November 13, 2011 Purgatory Fr. Mark Cherry
Fr. Charles Arminjon in his book The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life begins his chapter on Purgatory by writing, "How beautiful our Faith is, how admirable and consoling in its teachings and in the glorious obscurity of its mysteries." He then says his task is a difficult one: to make us love and fear purgatory. He calls purgatory the "workshop of infinite justice" and on the other hand the "masterpiece of God’s heart” and the "marvelous artifice of His love." The existence of Purgatory is taught explicitly in Sacred Scripture and by the constant Tradition of the Jewish and Catholic Faith. The doctrine of Purgatory was primarily formulated at the Councils of Florence (1439) and the Trent (1563). The Book of Maccabees teaches it that it is a good and holy practice to pray for the dead so that they may be freed from faults and imperfections by which they by which they sullied themselves with in this life. (2 Macc. 12:56). There are a number of NT Scriptures that allude to the process of purification of souls before entering the fullness of the Beatific vision (Matt. 12:32; 1 Cor. 3:15; 1 Pt. 1:7). St. Paul prays for his departed friend Onesiphorus that God would have mercy on his soul (2 Tim. 1:16-18). Early Liturgies and inscriptions on the catacomb walls attest to prayers being offered for the dead that they may be delivered from their sin. Early Christian writes Tertullian and St. Cyprian testify to the regular practice of praying for the souls of the departed.
The Catholic Catechism states, "All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified are indeed assured of their eternal salvation, but after death undergo purification so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned " (CCC# 1030; 1031). Note the careful use of words: died in God’s grace and friendship, imperfectly purified, holiness necessary to enter heaven, the elect, purification rather than punishment. What Christ’s saving sacrifice on the Cross does is make possible the forgiveness of our sins and remits the eternal punishment due because of sin. What it does not do is remove the temporal consequences of sin. As well it is still necessary for each of us to undergo a process of sanctification/purification so that we become holy – allow God to form Christ in us – so that we actually take on His character. This process, God desires to take place here on earth as we co-operate with His grace. It is completed in purgatory if it is not completed here on earth. Note the Catechism calls these souls in purgatory the elect. These souls are saved and will one day enter heaven. This is why we call them the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Purgatory is not a second chance for salvation. The time for repentance and asking for God’s mercy and forgiveness is while we are alive before we die. The souls in purgatory, died in God’s grace and friendship, they had turned to Him and asked for His mercy before death, even if this was at the very last moments of their lives, like the thief on the Cross. . There is no repentance after death.
The Church teaches that there are both joys and consolations in purgatory as well as sufferings. First, let us look at the joys and consolations. The souls in purgatory possess hope of the highest order. They know with absolute certainty that they are saved and will one day enter heaven. They are aware that they love God, they hate their faults and that they can no longer do any evil or relapse into sin. They know they have died in a state of grace and are pleasing to God. They know that although they are not yet in heaven and are experiencing the suffering of purification this is overcome by knowing that nothing can ever separate them from God’s love. They know that their faults are no longer manifested in outbursts of temper, impatience, anger, jealousy, envy, murmuring, complaining, gossip, etc. They are completely resigned to God’s will and pleasure, as it is written, "I will bless the hand that chastises me…" They have but one passion and desire which is to break the obstacles, the residual traces of sin, blemishes and defects that prevent them from entering into the fullness of the joy of heaven and seeing God face to face. Their entire focus is to love God and to one day be united with Him in Heaven. They know that to be in the presence of His glory and the pure rays of His Divinity they must be made subtle and purged of any admixture of shadow and darkness. The know they must be made capable of receiving without opposition the splendors of Divine glory that will one day fill them like a river without banks or bottom. All of this is a cause of joy for these souls in purgatory.
Let us look at the sufferings of purgatory. There is the suffering of regret, knowing that through their own fault on earth they have delayed for one day, a week, a month, or year their union with God in heaven. They know that because they did not fully co-operated with God’s grace in the process of sanctification they have delayed their entrance in to heaven. Secondly, there is the regret of knowing that their sufferings are of no merit to them. It is while we are earth that we can accumulate merit and increase our heavenly crown as we allow God to purify us here, as we unite our sufferings to Christ’s suffering on the Cross. Thirdly, are aware of the lost opportunities they had to use their time, talent and treasure to build His Kingdom and help others. God in His generosity rewards us for having co-operated with His will here on earth with the gifts that He has given us, however, after death we can no longer gain merit in this way. In purgatory we cannot pray for ourselves and rely on the prayers of others to help us to be released from purgatory to heaven. And fourthly, there is the actual suffering of the purification process itself in purgatory. The Church Fathers and Doctors of the Church are not unanimous as to whether the fire of purgatory is a material fire. What they are unanimous on is that it is the fire of Divine love acting directly on the soul exposing every fault and imperfection. It is a fire that penetrates the most secret recesses of the soul, discerns every defect that we cannot perceive and it is a refiner’s fire to test like gold and silver in the furnace. This fire of Divine love acting directly on the soul restores any disfigurement in the soul. St. Thomas Aquinas say the fire lose its intensity in proportion as it consumes and destroys the faults and imperfections that feed it.
Knowing the reality of purgatory, and that there must be a purification process of every sin, fault, blemish and defect before the soul can enter the perfect harmony, love, peace and joy of heaven what should our response be? Our response should be to co-operate as fully as we can with God’s grace and will for our lives here on earth. We should desire to grow in our love (perfect love casts out fear) and knowledge of God as much as we can during our earthly pilgrimage. We should ask God to reveal anything in our lives that is not pleasing to Him and be willing to turn from it and confess it in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Knowing, as our gospel tells us today, that we all have been given gifts, talents and resources and that God expects us to use them for His kingdom we should ask ourselves is Jesus really Lord of our time, talents and money. Are we using what His given us knowing that as we do in His generosity He will give us more but on the other hand if we hide our gifts, talents and resources that we have will be taken away.
St. Therese of Lisieux, who was well aware of the reality of Purgatory from reading Fr. Charles Arminjon’s book at the age of fourteen, taught her fellow Sisters that one did not have to go to purgatory and that it was a waste of time (because there is no merit gained in purgatory). She taught them if one went to Purgatory that it was because they did not trust enough in God’s love and mercy. If they trust in God love and more confidence in His mercy than His justice she told them this was very pleasing to God and He would complete the process of purification in their lives here on earth. The "little flowers" teaching should highly motivate us to love God, trust in His great mercy and to allow Him transform and purify us here on earth as we co-operate with His grace. Our desire and goal should be to hear the words of gospel spoken to us by Our Lord, "Well done good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master."
Recommended Reading: The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life By: Fr. Charles Arminjon (1824-1885), Sophia Press, 2008, translation by Susan Conroy and Peter McKerny
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