Purgatory

If you asked an average Roman Catholic about Purgatory, he might tell you a number of different things. Many American Catholics are under the impression that Vatican II did away with Purgatory. Some might embrace some vague notion of a place of purging (hopefully, not torture) in the future life to cleanse from sin, or some might be like Mike Scanlon, President of Steubenville University. Mile told me, "Bill I am thankful for Purgatory. If it were not for Purgatory, most American Catholics would never get to Heaven. I'm kind of looking forward to it myself as a place to wash up before I enter God's presence." Later in this article, we will deal more in depth with contemporary thoughts of Purgatory, but first we must ask some very serious questions about the basic theological position of this mysterious place.

BASIC R.C. BELIEF

Purgatory is a place or state to which a person who died in the state of grace but with unsatisfied temporal punishment or venial sin must go so that purifying punishment can satisfy God's judgment and make him ready for Heaven. That is an official Roman Catholic position. But what do they mean by "temporal punishment."

Roman Catholic theology teaches that the Sacrament of Penance can take away the eternal punishment for sin. Mortal sins properly confessed will not send a person to hell. But, varying on the enormity of the sin, there is still some satisfaction to be made. This is called temporal punishment, which can be taken care of by giving alms, saying indulgenced prayers or bearing your cross. Any not taken care of means a term in Purgatory.

If Catholics entertain the thought of Purgatory, they feel it is just a stepping stone to Heaven. They can read in St. Peter's Catechism, "All the souls in purgatory will go to Heaven when they have atoned for their sin" This might sound comforting until a person understands that sin against an Infinite God is infinite. Finite beings can never accomplish infinite atonement or satisfaction. Finite will have achieved infinity at the end of eternity, but since eternity will never end, the suffering that is supposed to satisfy for sin will go on eternally if St. Peter's Catechism is correct.

A clear picture of Catholic thinking about Purgatory comes from LIFE FOREVER, Catholic Enquiry Centre, Imp. Patritius Casey, 1967 page 175. "Only those go to hell who say a definite `no' to God in this life. Only those go to heaven who say an unhesitating `yes' to God in this life. We may wonder what happens to those people who never give a definite answer to God during their lives. Common sense indicates that there must be many individuals who die and are not yet ready for the immediate presence of God in heaven But they are by no means sufficiently evil to merit hell.

What happens to these people? Christ, through his Church, answers this question with the doctrine of purgatory." On page 176 we read, "Prayer for the dead has been a Christian practice from the very beginning. Even before the time of Christ it was the custom of some Jews to pray for their dead."

This, of course, is a reference to II Maccabees 12:46, "It is a good and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they might be loosed from their sins." First, even if the Jews did pray for their dead, there is no scripture to say that they should have. Second, II Maccabees is talking about people who died because the sin of idolatry, which is , according to Catholic theology, a mortal sin. Therefore they would have gone to Hell, not to Purgatory.

While people have always been frightened about the tortures of Medieval Purgatory, Priest Michael D'Arcy (with the Imprimatur of the late John Whealon, writes, "Purgatory has always been one of the tenderest beliefs of Christendom. It takes all the pagan melancholy, so touching in the Greek Anthology and the Roman epitaphs, and suffuses it with supernatural hope. It is no wonder that (the feast of) All Souls is in so many countries one of the best remembered days of the calendar.

"Obviously we are asked to believe something whose existence cannot be proved by reason, any more than can the doctrines of Heaven and Hell. But the doctrine itself is a gracious blending of the mercy and justice of the all-holy God. `Nothing defiled can enter heaven,' we are told, and during this period of purgation, all the dross is burned away until the moment when, in then judgment of God, the soul is ready for entrance into the presence-chamber of God. Clearly, we repeat, we are in the presence of a supernatural mystery - but a mystery that is both consoling and reasonable."

To make the dogma of Purgatory more official, we go to St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, the greatest Roman Catholic theologian. He writes, "Such persons must then be cleansed in the next life before entering upon their eternal reward. This cleansing is done by penal afflictions, as even in this life it might have been completed by penal works of satisfaction; otherwise the negligent would be no better off than the careful, if the penalty that men do not pay here for their sins is not to be undergone by them in the life to come.' If there is no sort of purgation after death, why bother trying to atone for sin in this life?"

