|
Do
You Reject the Concept of Purgatory? Note:
"Purgatory is the state in which those suffer for a time who
die guilty of venial sins or without having satisfied for the
punishment due to their sins." (Baltimore Catechism) The
souls in purgatory - called 'Holy Souls' - suffer dreadfully for
their sins, but they are assured of eventually reaching heaven. It
is believed that most of the souls that are saved must pass
through purgatory. |
Consider:
*
If there is no purgatory, how can it be said that some sins
may be forgiven in the next age (see Mt. 12:32)?
*
If there is no purgatory, why does Scripture speak of not being
released until all debts are paid (see Mt. 5:26, Lk. 12:59)?
*
If there is no purgatory, how can it be said that persons
"will be saved, but only as through fire" (1 Cor. 3:15)?
Do you mean to suggest that there is fire in heaven?!
*
How do you suppose that "the wrongdoer will receive
recompense for the wrong he committed, and there is no
partiality" (Col. 3:25) if there is no purgatory? *
How do you suppose there can be prayers for the dead (see 2 Macc.
12:39-46, 2 Tm. 1:16-18) if the dead cannot be helped by prayers ("those
in heaven do not need prayers and those in hell cannot be helped
by prayers")? Note that Scripture says to "withhold not your
kindness from the dead" (Sirach 7:33) and Old Testament Jews
(not to mention today's Jews) are known to pray for the dead. Why pray for them if they cannot be
helped by prayers? *
If one must have a sufficient degree of holiness to see God (see
Heb. 12:14), how do you imagine that those who die short of this
holiness, but not deserving of hell, become worthy to see God if
there is no purification of purgatory? *
How can you deny a temporary state distinct from heaven and hell
when Scripture speaks of Christ preaching to the spirits in prison
(see 1 Pt. 3:18-20)? *
How can you assert that sin can go unpunished considering that
Scripture says that sin does not go unpunished (e.g. Sirach 7:8,
Wisdom 1:8)? *
How can it be that "we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according
to what he did in the body, whether good or evil" (2 Cor.
5:10), if those who have committed evil - but not sufficient evil
to warrant hell - are immediately rewarded with heaven? Is it not
clear that departed souls not deserving of hell, and also not yet
worthy of heaven, would require an interim destination? *
Do you believe that there can be no punishment left after sin is
forgiven? Then why did King David suffer God's punishment even
after God forgave him (2 Sam. 12:13-14)?
If someone intentionally broke your window, do you not see how it
is possible to both forgive him and to require him to make
restitution? In fact, would there be any justice if restitution wasn't
required for those who committed crime? *
If you injured someone, wouldn't it only be natural to want to
"make it up" to them, even if they had already forgiven you? Can you not imagine persons who truly love God welcoming
the chance to atone for their sins in purgatory - despite the
great suffering? *
Would you attend a fancy wedding "dirty and in picnic
clothing"? Wouldn't
you feel out of place? Why is it you wouldn't feel out of place
entering heaven without purification? Wouldn't you welcome the
opportunity to "wash yourself and dress appropriately" before
entering, even if suffering was involved? *
If your body was sick, would you not consider taking unpleasant
treatment in order to heal it? How can you not see that it may
also take something unpleasant to heal the soul? *
Do you object to the concept of purgatory because you believe the
term "purgatory" is a "recent invention" of
the Catholic Church? If so, you should know that the concept of
purgatory has always been held. The term, however, was coined
later. The same may be said for the term "Trinity", but
you don't reject the concept of the Trinity simply because the
word was coined later, do you? Do you not see that sometimes it is
necessary to coin a word? *
Do you reject purgatory because the
term "purgatory" is not in the Bible? Did you know that
the term "Bible" is also not in the Bible? Or the term
"Trinity"? *
Doesn't common sense tell you there must be a purgatory? God
is just and surely not all those who will be saved are deserving
of immediate heaven! Also
See Indulgences / Prayers for the Dead
Closing
Quotations...
"From
the very beginning the Church has always prayed for the dead, as
did even the Synagogue before her (2 Mach. xii. 46)" (Liturgical
Year)
Q: "How does
God punish venial sin?" A: "He punishes it in this life
by all kinds of temporal evils, and after death by the torments of
purgatory." (Catechism of St. John Neumann)
"Not all who suffer
temporal punishment after death come in for the everlasting
punishment which is to be after judgment. To some, what is not
remitted in this world is remitted in the world to come."
