Purgatory

The Existence of Purgatory

Below is a compilation of postings from the BattleACTS Email List presenting implications, proofs and Catholic Teachings on the Doctrine of Purgatory.

Purgatory is where the last penny is paid.

[Mat 5:25] Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison;
[Mat 5:26] truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny.

Everyone must endure fire.

[Mark 9:49] For every one will be salted with fire.

Jesus baptizes with fire.

[Luke 3:16] John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

A Severe Beating or A Light Beating, depending on the seriousness of your sins.

[Luke 12:42] And the Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?
[Luke 12:43] Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing.
[Luke 12:44] Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.
[Luke 12:45] But if that servant says to himself, `My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk,
[Luke 12:46] the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will punish him, and put him with the unfaithful.
[Luke 12:47] And that servant who knew his master's will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating.
[Luke 12:48] But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more.
[Luke 12:49] "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!

We must believe in Christ. This means we must believe everything He taught. We must "abide" in Him.

[John 15:6] If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.
[John 15:7] If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.
[John 15:8] By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.
[John 15:9] As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love.
[John 15:10] If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
[John 15:11] These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Our works matter. If our works are not good, they will be burned up. Thusly, our souls are "purged", hence the name the Church has given the particular judgment: "Purgatory".

[1 Cor 3:12] Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw --
[1 Cor 3:13] each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
[1 Cor 3:14] If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
[1 Cor 3:15] If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

[Commentary]
We do not know how long souls must remain in Purgatory while they are being purified. For some, it may be only for a split second. Some may spend a long time. Scripture isn't clear on the length of time. Whether it is a thousand years or just a milli-second, we do not know. Scripture is quite clear, however, that this state which we call Purgatory does exist.

Some pay the "last penny" in this life. God, in His goodness, has placed VALUE on our sufferings!! We SHARE in the Cross of Redemption. In Protestantism, suffering is deemed as having NO value. In reality, our sufferings are a participation in the Cross of Christ. Thanks be to God that we have the HOPE of salvation and that we can know this great hope most clearly while we are in the depths of our greatest sufferings.

We need to believe, yes. Believing is faith. What is faith? Our faith is a "sacrificial offering."

[Phil 2:17] Even if I am to be poured as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.

[Mat 10:38] and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
[Mat 10:39] He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

[Mat 16:24] Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
[Mat 16:25] For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
[Mat 16:26] For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?
[Mat 16:27] For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done.

[Mark 8:34] And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
[Mark 8:35] For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.
[Mark 8:36] For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?
[Mark 8:37] For what can a man give in return for his life?
[Mark 8:38] For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

[Luke 9:23] And he said to all, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
[Luke 9:24] For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.
[Luke 9:25] For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
[Luke 9:26] For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

[Luke 14:27] Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
[Luke 14:28] For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
[Luke 14:29] Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
[Luke 14:30] saying, `This man began to build, and was not able to finish.'
[Luke 14:31] Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
[Luke 14:32] And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace.
[Luke 14:33] So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
[Luke 14:34] "Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored?

[1 Cor 1:26] For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth;
[1 Cor 1:27] but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong,
[1 Cor 1:28] God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
[1 Cor 1:29] so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
[1 Cor 1:30] He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption;
[1 Cor 1:31] therefore, as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord."

[Gal 5:24] And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
[Gal 5:25] If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

[Gal 6:15] For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
[Gal 6:16] Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God.
[Gal 6:17] Henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

[Eph 2:13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ.
[Eph 2:14] For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility,
[Eph 2:15] by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
[Eph 2:16] and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end.

[1 John 4:17] In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world.
[1 John 4:18] There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love.
[1 John 4:19] We love, because he first loved us.

Catholic Teaching

A fundamental truth of the Christian faith is that we will not be sinning in heaven. Sin and final glorification are incompatible. Therefore between the sinfulness of this life and the glories of heaven we must be made pure. Between death and glory there is a purification. Thus the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "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. The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" (CCC 1030-1).

The concept of a purification after death from sin and the consequences of sin is also stated in the New Testament in passages such as 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, Matthew 5:25-26, and 12:31-32. The doctrine of purgatory, or the final purification, has been part of the true faith since before the time of Christ. The Jews already believed it before the coming of the Messiah, as revealed in the Old Testament (2 Macc. 12:41-46) as well as other pre-Christian Jewish works, such as one which records that Adam will be in mourning "until the day of dispensing punishment in the last years, when I will turn his sorrow into joy" (The Life of Adam and Eve 46-7). Orthodox Jews to this day believe in the final purification, and for eleven months after the death of a loved one they pray a prayer called the Mourner's Qaddish for their loved one's purification.

