Traditional Catholic Teaching

Appendix to Supplement A: Lesson 19

Appendix: Understanding Purgatory

Introduction

The writer is very sympathic towards any reader, Catholic or Protestant, who for whatever reason, has difficulty grasping the teaching about Purgatory. This introduction opens up the topic and is then followed by a theologian's explanation about the Biblical basis for the Church's teaching on Purgatory and praying for the dead. We accompany this with a brief comment also about Heaven.

We would encourage those who read the Bible frequently, especially those who read it systematically over a specific period of time, to reflect on the Biblical model of confessing sin and obtaining God's forgiveness. This model shows us that when we sincerely confess our sins, no matter how small or great we think they are, we can be confident they are forgiven. Perhaps it may help to take a brief look at lesson 13 which deals with the two elements of forgiveness of guilt and our response of love and gratitude in helping pay the debt for sin.

God forgave King David his sin with the wife of Urias but David spent the rest of his life living with the consequences and doing penance. Are we going to say – if God had truly forgiven David for his crime of adultery, he would not have punished David the way he did (See 2 Kings 12: 7 – 14)? No, David was truly and fully forgiven but mankind must acknowledge that a debt remains to God which we must pay in this life by voluntary acts of self-denial or in the next life in Purgatory. As Bishop Dwyer wrote "We still have to take our punishment".

This debt to God for sin cannot be "dumped on" our Lord in a way which conveniently excuses us from making up for what we did.

All Catholic spirituality encourages Christians to offer up every good work, every suffering or disappointment as a share, no matter how infinitesimal, in the suffering, passion and death of our Lord for our sins. This can be very hard. There is a tendency for some preachers to encourage their listeners to share their burden with the Lord Jesus, in fact pass it to him and he will bear it for you. It is true he helps us with our burdens, but the temptation for us is to expect that in casting our cares upon him, we will not have to carry any pain; this is so wrong.

Jesus did not say to his would-be disciples, "Let me take up your cross daily, then you can follow me". He commands his disciples to die to self-daily; to take up their cross and follow him. The devout Christian thanks God for the privilege to suffer in reparation for their sins as well as those of others.

As Catholic Christians, we are encouraged to confess all sinfulness, every sinful act, and to take great care in doing so. To many non-Catholics, this can appear through their lack of knowledge about the Faith, to be an unhealthy pre-occupation with sin, or self or fear of never receiving God's forgiveness. Actually it is something quite different: it is a singlemindedness to put the Kingdom of God first in one's life.

Catholics are grateful for the place Purgatory has in the spiritual domain. Any sin a Christian has not confessed, or any debt the soul has not attempted to pay is confronted by the holy souls in Purgatory. We call them holy because they are on the way to Heaven. However, if through carelessness these matters remain unattended, the soul must behold the full reality of such items. That is the pain of Purgatory. Such souls must be cleansed in preparation for their entrance in to the Courts of Heaven. Purgatory is therefore an indulgence of the loving kindness, the mercy of God.

Some people find it helpful to think of Purgatory as an ante-chamber to Heaven. It is a place to disrobe ourselves of things belonging to the world (our weaknesses and attachment to selfishness, etc.), and "put on the Lord Jesus Christ" – to be cleansed of all that gets in the way of having "the mind of Jesus Christ", as St. Paul put it. In a sense it is therefore, truly, a changing room, where we are robed in the wedding-feast garment which befits us to enter the Divine Presence.

The Church has always encouraged its members to pray for the holy souls in Purgatory. It is a family affair. We are all members of Christ's Body and are obligated to pray constantly for one another in this life as well as for those in Purgatory. These prayers thankfully are joined with the unceasing prayer of the blessed in Heaven. This doctrine (Latin, doctrina, teaching) of the Church is one of our most beautiful treasures and we love to share it with those who have a sincere interest. Like may aspects of traditional Christianity however, one often does not understand them fully until one assents to the whole doctrine of the Church. Even then in truth, we spend the rest of our lives learning to understand better.

We attach two questions and answers to help you further understand the role of Purgatory in the life of the Christian.

Question One

Where do you find Purgatory or praying for the dead in the Bible? Did primitive Christianity believe in an intermediate State? Is it not more reasonable to suppose that at death a man goes directly to heaven or to hell?

Note: These two questions and answers include reference to books of the Bible which do not appear in Protestant Bibles, or have different names (eg. Apocalypse – Revelation)

