Corpus Christi Blog

Purgatory

11-10-2019Weekly ReflectionFr. Chad King

The month of November is dedicated to praying for the souls in Purgatory. Through Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead and Ascension into Heaven, every person has the opportunity to live with Him in Heaven. However, just because Heaven is now a possibility, it does not mean it will happen for all of us, and for many, it won’t be right away. The truth is, after death, entrance through the “Pearly Gates” is not automatically or immediately given to those who have some degree of faith in God or to those who have been a “pretty good person.” While it is true that after death, one either goes to Heaven or Hell, the Church has always taught there is a state of purification for the believers who are not yet ready to enter Heaven. This purification that souls undergo is what the Church calls Purgatory. In a special way this month, and indeed at every Mass, we pray for all the souls who are in purgatory, that are being purified in order to receive the gift of Heaven.

Every soul must choose Heaven. We must actively accept to be in perfect union with God in Heaven. At the moment of death, every soul has one last chance to repent of his or her sins and choose to live with God forever, or not. If a soul does repent, maybe even for the first time in the person’s life, then that soul receives the certitude of God’s love and mercy, and the knowledge they will one day experience the fullness of life and love in Heaven. But an unclean soul cannot enter into eternal paradise and experience complete unity with God. The consequences of an individual’s sin remains after death even though God has forgiven the person’s sins. Since the soul has thus received a glimpse of the immense glory of Heaven, and the light of God has revealed the darkness in the soul due to sin; the soul sends itself to Purgatory to be purified so as to be made ready to receive the great gift of Heaven.

Let me be clear with this important truth: no one coasts into Heaven, nor is it automatically given to everyone who has died. Absolutely no one can receive the life of Heaven without choosing first to die to self while on earth. Every soul who enters Heaven will have no attachment to sin and will be in perfect union with God. Let that sink in for a moment – everyone in Heaven will have no attachment to sin. Are you ready for Heaven? Are you at least becoming detached from sin and growing closer to Heaven?

It is Baptism which opens the possibility of new life in us. In Romans 6:3-4 we read, “are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” However, just because we have been baptized, most likely as an infant, does not mean that we are automatically ready for Heaven. As Romans continues in verse 6, we must be able to say, “We know that our old self was crucified with him, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.” There must be an active and continual death to self, a death to any attraction to sin for us to receive the newness of life in Heaven. However, the active death to self is not done on our own. It is a dying to self in Jesus Christ. Yes, we can – and must – do our part to avoid sin in our lives, but we cannot detach ourselves from the attraction to sin. Only Christ can set us free from slavery to sin. Detachment from sin is not what we do in ourselves, we must choose and ask for it, but it is what God does in us. Heaven is not given to the wise and the learned but to the little ones who have humbled themselves (cf. Mathew 11:25). Only the humble can enter Heaven: those who know that they can do nothing without God. The more we surrender ourselves in prayer, the more we die to our earthly desires and attach ourselves to Christ; then the more we are attracted only to what is of Him and we become detached from that which is not of Him. We must lose ourselves completely in order to gain the fullness of Christ.

The great thing about this life on earth is that we constantly have the choice to humble ourselves and grow in giving ourselves over to Christ. However, those who have died, don’t. They have already made their decision. A holy woman from Austria, named Maria Simma, up until her death in 2004, reportedly had received visits from the poor souls in purgatory. In an interview, Maria responded to the question of why the souls in purgatory cannot gain any more merits, but those on earth can. (The complete interview can be found here: www.michaeljournal.org/simma). Maria replied, “Because at the moment of death, the time to earn merits is over. For as long as we are living on earth, we can repair the evil we have done. The souls in Purgatory envy us of this opportunity. Even the angels are jealous of us, for we have the possibility of growing for as long as we are on earth. On earth, when we suffer, we can grow in love, we can gain merits, which is not the case with the sufferings in Purgatory. In Purgatory, the sufferings serve only to purify us from sin. On earth, we have all the graces. We have the freedom to choose. The souls in Purgatory can no longer do anything for themselves; they are totally helpless. If the living do not pray for them; they are totally abandoned. Therefore, it is very important to realize the immense power, the incredible power that each one of us has in our hands to relieve these souls who suffer.” Also, while the souls in Purgatory cannot pray for themselves, they can pray for us here on earth. Thus, the more we pray for them, the more, they in turn pray for us, along with all the saints in heaven.

Knowing how necessary it is for us to pray for those in Purgatory, Maria was asked what the most effective means are to help deliver the souls in Purgatory. She answered, “The most efficient means is the Mass because it is Christ who offers Himself out of love for us. It is the offering of Christ Himself to God, the most beautiful offering. The priest is God's representative, but it is God Himself who offers Himself and sacrifices Himself for us. The efficacy of the Mass for the deceased is even greater for those who attached great value to the Mass during their lives. If they attended Mass and prayed with all their hearts, if they went to Mass on weekdays — according to their time available — they drew great profit from Masses celebrated for them. Here, too, one harvests what one has sown. Let me repeat that point, the efficacy of the Mass for the deceased is even greater for those who attached great value to the Mass during their lives. So when you die, how effective will the Masses be that are offered for you?

Remember that at every Mass we pray, “Pray brethren, that my sacrifice and yours, might be acceptable to God the Almighty Father.” We are called to share in Christ’s sacrifice, and so I encourage you to offer in prayer at that time in Mass, all your loved ones who have died. The souls in Purgatory need our Masses offered for them, especially this month and next. There is a devotion to pray for the souls in Purgatory leading up to and on Christmas, as some saints and mystics have said that day is when most souls are released and enter Heaven.

Another very powerful means to help the poor souls is to offer our sufferings. Our voluntary penances, such as fasting, renunciations, etc., and our involuntary sufferings, like illness or mourning, can take on extraordinary meaning. Whether the sacrifices are small or the crosses are heavy, if we welcome them in humility and live them with patience, our sufferings can have a redemptive power to help souls.

The best thing to do, Maria tells us, is to unite our sufferings to those of Jesus, by placing them in the hands of Mary. She is the one who knows best how to use them, since often we do not know the most urgent needs around us. All this, of course, Mary will give back to us at the hour of our death. You see, these sufferings offered will be our most precious treasures in the other world. Let us do all we can, to turn away from sin, humbly surrender our attachments to sin, and yearn for heaven. Let us also be vigilant in praying for the poor souls in purgatory for they depend on us!

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