However, D'Arcy does admit, "The Church has no certainty, nor do those who pray have any certainty that their prayers will infallibly assist this or that particular soul for whom the prayers are offered, nor that they will infallibly achieve an immediate effect." The Catholic Truth Society writes, "The Church has no jurisdiction in Purgatory. The Pope could not empty Purgatory by granting an indulgence" (PURGATORY, page 14.)

In June 1993 I phoned a local Roman Catholic Church and told them my Uncle Joe had died and could I have a Mass said for him. They said of course I could, but the first available date was in February.

From ETERNAL LIFE, Catholic Enquiry Centre, Imp. Georgius Craven, page 190. "An old hymn says of Purgatory: `O place of happy pains, and land of dear desires, where love divine detains glad souls among sweet fires.'"

One of the Catholic "proof" texts for Purgatory has been I Corinthians 3:15, "If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as by fire." Regarding this verse. the Catholic Truth Society writes in their book PURGATORY, page 7, "Now this passage of St. Paul refers to the `fire' of judgment at the last day and cannot refer directly to Purgatory, which will then cease to exist. But it has been used in the Church as an apt illustration of the doctrine of Purgatory."

A recent champion of Purgatory has been Padre Pio, the Capuchin monk recently canonized by Pope John Paul II. The National Centre for Padre Pio has reprinted a book, READ ME OR RUE IT by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan ( Imprimatur Joannes Timotheus, Archiepiscopus, Cincinnatenesis, 8/22/25.) Several quotes are of interest.

"While undergoing the process of purification the souls in Purgatory are powerless and can do nothing to better themselves."

"On one occasion, while in conversation with some friars who were questioning him on the importance of his prayers for (Holy Souls), Padre Pio said, `More souls of the dead from Purgatory than of the living, climb this mountain to attend my Masses and seek my prayers."

"One day as Padre Pio and his brother friars were eating in the refectory, suddenly and unusually, he got up and went to the entrance door of the Friary where he started a lively conversation with some people who, however, remained invisible to the other friars who followed them. As they watched Padre Pio talking to what appeared to them to be no one, the friars remarked to one another, `He has gone crazy.' However, they asked him to whom he was talking and Padre Pio smilingly replied, `Oh, don't worry, I was talking to some souls who, while on their way from Purgatory to Heaven, stopped here to thank me because I remembered them at my Mass this morning,' and with this, he returned to the refectory as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened."

"What is Purgatory? It is a prison of fire in which nearly all souls are plunged after death and in which they suffer the intensest pain. Here is what the great Doctors of the Church tell us about Purgatory. So grievous is their suffering that one minute in this awful fire seems like a century. St. Thomas, the Prince of theologians, says that the fire of Purgatory is equal in intensity to the fire of Hell. St. Augustine teaches that to be purified of their faults previously to being admitted to Heaven, souls after death are subjected to a fire more dreadful than anything we can conceive in this life. `Though this fire is destined to cleanse and purify the soul,' adds the Holy Doctor, `still it is more acute than anything we could possibly endure on earth.'"

In opposition to this theory, St. Catherine of Siena once made the point that a day in Purgatory - in spite of the pain of separation from God experienced there - is happier than all of one's life put together. (The Catholic Answer, January/February 1994, p. 28)

"St. Louis Bertrand's father was an exemplary Christian. When he died, his saintly son offered many Masses and poured forth the most fervent supplications for the soul he so dearly loved. Yet eight whole years passed before he obtained the release of his father. St. Malachy's sister was detained in Purgatory for a very long time despite the Masses, prayers and heroic mortification the Saint offered for her. It was related to a holy nun in Famphluna, who succeeded in releasing many Carmelite nuns from Purgatory that most of these had spent terms of from thirty to sixty years.

In the Dominican order it is the rule to pray for the Masters General by name on their anniversaries. Many of these have been dead for several hundred years."