The Catholic Church has defined the existence of purgatory in the Decree of Union drawn up at the Council of Florence in 1439, and again at the Council of Trent which says: "The Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Spirit, has from Sacred Scriptures and the ancient traditions of the Fathers taught in Sacred Councils, and very recently in this Ecumenical Synod, that there is a purgatory, and that the souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but principally by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar."
The same Council taught, in accordance with the Scriptures (Num. 20: 12;
2 Kings 12: 13 – 14), that God does not always remit all of the temporal punishment due to forgiven sin. The Scriptures teach that nothing defiled can enter heaven (Wisd. 7: 25;
Isa. 25: 8; Hab. 1: 13; Apoc. 21: 7), and that Christians often die with venial sins upon their souls. All, therefore, who die in venial sins, or with the temporal punishment of their sins still unpaid, must atone for them in purgatory.
The teaching of the Bible is found in 2 Machabees 12: 43 – 46. After Judas had defeated Gorgias, he came with his company to bury the Jews who had been slain in the conflict. He found under their coats some of the donaries, that is, votive offerings, which they had, contrary to the Law (Deut. 7: 25), robbed from the idols of Jamnia. Judas at once prayed God that their sin might be forgiven (12; 37 – 42), and "making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead". He did not consider their sins grievous, "because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness had great grace laid up for them". The sacred writer then adds: "It is, therefore, a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins". (2 Mach. 12: 43 – 46).
It is true that Protestants consider the books of Machabees apocryphal, but they rest upon the same authority as Isaias or St. John — the divine infallible witness of the Catholic Church. Even prescinding from the fact of their inspiration we may cite them as an historical witness of the Jewish belief centuries before Christ.
All the Fathers of both East and West mention the Apostolic custom of praying for the dead. Tertullian (160 – 240 speaks of anniversary Masses: "We make on one day every year oblations for the dead, as for their birthdays" (De Car, Mil. 3).
All the ancient liturgies of both East and West contain prayers for the dead. The prayer of the Roman liturgy runs as follows: "Be mindful, O Lord, of Thy servants who are gone before us with the sign of faith, and sleep in the sleep of peace. Grant them, we beseech Thee, O Lord, a place of refreshment, light and peace, through the same Christ our Lord." The phrase "refreshment, light and peace" is found in many of the Catacomb inscriptions. The formula In Pace (In Peace), like our modern Requiescat in Pace (May he or she rest in peace), and the words, "mayest thou have eternal light in Christ," and "may God refresh you," are found over many a Christian's tomb in the first three centuries.
The Catholic doctrine is most reasonable. It follows logically from the fact that many die with the burden of venial sins on their conscience, or die with the temporal punishment due to their forgiven sins still unpaid. The average Christian commits many a venial sin in his life-time, for which he never craves pardon. The sinner of many years standing, who in God's mercy is pardoned on his deathbed, must in the hereafter, unless given a plenary indulgence, satisfy to the last farthing his debt of temporal punishment.
I have more than once met Protestants who admitted to me that they prayed for their dead, despite the teaching of their ministers, on the principle that their beloved dead were neither bad enough for hell nor good enough for heaven. I recall especially a Lutheran woman in Baltimore, who prayed daily for her husband. She had never read a line of St. Augustine, and probably never had heard his name. Yet out of the natural instinct of her heart she knew his teaching, namely that "there are some who have departed this life, not so bad as to be deemed unworthy of mercy, nor so good as to be entitled to immediate happiness".
(Dc Civ. Dei. 21: 24).

Question Two

Is heaven a place or a state of the soul? What do we really know about heaven? Will we know our relatives and friends there?

Heaven is both the eternal happiness and the eternal dwelling place of the just in the life to come it is called the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5: 3), the kingdom of God (Mark 9: 46), the kingdom of the Father (Matt. 13: 43), the kingdom of Christ (Luke 22: 30), the city of God (Heb. 12: 22), paradise (2 Cor. 12: 4), life everlasting (Matt. 19: 16), the crown of life (James 1: 12), of justice (2 Tim. 4: 8), of glory (1 Peter 5: 4), and our eternal inheritance (Heb. 9: 15).
The supernatural happiness of heaven consists in the intuitive vision of the divine essence. "We see now through a mirror in an obscure manner, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I have been known" (1 Cor. 13: 12). This doctrine was defined by Benedict XII in 1336, and by the Council of Florence in 1439. To enable the intellect to see God, it is supernaturally perfected by the light of glory, as the Council of Vienne defined in 1311.

No one can enter heaven unless he is free of sin (Apoc. 21: 27), in the state of justice and friendship of God. Its supreme happiness excludes all evil, physical or moral. "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away" (Apoc. 21: 4).
The eternal happiness of heaven (Luke 22: 33) admits of various degrees. "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." (2 Cor. 9: 6).
The soul's intimacy with God in heaven, its relationship with the saints, its immunity from sin, are joys that the human mind cannot grasp. "Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what things God has prepared for those who love Him."
(1 Cor 2: 9).
We shall certainly know our relatives and friends in heaven, and know them more intimately and love them more ardently than we did upon earth. One of man' s greatest joys here is the love of kinsfolk and friends. God will supernaturalise this affection, but He will not destroy it. Everything in heaven is supernatural, but not unnatural. Love and friendship on earth are frail things at best, and no quarrels are greater than quarrels among kinsfolk. In the hereafter, when all souls are confirmed in sanctity, the natural affections of the human heart will be intensified and increased a hundredfold. We will love our own in God and for God.

Acknowledgement

The above two answers were taken from, "The Question Box" by Rev B.L. Conway, C.S.P. Paulist Press, New York 1962.

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