159. Purgatory

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