Reflecting on Fr Kyle’s homily last Sunday, I thought I’d
say a few words on Purgatory. Recall
that last Sunday was November
2nd , the feast of All Souls Day, the
Commemoration for all the faithful departed. The day before we celebrated the feast of All
Saints Day, celebrating all those faithful servants that have “attained the victory
of Heaven.”
What’s the difference between ‘All Souls Day’ and ‘All
Saints Day’ you say? The fundamental difference
is that the Saints we are celebrating on Nov 1st are in heaven and
therefore when we pray to them we are celebrating their accomplishment and
asking them to pray for us and with us to Jesus. On Nov 2nd though, we are
celebrating those souls that are destined for heaven but may be in the
final process of being sanctified, ie Purgatory. We pray to God for their early release and/or to ease their suffering.
Paul said: “11 For no one can lay any foundation other than
the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13
the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose
it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of
work each has done. 14 If what has
been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer
loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.(1 Cor 3:11-15)
You’ll notice that Paul is speaking of the Day of one’s
particular judgment where his works will be tested through fire on the day of his
death, the Day. Paul is describing the method of purifying
gold and precious metals and tying it to burning impure works and leaving
behind the true works of God. There is
a lot of other metals and impurities in raw gold. To remove these impurities we heat the nugget
and its impurities so that the impurities burn away leaving behind pure
gold. Paul describes the removal
impurities from our works. This process
is a painful one since the one who goes through this “will suffer loss.” This state of
being cannot be Heaven since this process is painful and there is no pain and
suffering in Heaven. This state of being
cannot be Hell either since we know that he “is saved”. This process is neither Heaven nor Hell, it
is what we call Purgatory. It is how we
become clean from all our sins and attachment to sins. This is how we are ‘purged’ from our
impurities and become worthy of heaven (Rev 21:27).
God Bless
Nathan
