Purgatory
YOUCAT Catechism +
Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 159
Ave Maria series
159 What is purgatory?
Purgatory, often imagined as a place, is actually a
condition. Someone who dies in God’s
grace (and therefore at peace with God and men) but who still needs
purification before he can see God face to face is in purgatory. [1030-1031]
“Diary” (upper left)by Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska
(lower right) details the Divine Mercy message.
The chaplet prayers can be said on a person’s fingers or on ordinary
rosary beads.
It was to St. Faustina
(recorded in her “Diary”) that Jesus said: “Today bring to Me the souls who are
detained in Purgatory, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their
scorching flames. All these souls are
greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution to My justice. It is in your power to bring them
relief. Draw all the indulgences from the
treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they
suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off
their debt to My justice.” -- Part 8 of the 9 requests of Jesus to Saint Faustina that
form a 9-day novena to Divine Mercy. …..159
When Peter had betrayed Jesus, the Lord turned around and
looked at Peter: “And Peter went out and wept bitterly”—a feeling like being in
purgatory. Just such a purgatory
probably awaits most of us at the moment of our death: the Lord looks at us
full of love—and we experience burning shame and painful remorse over our
wicked or “merely” unloving behavior.
Only after this purifying pain will we be capable of meeting his loving
gaze in untroubled heavenly joy.
The fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the
foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself
will be saved, but only as through fire.
1 Corinthians 3:13-15
[1030-1031]
THE FINAL PURIFICATION, OR PURGATORY
1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still
imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after
death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to
enter the joy of heaven.—Catechism of
the Catholic Church, Second Edition
1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of
the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. (Council of Florence (1439):Denzinger-Schönmetzer
1304; Council of Trent (1563):DS 1820; (1547):1580; see also Benedict XII, Benedictus Deus (1336):DS
1000.)606 The Church formulated her doctrine of faith
on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of
the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing
fire(compare 1 Corinthians 3:15; 1 Peter 1:7)607 –CCC
As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the
Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever
utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age
nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses
can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.( St. Gregory the Great, Dial. 4,39:Patrologia Latina
77,396; compare Matthew 12:31)608 –CCC
Chaplet Saint
Faustina
