1.1-3, F. Bente and W.H.T. Dau, tr. Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921), 565. [5]

* But since the devil’s bride, Reason, that pretty whore, comes in and thinks she’s wise, and what she says, what she thinks, is from the Holy Spirit, who can help us, then? Not judges, not doctors, no king or emperor, because [reason] is the Devil’s greatest whore.
o The original German is “Vernunft … ist die höchste Hur, die der Teufel hat”.
o Martin Luther’s Last Sermon in Wittenberg … Second Sunday in Epiphany, 17 January 1546. Dr. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe. (Weimar: Herman Boehlaus Nachfolger, 1914), Band 51:126, Line 7ff
o Martin Luther (1483-1546). The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

* When we are inclined to boast of our position [as Christians] we should remember that we are but Gentiles, while the Jews are of the lineage of Christ. We are aliens and in-laws; they are blood relatives, cousins, and brothers of our Lord. Therefore, if one is to boast of flesh and blood the Jews are actually nearer to Christ than we are.
o That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew Luther’s Works, American Edition (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1962), Volume 45, Page 201

* I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict Scripture.
o Letter to Chancellor Gregory Brück (An Den Kanzler Brück), 1524-01-13, in Dr. Martin Luther’s Briefe, Sendschreiben und Bedenken: volständig aus den verschiedenen Ausgaben seiner Werke und Briefe, aus andern Büchern und noch unbenutzten Handschriten gesammelt. From the Wilhelm Martin Leberecht De Wette Collection of Luther’s Letters (Berlin: Georg reimer, 1826) vol. 2, p. 459 (Letter DLXXII; Latin text).

* But the Jews are so hardened that they listen to nothing; though overcome by testimonies they yield not an inch. It is a pernicious race, oppressing all men by their usury and rapine. If they give a prince or magistrate a thousand florins, they extort twenty thousand from the subjects in payment. We must ever keep on guard against them.
o Table Talk, Hazlet, tr., p. 43

* They are splendidly built ( Italian Hospitals ), the best food and drink are at hand, the attendants are very diligent, the physicians are learned, the beds and coverings are very clean, and the bedsteads are painted. As soon as a sick man is brought in, all his clothes are taken off in the presence of a notary and are faithfully kept for him. He is then laid in a handsomely painted bed with clean sheets. Two physicians are fetched at once. Attendants come with food and drink, served in immaculate glass vessels; these are not touched with as much as a finger but are brought on a tray.
o Table Talk, August 1, 1538, No. 3930. Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 54, p.296. Concordia Publishing House and Fortress Press, 1967. ISBN 0800603540 cf. Ludwig Von Pastor, vol.5:65

* I think these things ( firearms ) were invented by Satan himself, for they canâ€t be defended against with (ordinary) weapons and fists. All human strength vanishes when confronted with firearms. A man is dead before he sees whatâ€s coming.
o ibid. P.232, 1537-03-19, No 3552

* For the history of the centuries that have passed since the birth of Christ nowhere reveals conditions like those of the present. There has never been such building and planting in the world. There has never been such gluttonous and varied eating and drinking as now. Wearing apparel has reached its limit in costliness. Who has ever heard of such commerce as now encircles the earth? There have arisen all kinds of art and sculpture, embroidery and engraving, the like of which has not been seen during the whole Christian era. In addition men are so delving into the mysteries of things that today a boy of twenty knows more than twenty doctors formerly knew.
o Sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent, Luke 21:25-36 (1522), in John Nicholas Lenker, ed., Sermons of Martin Luther: Church Postils (Baker Book House, 1989), ISBN 0-80105-626-8 [6]

* …women and girls begin to bare themselves behind and in front, and there is nobody to punish and hold in check, and besides, Godâ€s word is mocked.
o To His Housewife (An Seine Hausfrau), end of July 1545, De Wette, vol. v (Fünfter Theil, 1828), p. 753. No. MMCCLXXXVI [7] McGiffert, P.374 (English tr.).
o McGiffert, Arthur Cushman. Martin Luther: The Man and His Work (Century, 1911), from Google Books. Reprint from Kessinger Publishing (July 2003), ISBN 076617431X

* Few are the women and maidens who would let themselves think that one could at the same time be joyous and modest. They are all bold and coarse in their speech, in their demeanor wild and lewd. That is now the fashion of being in good cheer. But it is specially evil that the young maiden folk are exceedingly bold of speech and bearing, and curse like troopers, to say nothing of their shameful words and scandalous coarse sayings, which one always hears and learns from another.
o Denifle vol.1, part 1, p.305.
o Denifle, Heinrich, Luther and Lutherdom, vol.1, part 1, , tr. from 2nd rev. ed. of German by Raymund Volz, Somerset, England: Torch Press, 1917. Denifle give as his source for this quote: Lutherâ€s works, Erlangen edition, vol. vi, p.401.( 67 vols. ).