Jews, Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox have always historically proclaimed the reality of the final purification. It was not until the Protestant Reformers came in the 1500s that anyone denied this doctrine. As the following quotes from the early Church Fathers show, purgatory has been part of the Christian faith from the very beginning. Some imagine that the Catholic Church has an elaborate doctrine of purgatory worked out, but basically there are only three things that are essential components of the doctrine: (1) that a purification after death exists, (2) that it involves some kind of pain, and (3) that the purification can be assisted by the prayers and offerings of the living to God. Other ideas, such that purgatory is a particular "place" in the afterlife or that it takes time to accomplish, are speculations rather than doctrines.

The Acts of Paul and Thecla

"And after the exhibition, Tryphaena again received her [Thecla]. For her daughter Falconilla had died, and said to her in a dream: 'Mother, you shall have this stranger Thecla in my place, in order that she may pray concerning me, and that I may be transferred to the place of the righteous'" (Acts of Paul and Thecla [A.D. 160]).

Abercius

"The citizen of a prominent city, I erected this while I lived, that I might have a resting place for my body. Abercius is my name, a disciple of the chaste shepherd who feeds his sheep on the mountains and in the fields, who has great eyes surveying everywhere, who taught me the faithful writings of life. Standing by, I, Abercius, ordered this to be inscribed; truly I was in my seventy-second year. May everyone who is in accord with this and who understands it pray for Abercius" (Epitaph of Abercius [A.D. 190]).

Perpetua

"[T]hat very night, this was shown to me in a vision: I saw Dinocrates going out from a gloomy place, where also there were several others, and he was parched and very thirsty, with a filthy countenance and pallid color, and the wound on his face which he had when he died. This Dinocrates had been my brother after the flesh, seven years of age, who died miserably with disease . . . For him I had made my prayer, and between him and me there was a large interval, so that neither of us could approach to the other. . . . and [I] knew that my brother was in suffering. But I trusted that my prayer would bring help to his suffering; and I prayed for him every day until we passed over into the prison of the camp, for we were to fight in the camp-show. Then . . . I made my prayer for my brother day and night, groaning and weeping that he might be granted to me. Then, on the day on which we remained in fetters, this was shown to me. I saw that that place which I had formerly observed to be in gloom was now bright; and Dinocrates, with a clean body well clad, was finding refreshment. . . . [And] he went away from the water to play joyously, after the manner of children, and I awoke. Then I understood that he was translated from the place of punishment" (The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity 2:3-4 [A.D. 202]).

Tertullian

"[T]hat allegory of the Lord [Matt. 5:25-26] . . . is extremely clear and simple in its meaning . . . [beware lest as] a transgressor of your agreement, before God the Judge . . . and lest this Judge deliver you over to the angel who is to execute the sentence, and he commit you to the prison of hell, out of which there will be no dismissal until the smallest even of your delinquencies be paid off in the period before the resurrection. What can be a more fitting sense than this? What a truer interpretation?" (The Soul 35 [A.D. 210]).

Tertullian

"We offer sacrifices for the dead on their birthday anniversaries" (The Crown 3:3 [A.D. 211]).

Tertullian

"A woman, after the death of her husband ... prays for his soul and asks that he may, while waiting, find rest; and that he may share in the first resurrection. And each year, on the anniversary of his death, she offers the sacrifice" (Monogamy 10:1-2 [A.D. 216]).

Cyprian of Carthage

"The strength of the truly believing remains unshaken; and with those who fear and love God with their whole heart, their integrity continues steady and strong. For to adulterers even a time of repentance is granted by us, and peace [i.e., reconciliation] is given. Yet virginity is not therefore deficient in the Church, nor does the glorious design of continence languish through the sins of others. The Church, crowned with so many virgins, flourishes; and chastity and modesty preserve the tenor of their glory. Nor is the vigor of continence broken down because repentance and pardon are facilitated to the adulterer. It is one thing to stand for pardon, another thing to attain to glory; it is one thing, when cast into prison, not to go out thence until one has paid the uttermost farthing; another thing at once to receive the wages of faith and courage. It is one thing, tortured by long suffering for sins, to be cleansed and long purged by fire; another to have purged all sins by suffering. It is one thing, in fine, to be in suspense till the sentence of God at the day of judgment; another to be at once crowned by the Lord." (Letters 51[55]:20 [A.D. 253]).

Lactantius

"But also, when God will judge the just, it is likewise in fire that he will try them. At that time, they whose sins are uppermost, either because of their gravity or their number, will be drawn together by the fire and will be burned. Those, however, who have been imbued with full justice and maturity of virtue, will not feel that fire; for they have something of God in them which will repel and turn back the strength of the flame" (Divine Institutes 7:21:6 [A.D. 307]).

