“Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.” (Mt 5:8)
The Catholic doctrine of Purgatory is often a source of confusion for people inquiring into the Catholic Church, as well as for life-long Catholics. Protestant inquirers want to know where Purgatory is in the Bible. While not specifically mentioned in the Bible, there are Scriptural verses that describe a need to pray for the dead. Our understanding of Purgatory comes more from our Catholic Tradition than from Scripture.
From at least the second century on, Christians have prayed for and celebrated the Eucharist for their dead. This tradition continues as strongly today in our church as it did in the early Church, and a close examination of this practice might raise the questions, “What is purgatory?” and, “How does prayer help those who have died?”
One way to explain Purgatory is to think first about what Heaven and Hell are. If we understand Heaven to be a state of being forever and completely united with our loving God, and Hell to be the state of total alienation or absence from God, then we can understand Purgatory as a state of becoming one with God.
“A Concise Dictionary of Theology” defines Purgatory as the “state of those who die in God’s friendship, but who still need their personal sins to be expiated – or cleansed.” If we die in a state of grace, but with some vestiges of sin and selfishness remaining, then we must be prepared, through Purgatory, to enter into the fullness of God’s love. Our doctrine of Purgatory has at its heart, the knowledge of perfect divine justice, and reflects our belief in a God whose mercy and love are infinite. Purgatory, then, needs to be understood, not as a place where we go to be punished (where the fire isn’t quite as hot as hellfire!), but as a spiritual state of cleansing through which we are prepared to be with God for all eternity.
As Catholics, we believe in the power of prayer. We also believe in the Communion of Saints – that mystical relationship which exists between those in this life and those who have passed to the next. We know that God hears our prayer and, whether we are praying for the living or the dead, God answers those prayers in ways beyond our comprehension. We do know that our prayers unite us with one another and with our God – and that is one of the most important reasons to pray for others, both the living and the dead.
One last point to clarify a statement written in last month’s article on Purgatory: Souls who have left this life and are awaiting the perfection of the next life, still have the three immortal elements with which we are all created – our free will, our capacity for unselfish love, and an ability to know God. These are the eternal gifts which God gives each of us at our creation, and which we bring from this life into the heavenly kingdom.