(St. Augustine,
Doctor of the Church, 5th century A.D.)
"The
punishment of purgatory is not intended chiefly to torment but to
cleanse: wherefore it should be inflicted by fire alone which is
above all possessed of cleansing power." (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history
of the Church")
"'He shall be
saved, but as if by fire.' And because it is said that he shall be
saved, little is thought of that fire. Yet plainly, though we be
saved by fire, that fire will be more severe than anything a man
can suffer in this life." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the
Church, 5th century A.D.)
"When
he has quitted his body and the difference between virtue and vice
is known he cannot approach God till the purging fire shall have
cleansed the stains with which his soul was infested. That same
fire in others will cancel the corruption of matter, and the
propensity to evil." (St. Gregory of Nyssa, 4th century A.D.)
"If anyone
shall say that after the reception of the grace of justification,
to every penitent sinner the guilt is so remitted and the penalty
of eternal punishment so blotted out that no penalty of temporal
punishment remains to be discharged either in this world or in the
world to come in purgatory before the entrance to the kingdom of
heaven can be opened: let him be anathema." (Council of
Trent)
"That there should be some such fire even after this life
is not
incredible, and it can be inquired into and either be discovered
or left hidden whether some of the faithful may be saved, some
more slowly and some more quickly in the greater or lesser degree
in which they have loved the good things that
perish, through a certain purgatorial fire." (St. Augustine,
Doctor of the Church,
c.
421 A.D.)
"For if anyone knows that any of these sins dominates him, if he
does not do penance worthily and for a long time, if such time is
given him, and if he does not give abundant alms and abstain from
those same sins, he cannot be purged in the transitory fire of
which the Apostle spoke, but the eternal flames will torture him
without any remedy." (St. Caesar of Arles, c. 540 A.D.)
"It is
impossible for evil to be pure and without the admixture of good,
just as the supreme good is without any admixture of evil.
Consequently those who are to be conveyed to beatitude which is a
supreme good must be cleansed of all evil. Wherefore there must
needs be a place where such persons are cleansed if they go hence
without being perfectly clean." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor
of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the
Church")
"Gold which as
been purified to a certain point ceases to suffer any diminution
from the action of the fire, however great it be; for the fire
does not destroy gold, but only the dross that it may chance to
have. In like manner, the divine fire acts on souls: God holds
them in the furnace until every defect has been burnt away and He
has brought them each in his own degree to a certain standard of
perfection. Thus purified, they shall rest in God without any
alloy of self, they become impassible because there is nothing
left to be consumed." (St. Catherine of Genoa)
"I see that as
far as God is concerned, paradise has no gates, but he who will
may enter. For God is all mercy, and his open arms are ever
extended to receive us into his glory. But I see that the divine
essence is so pure - purer than the imagination can conceive -
that the soul, finding in itself the slightest imperfection, would
rather cast itself into a thousand hells than appear, so stained,
in the presence of the divine majesty. Knowing then, that
purgatory was intended for her cleaning, she throws herself
therein, and finds there that great mercy, the removal of her
stains." (St. Catherine of Genoa)
"I believe
that no happiness can be compared with that of a soul in
purgatory, except that of the saints in paradise. And this
happiness increases in proportion as the rust of sin is consumed
away by the fire, enabling the soul to reflect, more and more
clearly, the rays of the true sun, which is God. The suffering,
however, does not diminish. On the contrary, it is love kept back
from its object which causes the pain; and consequently the
suffering is greater according as God made the soul capable of a
greater perfection of love." (St. Catharine of Genoa)
"For if on the foundation of Christ you have built not only gold
and silver and precious stones but also wood and hay
and stubble [1 Cor. 3:12], what do you expect when the soul shall be separated
from the body? Would you enter into heaven with your wood and hay
and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of God...[?] It remains then
that you be committed to the fire which will burn the light
materials... But this fire consumes not the creature, but what the
creature has himself built...