"Blessed John of Massias, the Dominican lay brother, obtained by his prayers (chiefly by the recitation of the Rosary), the liberation of one million four hundred thousand souls!"

"Many people have the custom of saying 500 or 1,000 times each day the little ejaculation "Sacred Heart of Jesus I place my trust in thee." Those who say ejaculations 1,000 times a day gain 300,000 days Indulgence. What a multitude of souls they can thus relieve."

Padre Pio said, "For some time now, I have felt the need to offer myself to the Lord as a victim for poor sinners and for the souls in Purgatory."

Recent Development of Purgatory

From THE (DENVER) CATHOLIC REGISTER, 11/10/90. "I remember a friend of mine once saying to me: `Purgatory no longer exists. Vatican II changed that.' I was surprised at his statement when, on the contrary, Vatican II reaffirmed the existence of purgatory. Actually, purgatory is an unchanging dogma of our Catholic faith.

"Vatican II in its document LUMEN GENTIUM not only stated its belief in Purgatory, it also quoted from the Scriptures that purgatory exists: `Fully conscious of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Christ, the pilgrim Church from the very first stages of the Christian religion has cultivated with great piety the memory of the dead, and because "it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sins" (II Mach 12:46), also offer suffrages for them.'

"Because some Catholics in in recent years have doubted the existence of heaven, hell and purgatory, Pope John Paul II in 1979 ordered the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (previously called the Inquisition) to publish a letter strongly reaffirming the Church's belief in heaven, hell and purgatory. It also made clear that any deviation from the ancient faith on the doctrines of heaven, hell and purgatory, which calls any of these into doubt, is not permitted.

"The existence of a purgatory where good people are purified after death and made perfect so that they can enter heaven, has been the constant teaching of the Church since earliest times. For example, Pope Paul VI in his CREDO OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD in 1968 said that `we believe that the souls of those who die in the grace of Christ - whether they must still be purified in purgatory, or whether from the moment they leave their bodies Jesus takes them to paradise as He did for the Good Thief, are the people of God in the eternity beyond death.'

"That purgatory exists is a clear solemn teaching of our Catholic faith. This doctrine was taught in the Second Council of Lyon (1274) and by Pope Benedict XXII (sic) in his Benedictus Dei (1336). It is defined as a dogma which all Catholics must believe by the Council of Trent in 1563, and the Church has never changed a dogma of faith once it has been declared.

"A dogma only reaffirms what Catholics have always believed. Back in the 5th century St. Augustine wrote that `the prayers of the Church, the Holy Sacrifice and alms distributed for the departed, relieve those holy souls and move God to treat them with more clemency than their sins deserve. It is a universal practice of the Church, a practice which she observes as having received it from her forefathers, that is to say - the holy Apostles.'

"Special Masses are said for the faithful departed, especially during November. As well, at every Mass celebrated around the world each day of the year, there is a prayer for the departed. If all souls went straight to heaven after death, we would not be praying for them, as we do now at Mass.

"The Church not only teaches that Purgatory exists, it also teaches that we who are living on earth can help those in purgatory by our prayers, our good works and sacrifices, by our almsgivings and especially by the Mass.

"For us, life and death are great mysteries through God's merciful Providence and His Church. He has made it possible for those of us who are living, to be able to help those `poor souls' in purgatory. St. Jerome in the 4th century told the Christians of his day: `We have loved them in life. Let us not forget them in death.'

"For many today, the doctrine of purgatory is not popular. Yet it remains a truth of our faith which we cannot ignore or bury. If we believe all that our Church teaches we have to believe in purgatory.

"One bishop put it this way: `I expect to go to heaven. I'm not so confident, however, that I will go straight to heaven. I still have a lot of faults and venial sins. I hope and pray that I can reach the point of perfection before I die, but I'm not so sure. So for me, the doctrine of purgatory is very consoling. It reassures me that even without full perfection in this life. I can still reach the perfection of total happiness with God in eternal life. It's consoling to know we can help those gone before us and that others will pray for us when we have died.'"

