Indulgences

 Many years ago, during my religious era, I learned about indulgences, maybe from the nuns who regularly visited the school to deliver Religious  Education classes, or maybe combined with attending Mass faithfully, even the daily  6:30 a.m. services during Lent. 

  During those years, I would try very hard to accumulate the days and years supplied by indulgences, figuring I could store them up to get an early release from Purgatory. I was quite confident I could avoid going to Hell, not having even the opportunity to commit the deadly Mortal Sins, but fairly certain I'd already treaded the road of Venial Sin, which could be forgiven, even if I happened to die without a timely Sacrament of Confession.

I prayed during my idle moments, building  a cache of forgiveness. I didn't keep track of all the credits I had accumulated. I trusted Heaven would keep that record. I had a lot stored up by the time  I was 10-12 years old. I hope they haven't been accidentally deleted.