It is manifest that the fire destroys
the wood of our transgressions, and then returns the reward of our
good works." [Origen ("the greatest scholar of Christian antiquity" - although he would eventually be excommunicated and be regarded as a heretic), 3rd century A.D.]
"The soul in
purgatory, separated from the body which weighted her down and
distracted her by a thousand vain preoccupations, is now entirely
absorbed by the one desire of becoming at length perfectly
pleasing to God. Towards this end her whole energy is directed;
and so too is the force of the torments for whose violence she is
so grateful. Purgatory is a crucible where the dross of sin is
burnt away, until every debt is cancelled. When its flames have
effaced every stain and every wrinkle that marred the soul's
beauty, then she flees away to her Spouse, truly a blessed one and
sure of offering no obstacle to the complacent love of her Lord.
Yet to what a sad length her exile is prolonged! True, she is
united by charity to the inhabitants of heaven: but the fire which
torments her is of the same nature as that of hell"
(Liturgical Year)
"Everyone is presented in
judgment just as he is when he
departs this life. But nevertheless, it must be believed that
there is, for the sake of certain lesser faults, a purgatorial fire...in view of the fact that Truth does say
that if anyone speak blasphemy against the Holy Spirit it will be
forgiven to him neither in this world nor in that to come. In this
statement we are given to understand that some faults can be
forgiven in this world and some in the world to come. For if
something is denied to one in particular, the intellect logically
infers that it is granted for some others. But, as I said before,
this must be believed to be a possible disposition for small and
lesser sins." (Pope St. Gregory I the Great, 6th century
A.D.)
"It is said (2
Machabees 12:45): 'It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for
the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.' Now there is no need
to pray for the dead who are in heaven, for they are in no need;
nor again for those who are in hell, because they cannot be loosed
from sins. Therefore after this life, there are some not yet
loosed from sins, who can be loosed therefrom; and the like have
charity, without which sins cannot be loosed, for 'charity
covereth all sins' (Proverbs 10:12). Hence they will not be
consigned to everlasting death, since 'he that liveth and
believeth in Me, shall not die for ever' (John 11:26): nor will
they obtain glory without being cleansed, because nothing unclean
shall obtain it, as stated in the last chapter of the Apocalypse
(Apocalypse 22:14). Therefore some kind of cleansing remains after
this life." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"[I]t is
sufficiently clear that there is a Purgatory after this life. For
if the debt of punishment is not paid in full after the stain of
sin has been washed away by contrition, nor again are venial sins
always removed when mortal sins are remitted, and if justice
demands that sin be set in order by due punishment, it follows
that one who after contrition for his fault and after being
absolved, dies before making due satisfaction, is punished after
this life. Wherefore those who deny Purgatory speak against the
justice of God: for which reason such a statement is erroneous and
contrary to faith. Hence Gregory of Nyssa, after the words quoted
above ['If one who loves and believes in Christ,' has failed to
wash away his sins in this life, 'he is set free after death by
the fire of Purgatory.'], adds: 'This we preach, holding to the
teaching of truth, and this is our belief; this the universal
Church holds, by praying for the dead that they may be loosed from
sins.' This cannot be understood except as referring to Purgatory:
and whosoever resists the authority of the Church, incurs the note
of heresy." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"Finally,
since Truth in the Gospel asserts that 'if anyone shall utter
blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, neither in this life nor in the
future will it be forgiven him' [cf. Matt. 12:32], by this it is
granted that certain sins of the present be understood which,
however, are forgiven in the future life, and since the Apostle
says that 'fire will test the work of each one, of what kind it
is,' and ' if any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss, but he
himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire' [1 Cor 3:13,15], and
since these same Greeks truly and undoubtedly are said to believe
and to affirm that the souls of those who after a penance has been
received yet not performed, or who, without mortal sin yet die
with venial and slight sin, can be cleansed after death and can be
helped by the suffrages of the Church, we, since they say a place
of purgation of this kind has not been indicated to them with a
certain and proper name by their teachers, we indeed, calling it
purgatory according to the traditions and authority of the Holy
Fathers, wish that in the future it be called by that name in
their area. For in that transitory fire certain sins, though not...capital, which before have not been remitted through
penance but were small and minor sins, are cleansed, and these
weigh heavily even after death" (Pope Innocent IV, 1254 A.D.)
|