Modern priests don't emphasize Purgatory; a progressive theologian has likened it an atomic blast after death that instantly purifies.

Vatican II said, "In Purgatory, the souls of those who died in the charity of God and truly repentant, but who have not made satisfaction with adequate penance for their sins and omissions, are cleansed after death with punishment designed to purge away their debt." (It is difficult to see any difference between this definition and the basic definition of the Church that has always been presented to the faithful as something to be absolutely believed.)

A modern "gentle" definition of Purgatory comes from Marianhill Fathers, Dearborn, MI, in a 1978 appeal for funds to say Masses for the "Poor Souls" in Purgatory.

"The soul, when it dies, goes straight to God. However, one look at the perfect Holiness in Heaven convinces the soul that it is not ready, so it goes to Purgatory for preparation."

Another modern approach to Purgatory comes from From CHRIST AMONG US by Anthony Wilhelm, page 413-414. (Editor's Note-This catechism is now out of favor with Vatican authorities, but is still used by many American Catholics.) "We are responsible and accountable for our sins, and we have a need within ourselves to make up for them. Purgatory is an attempt to express our need of eventual "purification;" the growth of needed love we must undergo before attaining union with God, who is limitless Love. Purgatory is best described as the painful state or experience of encountering God after death, when we see him as he really is "face to face" (I Cor. 13:12) and, by contrast ourselves as we really are, as sinful humans. An encounter with the living God is always painfully, totally upsetting. God's manifestations in scripture show this. Refer to: "Moses (Exo 3:6); Elijah (II Ki 19:13); Isaiah (6:5); Daniel (7:9-10; 8:17-18,27); Ezekiel 3:23-26); Matthew 17:1-6 (The Transfiguration).

"In this experience of purgation we make up for our sins by growing in love. Christ has made up for our sins and now accepts us totally, but we yet have the need of doing something about them ourselves. We experience this painful purgation because we have not loved enough."

On the Mass Card of a one year old girl who died in 1984 were the following words, "O Gentlest Heart of Jesus, ever consumed with burning love for the poor captive souls in Purgatory, have mercy on the soul of Thy departed servant. Let some drops of Thy precious Blood fall upon the devouring flames." Logically, there is no way a one- year-old girl can be in Purgatory. If she was baptized, she would be in Heaven. If not baptized, then possibly in "Limbo." But Purgatory is not a theological possibility, even in Roman Catholic thought.

Besides II Maccabees 12:46 and I Corinthians 3:15 (already dealt with), there are several Catholic "proof" texts, as follows:

Matthew 5:25. "Agree with thine adversary quickly, (lest)...thou be cast into prison." This prison, Catholic theologians say, alludes to Purgatory, but the verse cannot prove Purgatory since it is the imprisoned one who must pay the uttermost farthing. In Purgatorial theology, payments can also be made by people on the earth.

Matthew 12:32. "This sin...shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come." Note that it doesn't say any sin will be forgiven in the world to come, and Purgatory is not basically a place for sins to be forgiven, but for temporal punishment, unpaid on earth, to be exacted.

2 Timothy 1:16-18; "The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus...the Lord grant that he may find mercy in that day..." Some Catholics say "in that day" refers to Purgatory. This is an excellent example of the Catholic habit of eisegesis (bringing a doctrine to a text).

Revelation (Apocalypse) 21:27. "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth..." The usual statements are: (1) All have sinned. (2) No sin can enter Heaven. (3) There must be a place we can go in order to get rid of our sin. The answer to all three is a definite "Yes." The only question is where do we go to get rid of our sin?

From CATHOLICS AND PURGATORY, Knights of Columbus, Imp. John Whealon, page 5. "The friend cannot pay in place of the debtor unless the creditor agrees. So the one who pays must first merit a hearing that he may plead with the creditor to let him pay in place of his friend. Prayers said for those in Purgatory are always dependent upon God's discretion. He distributes their proffered satisfaction in the way that he judges to be just. Some are more deserving of immediate release than others."

