A Reasonable Argument for the Existence of Purgatory

Joe died suddenly and quickly from a heart attack.  He lived alone so no one knew Joe had died until a neighbor found him on the floor in his garage some hours later.

Most people who knew Joe would say he was a good man. But, they would also say that, like many (most?) of us, Joe was not a saint.  Still, his good qualities did outweigh his bad ones.

Unfortunately for Joe, he hadn’t been to Confession for six months when he died.  Fortunately for Joe, he had not committed any mortal sins since his last Confession.  He had, however, committed a number of venial sins.  And due to the quickness of his death, Joe did not have time to make a good Act of Contrition.

So where did Joe end up after his particular judgement?

Heaven or Purgatory

There is a school of thought that says “venial sins are always removed in this life through the grace of final perseverance, even without an act of contrition.”  So even if Joe did not have time to make a good Act of Contrition, his venial sins may not have been held against him. As such, some Catholics might be inclined to say Joe went straight to Heaven.

But it’s more likely that Joe ended up in purgatory.  This is because, venial sins aside, even if he was a “good guy” Joe was not a saint.  So even though his sins had been forgiven in Confession, he still needed to “undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven (“Catechism of the Catholic Church” 1030-1032).

In other words, even if Joe had gone to Confession an hour before he died, he may still have ended up in purgatory.  One reason for this is that our sins wound our souls. Another is that it’s possible that Joe’s contrition for past sins may not have been contrite enough.  Or perhaps the reparations Joe offered were not sufficient.  Joe just may not have earned enough sanctifying graces throughout his life to “perfect” his soul.

In short, Joe just may not have spent enough time, to quote St Paul (Philippians 2:12), working out his “salvation with fear and trembling.”

For instance, Joe had ‘done someone wrong’ years ago.  He confessed the sin and did his penance.  Joe also texted an apology to the person, but then he never gave the ‘the wrong,’ or the person wronged, another thought.  Was Joe truly sorry for the sin?  And what of the person Joe wronged?  Was the texted apology a sufficient reparation?

Sin Wounds Our Souls

In Baptism all of our “sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin” (CCC 1263).  But after we are Baptized we still have to struggle with “weaknesses of character . . . as well as an inclination to sin that Tradition calls concupiscence” (CCC 1264).

The Catechism also explains that our “. . . nature bears the wound of original sin” (CCC 1707).  So sin wounds our nature – the union of our bodies and our souls (CCC 365).

For many (most?) Christians Baptized as infants, this means a lifetime of struggle.  And even though we are absolved of our sins through Confession, sins still wound and scar us.  Grievous sins may leave somewhat large scars.  And if contrition for a sin or sins is imperfect (see CCC 1452/53) the wounds and scars left by those sins may also be rather large.  And if the reparation is insufficient, will the scar be erased?

Of course, in 1 John 1:9 we are told that “If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.”  We know God’s forgiveness (His perfect mercy) is immediate, but what about His perfect justice?  Just how, and when, does the “cleansing” take place?

Acknowledging our sins is, after all, not the same as being sufficiently contrite for our sins.  And if we are only contrite out of fear of hell, to what extent will our souls be cleansed?  Similarly, if our reparations for our sins are insufficient, how does this impact our souls?

Purgatory

Revelation 21:27 is clear that “nothing unclean will enter” heaven.  So even though our sins have been forgiven, if our souls are not perfectly clean and pure when we die, we cannot go straight to heaven.  Our souls need to somehow be cleansed and made pure before we can enter Heaven.  For many of us the ‘somehow’ is purgatory.

The Catholic belief in purgatory is rooted in the Old Testament.  As this tract at Catholic Answers states, “The doctrine of purgatory, or the final purification, has been part of the true faith since before the time of Christ. The Jews already believed it before the coming of the Messiah, as revealed in the Old Testament (2 Macc. 12:41–45) as well as in other pre-Christian Jewish works.”

The existence of purgatory is also taught in the New Testament. (This article, at the Catholic Education Resource Center, is a good explainer.)

Of course some who may be reading the Bible literally might not agree that it proves the existence of purgatory.  But such individuals are only absorbing the singular, literal sense of scripture.  They are missing the allegorical, moral, and anagogical senses of scripture (CCC 115-117).

As the Catechism states, purgatory is a final purification “so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven” (CCC 1030).  So purgatory exists for those of us who have not managed to achieve sainthood here on earth but who still died “in God’s grace and friendship.”

Suffering in Purgatory

Catholic doctrine does not offer a lot of detail on purgatory other than teaching that purgatory does exist.  As the tract linked to earlier in this article states:

“. . . there are only three essential components of the doctrine: (1) that a purification after death exists, (2) that it involves some kind of pain, and (3) that the purification can be assisted by the prayers and offerings by the living to God.”

So no one is sure what the suffering in purgatory entails.  This article at Church Pop says the suffering is “excruciating.”  A book “An Unpublished Manuscript On Purgatory” by Sister M. de L. C. (written between 1874 and 1890), also describes purgatory as a place with different levels of suffering.  The book allegedly recounts conversations between Sister M. de L.C. and another nun from the same convent, who had died recently and was now in purgatory.  (A free PDF of the book is available here.)

As explained by Fr. John Harden at Catholic Culture, “Although not defined doctrine, it is certain that the essential pain in purgatory is the pain of loss, because the souls are temporarily deprived of the beatific vision.

“Their suffering is intense on two counts: (1) the more something is desired, the more painful its absence, and the faithful departed intensely desire to possess God now that they are freed from temporal cares and no longer held down by the spiritual inertia of the body; (2) they clearly see that their deprivation was personally blameworthy and might have been avoided if only they had prayed and done enough penance during life.”

Pray for the Souls in Purgatory

We may not know for sure exactly how the souls in purgatory suffer, but we do know they are suffering.  Before November comes to a close and Advent begins, take some time to pray for the souls in purgatory.  And then keep them in your prayers all year long.

The Eternal Rest Prayer should be familiar to most Catholics:

Eternal rest grant unto them, Oh Lord,
And let Your perpetual light shine upon them.
And may the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

St. Gertrude the Great’s Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory is another wonderful prayer.  It’s been said that each time this prayer is many souls are released from purgatory:

Eternal Father,
I offer You 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,
for those in my own home,
and in my family.
Amen.