Purgatory
ONE
We are going to die and be judged. This is a fact, not morbid thinking. We are judged based on what kind of person our choices have made of us: a child of God or child of hell. Most of us view ourselves as somewhere in the middle. For those who nevertheless love God over self, He saves, but may need to purify. Thus the purpose of Purgatory, a place after physical death where we are purged from defects and venial sins.
In the third chapter of Genesis, God reveals to Adam and Eve the consequences of their sin in four areas: loss of harmony with each other, creation, and self, and the most devastating, loss of harmony with God. The result of sin is chaos, and ultimately death, both physical and spiritual. These four disharmonies are not all equal in scope. The first three, disharmony with each other, creation, and self, are called temporal consequences of sin. The disharmony with God is called the eternal consequence of sin. The temporal consequences play out in very tangible ways here and now in our struggles, pain, and death. The disharmony with God leads to eternal death, or hell. We are completely incapable of healing or restoring any of these by our own power. The story of God’s people in the Old Testament demonstrates this fact over and over again, as Israel repeatedly breaks the covenant with God by falling into slavery to sin. Israel needed help. This is why God sent a Savior, Jesus Christ. By the blood of the Cross, Jesus heals, restores, and even elevates the status of all humans to enjoy eternal life with God. He removes the curse of sin, reconciles us to the Father, and bestows the blessing of His Holy Spirit upon us so we can be adopted as His children.
TWO
Jesus came to heal us from all the disharmony our sin has caused. However, only the complete healing of our separation with God, the eternal consequence of our sin, can be experienced in full here and now. Jesus lifts the heaviest of the four burdens completely in Baptism, Confession, and the Eucharist because we are so weak. However, to heal the other three consequences of our sin, Jesus calls us to cooperate with His grace in a continual process. So, after receiving absolution from the priest, we are still required to offer penance. The eternal consequences are obliterated, we are completely reconciled with the Father, but we are not reconciled to the world, others or ourselves. Christ calls me to be his partner in the marvel of my own salvation. I am a slow and clumsy partner, but He is patient.
Christ’s grace in us can even overflow into the conversion of others through our prayer and penance. Now we are all called to be Saints, which means with the help of Jesus, we live lives of such heroic love and virtue that we all but heal the temporal consequences caused by our sin.
THREE
But what if we die without having completely healed all the consequences of our life’s sins? God does not take back the honor of our participation in our own salvation. God established purgatory, a place that purifies us of these consequences after death. St. Paul tells us, “Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood hay, stubble—each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” (1 Cor 3:12-13.) We are supposed to be pure from our sin by the time we die. But God in his merciful love will work with us even after death, to purify what is worthless so that only what is precious remains.
Our prayers, especially the rosary, and Masses offered for the dead, can be an aid the souls in purgatory. In a mystical vision, St. Faustina writes, “I saw my guardian angel, who ordered me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames, which were burning them, did not touch me at all. My guardian angel did not leave me for an instant. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God.” Lord, may our longing for you be so strong that we not only heal the temporal consequences of our sin through prayer, sacraments, and penances, but may we also generously pray and offer Masses for those now in purgatory who so long to see Your Face.
FOUR
The book of Revelation tells us that “Nothing impure will ever enter Heaven, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.” (Rev 21:27.)
While we all try our best to live by the word and guidance of the Holy Spirit, our weakness is so great that it’s inevitable that we disobey Him and commit sin. Imagine a large school project that determines if you pass the class. God is our patient father who sees that we are in over our head and wants to help. No matter how often we slack off, work slowly, and even sabotage our own project, He gently reminds us to begin working again and will be with us every step of the way if we let him. Even if we do not finish our work by the time the project is due, he stays up with us all night to finish. But the one thing he will not allow is for us to abandon the project or turn it in unfinished. Whether we finish the project in time, or have to stay up all night, the project will be done to the smallest detail. Even our imperfect desires and slight attachments to earthly things need to be purified so that our souls can receive and relate to the immense and eternal love of God, our patient Father.
FIVE
Take a moment and recite a prayer given to us by Jesus through St. Gertrude the Great: as we pray, we call to mind all our loved ones who have died, entrusting all to our loving Father, and our beautiful Mother. “Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.”