Ibid., page 7,8. "It is a matter of Catholic faith that the just who at the moment of death are burdened with venial sins or with a debt of satisfaction for sins to enter Purgatory. Hence, it is also a matter of Catholic faith that Purgatory exists. It is a matter of Catholic faith that those in Purgatory can be helped by the prayers and good works of the just on earth. Likewise, it is a matter of Catholic faith that the Church has the power to grant indulgences (see 151) and that these are useful and salutary for the faithful. Other matters like the nature of the fire, the duration of Purgatory, the nature of the purification, etc. are the opinions of theologians and are subject, therefore, to reconsideration and perhaps revision...some scholars think that in many cases it is bypassed by the purification effected in one's very death agony when this is accepted with loving resignation to God's will."

CATHOLIC JOURNALS

From LIGUORIAN, November 1981. "Q: Why does God demand more punishment in purgatory after death? It's almost as if God carries a grudge over the sins he forgave in life. What purposes does purgatory serve? A: Rather than look at purgatory as a punishment for sin, could we not look at it in a different way? First, our salvation is a growth into the likeness of God.

"Our process of spiritual growth is so slow. Each time we move forward three steps, we slip back two. Our whole life is a series of successes and failures. For this reason, it seems the process of becoming worthy of God cannot stop with death.

"After death, we will be confronted by the majesty of God's presence. We will realize with total clarity how far short we fell in becoming `like God.' This realization will be a suffering for us. We will long to be what we should be, a longing so intense it will be like a burning pain. The image of fire in purgatory describes well this inner suffering. Purgatory is not arbitrary punishment but the final stage of spiritual growth. Purgatory is really God's love-gift for the sinner. Father John Fasrnik, C.SS.R."

From THE CATHOLIC VOICE, Oakland, CA 5/18/81. Question Box by Father John Dietzen. "Purgatory is still very much a part of our faith as every Sacrifice of the Mass and every other prayer for the dead attests.

"The hoary pictures of torture, pain and a scourging God which made of purgatory a kind of mini-hell may literally scare the devil out of someone, but they are totally irrelevant to the doctrine of purgatory.

"It is very possible that in the burst of awareness of the reality of God and creation that might occur immediately after death, the pain that comes from our knowledge of our sins and shortcomings might be so acute and intense that an entire purgatory - or cleansing, which is what the word purgatory means - could occur in an instant."

From THE CATHOLIC VOICE, Oakland, CA 6/1/81. "Scholars say St. Paul's prayer for Onesimus (Editor's Note-it was Onesiphorus) in II Tim 1:18 (the Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day) could imply the existence of purgatory."

CHRISTIAN COMMENT

Even the apocryphal verse in II Maccabees doesn't prove Purgatory, as the men for whom the prayer was offered died in idolatry (a mortal sin) and, according to Roman Catholic theology, they were in Hell, not Purgatory. No one can pray you out of Hell.

A Roman Catholic may feel the prison of Matthew 5:25 alludes to Purgatory, but verse 26 states that the prisoner has to pay for his release. In the Roman Catholic doctrine, people on earth pay for the prisoners in Purgatory.

Matthew 12:32 doesn't state there is forgiveness after death, and Purgatory is mainly for temporal punishment of sins already forgiven but not paid in full.

Roman Catholic theologians admit I Corinthians 3:15 is a final judgment at which time there will be no more Purgatory.

When they quote Revelation 21:27, we agree that all have sinned, and that no sin can enter Heaven. There must be a place where we can go for cleansing, and Hebrews 1:3 tells us of cleansing; Jesus Christ purged our sins (Roman Catholic Confraternity New Testament: "Christ has effected man's purgation from sin"). The fact that no further cleansing is needed is backed up by I John 1:7. Calvary's Cross is God's Perfect Purgatory.

We can challenge our Roman Catholic friends by asking which Purgatory they want for their cleansing: God's promised cleansing from all sin or the uncertain Roman Catholic Purgatory (he doesn't know where it is, what will happen to him when he gets there, how long he will stay, and he has no absolute assurance of being able to get out).