Mar 9 Mon
Why is there purgatory?
Purgatory is a state of purification before entering heaven.
God our Father has promised us eternal glory, where we will be able to contemplate him face to face, in total union with him. But the dwelling of the Most High is a holy place. A soul stained by guilt cannot attain the full company of God.
Sins must be atoned. This may be done on this earth, offering the sorrows, misfortunes and trials of this life and, above all, through a holy death. Otherwise, the atonement must be made in the next life through fire and torments or "purifying" punishments. Our choice: “Pay now, or pay later.”
We must consider purgatory as a manifestation of God's paternal love for us. We can compare it to the love of “a mother who takes her little child and puts him in the bath, soaps him all over, washes him and dresses him, so that the baby ends up looking like a perfect angel!”
The Church teaches that the souls in purgatory suffer temporal punishment, with the complete certainty that these sufferings are leading to the full possession of God.
There is suffering over there, because the soul keenly desires to enjoy God but is deprived of the vision of God for a time. There is also pain, for the soul is purified by the punishment of the senses (torment). Yet there is joy too, knowing that the battle is won and the soul is destined to rejoice in God for ever.
God also purifies us during our life on earth. By accepting life's sufferings in penance for our sins, we can in a certain sense have our purgatory here on earth, and thus be prepared to enter heaven quickly. Saint Josemaría wrote: “The great Christian revolution has been to convert pain into fruitful suffering, and to turn a bad thing into something useful. We have deprived the devil of this weapon; and with it we can conquer eternal happiness.”
In this life, our suffering freely accepted and sought for love of God, pain and penance, are instruments of penance: they are our purgatory on earth. “Are you afraid of penance?... Of penance, which helps you to obtain life everlasting? And yet, in order to preserve this poor present life, don't you see how men will submit to the cruel torture of a surgical operation?”
And there is much to purify in ourselves. There are venial sins; there are omissions in love; and concessions to the inclination to sin that our nature inherited from the first fall.
Furthermore, every sin, even after it has been forgiven, leaves a debt outstanding in the soul, which must be paid either in this life or in the next. So, shouldn’t we ask the Lord: Cleanse me in this life and make me such that I do not need to be chastened by fire?
Let us ask our Blessed Lady to foster in us a healthy filial fear of God, and to strengthen us so that we make generous penance, here on earth, for all our sins.