Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

Be generous to all the living, and withhold not your kindness from the dead.

Sirach 7:33

A couple of days ago at work I was listening to music on my very old iPod that I bought off my son’s friend about 15 years ago when I suddenly had the thought to put on Manheim Steamroller.

That might seem an odd choice as Christmas is half a year away but we are asked to keep the spirit of Christmas in our hearts all year long so I put on the album while I was working. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it and the concerts I had gone to with my wife and kids the latest being at the Colonial in Boston before this insanity took place

As I was doing my work it occurred to me that this pleasure along with the joy of those concerts was one more thing that I and millions of others owed to Rush Limbaugh who had introduced Chip Davis and his music to his audience and thus to the country and world. I found myself thinking about the impact he had on the nation culturally and politically from the initial victory of the GOP breaking the 40 year run of Democrat control of the house in 1994 to his role along with Sarah Palin in the 63 seat red wave in 2010.

One might consider this a debt we can’t repay as he’s been dead now for several months but by an odd coincidence as I was thinking of all I owed him I remembered a project that I’m working on The Indulgence Calendar.

I’ll be writing more about the indulgence Calendar (along with some downloads) on Memorial day but the bottom line is that if you are a Catholic there IS something you can do for Rush Limbaugh: You can earn an indulgence for him.

Now Rush wasn’t Catholic but that doesn’t matter. You can earn an indulgence for any deceased person and the merits of said indulgences do not depend on if the subject was Catholic thus I propose:

Every Catholic Earn An Indulgence for Rush Limbaugh Day

Sunday May 30th 2021

I propose this date because

• I will be starting the indulgence Calendar June 1st and want to sneak this in before it.
• Holy Communion is necessary for an indulgence (see #1 below) so a Sunday maxes out the number of Catholics.
• Finally I think Rush would not want to make Memorial Day (May 31) about him rather than vets who gave their lives

Now to earn an indulgence there are certain norms that must be followed here are the ones that apply from my indulgence calendar

1. Communion on the day of an indulgence. This can be applied to any amount of indulgences that day.
2. Confession within two weeks of the day of an indulgence. Applies to all indulgences during that period
3. Prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father (an Our Father, Hail Mary or any appropriate prayer) once per day of indulgence.
4. To earn an indulgence you must be in a state of grace (no unconfessed mortal sin) at the time of the indulgenced act….

11. No unbaptized person nor any Christian who is currently under the penalty of excommunication may earn an indulgence.

12. You must ACTIVELY seek and or state your intention to obtain an indulgence for the act or prayer that carries it to be valid.

So if you are a Catholic going to mass and receiving communion on Sunday all you have to do, in addition to receiving communion to earn an indulgence for Rush Limbaugh Sunday May 30th is:

1. Declare your intention to do so
2. Make sure you go or have gone to Confession sometime between May 11th and June 19th
3. Say an Our Father and a Hail Mary for the intentions of the Pope that day
4. And do any act or prayer that carries an indulgence (outside of mass) from reading scripture to Praying the Angelus or even the sign of the cross.

Additionally Earning an indulgence for the dead in purgatory is a spiritual work of mercy so in doing this for Rush we are also helping ourselves along our path to Christ.

Oh and fyi, there is no limit to the number of partial indulgences that you can earn in a day as long as you declare your intention to earn it so feel free to obtain multiple indulgences for Rush and maybe one for yourself.

If you want to learn more about indulgences stop by on May 31st and I’ll introduce you to my Indulgence Calendar Project which launches June 1st.