Purgatory: Pain and Gain

“No pain no gain!” shouted my high school basketball coach as our team ran up and down the court during practice.

Sweat pouring off my face, my legs ready to give out, I actually wanted to fall over and die. I didn't think I could take another step much less make it through another long, grueling, painful practice.

My coach was preparing us for the coming season. He knew that the harder we worked the better shape we would be in, and the greater advantage we would have over our opponents.

I learned a valuable lesson from that season: There is a point to pain. This is true for basketball, in life, and also in death. The pain that many of us will experience after death is called purgatory. Purgatory comes from the Latin word purgare, which means “to cleanse” or “to purify.”

The fact that life is already filled with so much suffering begs the question: Why then do we have to suffer after we die? Purgatory exists because we are not able to enter into heaven until we are totally purified.

Aplologitics

Scripture says, “Nothing unclean” can enter into heaven (Revelation 21:27). If a mere glimpse of the Glory of God was enough to knock Paul right off his horse and cause the Apostle John to fall to the ground “as though dead” (Revelation 1:17), why would it be different for us when we come face to face with the “all-consuming fire of God” (Hebrews 12:29)?

The Catechism says: ”All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven” (No. 1030). Jesus has saved us from eternal punishment (damnation) yet we continue to sin. Sin leaves a residue, a scar upon our soul that requires a temporal punishment to remedy.

Take King David as an example. In 2 Samuel 12:7-14, David is forgiven for adultery and murder and restored to friendship with God. His eternal punishment is remitted yet a temporal punishment, the loss of his child, is required. This causes him a great deal of suffering, but it also purifies his soul.

There are many other references to purgatory in Scripture. 1 Corinthians 3:13-16 is the most explicit. It describes that after death and judgment a type of suffering will purify the soul for heaven. “Each man's work will become manifest; for the day will disclose it … If the work of any man is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as passing through fire.”

Another key passage is Matthew 12:31-32. “Whoever says a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” It implies that there are some sins that will be forgiven after death.

Jesus, in Matthew 18:32-35, describes the temporal punishment incurred by a man who settled his own account with the king but did not show forgiveness and mercy to his brethren. He was “delivered to the jailers till he should pay all his debt.” Jesus then warns the same type of punishment will befall us if we fail to forgive others.

Is there anything besides pain in purgatory? St. Catherine of Genoa says Yes! She believes that souls in purgatory are able to rejoice in God to the extent they are united to him. In her Treatise on Purgatory she describes how the souls in purgatory actually grow in happiness: “God flows into these souls, more and more as the hindrance to his entrance is consumed.”

The most important thing we can do is offer our sufferings up to God in prayer. When we do this we imitate Christ in his sacrifice and unite ourselves to the power of the cross. This will make us holy! Why wait for purgatory?

Christina Mills writes from Eugene, Oregon.