Cyril of Jerusalem

"Then we make mention also of those who have already fallen asleep: first, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that through their prayers and supplications God would receive our petition; next, we make mention also of the holy fathers and bishops who have already fallen asleep, and, to put it simply, of all among us who have already fallen asleep, for we believe that it will be of very great benefit to the souls of those for whom the petition is carried up, while this holy and most solemn sacrifice is laid out" (Catechetical Lectures 23:5:9 [A.D. 350]).

Epiphanius of Salamis

"Useful too is the prayer fashioned on their behalf, even if it does not force back the whole of guilty charges laid to them. And it is useful also, because in this world we often stumble either voluntarily or involuntarily, and thus it is a reminder to do better" (Medicine Chest Against All Heresies 75:8 [A.D. 375]).

Gregory of Nyssa

"If a man distinguish in himself what is peculiarly human from that which is irrational, and if he be on the watch for a life of greater urbanity for himself, in this present life he will purify himself of any evil contracted, overcoming the irrational by reason. If he have inclined to the irrational pressure of the passions, using for the passions the cooperating hide of things irrational, he may afterward in a quite different manner be very much interested in what is better, when, after his departure out of the body, he gains knowledge of the difference between virtue and vice and finds that he is not able to partake of divinity until he has been purged of the filthy contagion in his soul by the purifying fire" (Sermon on the Dead [A.D. 382]).

John Chrysostom

"Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice [Job 1:5], why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them" (Homilies on 1 Corinthians 41:5 [A.D. 392]).

John Chrysostom

"Weep for those who die in their wealth and who with all their wealth prepared no consolation for their own souls, who had the power to wash away their sins and did not will to do it. Let us weep for them, let us assist them to the extant of our ability, let us think of some assistance for them, small as it may be, yet let us somehow assist them. But how, and in what way? By praying for them and by entreating others to pray for them, by constantly giving alms to the poor on their behalf. Not in vain was it decreed by the apostles that in the awesome mysteries remembrance should be made of the departed. They knew that here there was much gain for them, much benefit. when the entire people stands with hands uplifted, a priestly assembly, and that awesome sacrificial Victim is laid out, how, when we are calling upon God, should we not succeed in their defense? But this is done for those who have departed in the faith, while even the catechumens are not reckoned as worthy of this consolation, but are deprived of every means of assistance except one. And what is that? We may give alms to the poor on their behalf" (Homilies on Philippians 3:9-10 [A.D. 402]).

Augustine

"There is an ecclesiastical discipline, as the faithful know, when the names of the martyrs are read aloud in that place at the altar of God, where prayer is not offered for them. Prayer, however, is offered for other dead who are remembered. It is wrong to pray for a martyr, to whose prayers we ought ourselves be commended" (Sermons 159:1 [A.D. 411]).

Augustine

"But by the prayers of the Holy Church, and by the salvific sacrifice, and by the alms which are given for their spirits, there is no doubt that the dead are aided, that the Lord might deal more mercifully with them than their sins would deserve. The whole Church observes this practice which was handed down by the Fathers: that it prays for those who have died in the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their own place in the sacrifice itself; and the sacrifice is offered also in memory of them, on their behalf. If, then, works of mercy are celebrated for the sake of those who are being remembered, who would hesitate to recommend them, on whose behalf prayers to God are not offered in vain? It is not at all to be doubted that such prayers are of profit to the dead; but for such of them as lived before their death in a way that makes it possible for these things to be useful to them after death" (ibid., 172:2).

Augustine

"Temporal punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by some after death, by 'some both here and hereafter, but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But not all who suffer temporal punishments after death will come to eternal punishments, which are to follow after that judgment" (The City of God 21:13 [A.D. 419]).

Augustine

"The prayer either of the Church herself or of pious individuals is heard on behalf of certain of the dead, but it is heard for those who, having been regenerated in Christ, did not for the rest of their life in the body do such wickedness that they might be judged unworthy of such mercy [as prayer], nor who yet lived so well that it might be supposed they have no need of such mercy [as prayer]" (ibid., 21:24:2).

Augustine

"That there should be some fire even after this life is not incredible, and it can be inquired into and either be discovered or left hidden whether some of the faithful may be saved, some more slowly and some more quickly in the greater or lesser degree in which they loved the good things that perish, through a certain purgatorial fire" (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Charity 18:69 [A.D. 421]).

Augustine

"The time which interposes between the death of a man and the final resurrection holds souls in hidden retreats, accordingly as each is deserving of rest or of hardship, in view of what it merited when it was living in the flesh. Nor can it be denied that the souls of the dead find relief through the piety of their friends and relatives who are still alive, when the Sacrifice of the Mediator [Mass] is offered for them, or when alms are given in the Church. But these things are of profit to those who, when they were alive, merited that they might afterward be able to be helped by these things. There is a certain manner of living, neither so good that there is no need of these helps after death, nor yet so wicked that these helps are of no avail after death" (ibid., 29:109).