* “For He that is mighty hath done great things for me, and Holy is His Name” (Luke 1:49). Luther comments:
* The “great things” are nothing less than that she became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed upon her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among whom she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in Heaven, and such a child. She herself is unable to find a name for this work, it is too exceedingly great; all she can do is break out in the fervent cry: “They are great things,” impossible to describe or define. Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God. No one can say anything greater of her or to her, though he had as many tongues as there are leaves on the trees, or grass in the fields, or stars in the sky, or sand by the sea. It needs to be pondered in the heart, what it means to be the Mother of God.
o Commentary on the Magnificat (Das Magnificat), A.D. 1521
o Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 21, p.326, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, Concordia Publishing House, 1956. ISBN 057006421X

* On coming to the house, they (the Magi), saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. (Matthew 2:11)
* [This] adoration, too, was not the same as the worship of God. In my opinion they did not yet recognize him as God, but they acted in keeping with the custom mentioned in Scripture, according to which Kings and important people were worshiped; this did not mean more than falling down before them at their feet and honoring them.
o Sermon on The Gospel for the Festival of the Epiphany, 1522.
o Luther’s Works, American Ed., Hans J. Hillerbrand, Helmut T. Lehmann eds., Philadelphia, Concordia Publishing House/Fortress Press, 1974, ISBN 0800603524 (Sermons II), vol. 52:198

* Religion is not ‘doctrinal knowledge,’ but wisdom born of personal experience.
o Holborn, Hajo; A HISTORY OF MODERN GERMANY: The Reformation; 1959/1982 Princeton university Press.

* Holy Christendom has, in my judgment, no better teacher after the apostles than St. Augustine.
o [8]
o Luther’s Works, American Ed., Robert H. Fischer, Helmut T. Lehman, eds., Concordia Publishing House/Fortress Press, 1959, ISBN 0800603370 (Word and Sacrament III), vol. 37:107

* And I myself, in Rome, heard it said openly in the streets, “If there is a hell, then Rome is built on it.” That is, “After the devil himself, there is no worse folk than the pope and his followers.”
o Against the Roman Papacy, An Institution of the Devil ( Wider das Papstum zu Rom vom Teuffel Gestifft, A. D. 1545)[9]
* Lutherâ€s Works, Church and Ministry III, American Ed., Helmut T. Lehman, Eric W. Gritsch, eds., Augsburg Fortress Press, 1966, Vol. 41:279. ISBN 0800603419 ISBN 9780800603410.

* A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
o Psalm. Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (translated by Frederic H. Hedge), Reported in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

* Tell your master that if there were as many devils at Worms as tiles on its roofs, I would enter.
o Psalm. Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (translated by Frederic H. Hedge), Reported in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). “On the 16th of April, 1521, Luther entered the imperial city [of Worms]… On his approach… the Elector’s chancellor entreated him, in the name of his master, not to enter a town where his death was decided. The answer which Luther returned was simply this”. Bunsen, Life of Luther.

* Here I stand; I can do no otherwise. God help me. Amen!
o Speech at the Diet of Worms (1521), Reported in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

[edit] Table Talk (1569)

* Superstition, idolatry, and hypocrisy have ample wages, but truth goes a-begging.
o 53.

* For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel…Thus is the Devil ever God’s ape.
o 67. Compare “Where God hath a temple, the Devil will have a chapel”, Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, part III, section 4, member 1, subsection 1.

* so it is with human reason, which strives not against faith, when enlightened, but rather furthers and advances it.
o On Justification CCXCIV

* A faithful and good servant is a real godsend; but truly â€t is a rare bird in the land.
o 156.

* The Mass is the greatest blasphemy of God, and the highest idolatry upon earth, an abomination the like of which has never been in Christendom since the time of the Apostles.
o 171.

* There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.
o 292.

* A theologian is born by living, nay dying and being damned, not by thinking, reading, or speculating.
o 352.

* Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has: it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but–more frequently than not –struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.
o 353.

[edit] Unsourced

* If it were art to overcome heresy with fire, the executioners would be the most learned doctors on earth.
o To the Christian Nobility of the German States (1520)

* Hier stehe ich, ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen.
o Translation: Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen.
o Speech at the Diet of Worms (April 18, 1521)

* The mad mob does not ask how it could be better, only that it be different. And when it then becomes worse, it must change again. Thus they get bees for flies, and at last hornets for bees.
o Whether Soldiers Can Also Be in a State of Grace (1526)

* Ein’ feste burg is unser Gott,
ein gute wehr und waffen.
Er hilft uns frei aus aller not,
die uns itzt hat betroffen.
o Translation: A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing.
Our helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
o Ein’ Feste Burg (1529)

* What can only be taught by the rod and with blows will not lead to much good; they will not remain pious any longer than the rod is behind them.
o The Great Catechism. Second Command (1529)

* Peace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace.
o On Marriage (1530)

* Justice is a temporary thing that must at last come to an end; but the conscience is eternal and will never die.
o On Marriage (1530)

* Idiots, the lame, the blind, the dumb, are men in whom the devils have established themselves: and all the physicians who heal these infirmities, as though they proceeded from natural causes, are ignorant blockheads.

* If [women] become tired or even die, that does not matter. Let them die in childbirth–that is why they are there.

* Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and … know nothing but the word of God.
o Said to be from V, 1312

* Sin cannot tear you away from him [Christ], even though you commit adultery a hundred times a day and commit as many murders.

* There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.

* We are all ministers of the Gospel. Some of us just happen to be clergymen.

* Whoever wants to be a Christian should tear the eyes out of his reason.
o Said to be from V, 425

* Nothing good ever comes of violence