EVERY Christian Believes in Purgatory

Mother Miriam reminded me of this truth. Every Christian, at least implicitly, believes in purgatory. And I would wager that if more people understood what the Catholic Church  means when it speaks of purgatory, they would find themselves compelled to also acknowledge its existence.

Too many people speak of purgatory as a "place," as they do heaven and hell.  Here is how the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines it:

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 ... The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire (1 Cor.3:15, 1 Peter 1:7) ...

This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin" (2 Maccabees 12:46). From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God ... (CCC 1030-32)

Purgatory is a process, a process of cleansing.  I go into this in more depth in The God Who is Love, but let me give a few points:
 

Jesus taught, “from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man” (Mk.7:21-23).  Now hopefully we Christians are not committing murder but the unkind thoughts or harsh judgments we harbor toward others (the roots of murder) may still be very much with us. These are not acts so great as to completely severe our union with Christ, but they do inhibit the flow of His life within us. When we shed our bodies at death do the impurities, the imperfections in our capacity to love, just disappear? If they are in the heart, and we take that with us, then no. 

Every Christian I know believes that we will be "perfect" in heaven.  No more sinful actions and no more sinful movements of the heart.  And we're right to believe so, Scripture teaches that “nothing unclean shall enter” the Heavenly Jerusalem (Rev.21:27).  So if the vast majority of us have imperfect hearts/souls at the moment of death, and yet we will be perfect when fully united to God in heaven, a cleansing must take place!  It's implicit in the understanding of all Christians; the Catholic Church is simply drawing our attention to it.  

There's a lot more to be said.  If you're curious you might want to check out Chapter 6 of The God Who is Love, "Confession and the Ongoing Nature of Salvation."  Let me give the final word in this post to my Anglican brother, C.S. Lewis:

Our souls demand Purgatory, don’t they? Would it not break [our] heart if God said to us, “It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy”? Should we not reply, “With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I’d rather be cleaned first.” “It may hurt, you know” - “Even so, sir.”[1]

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[1] Lewis, C.S. The Joyful Christian (New York: McMillan Publishing Company, 1984), p.222.

The "Fire" of Hell?

To fully appreciate this post, you really need to have read the one just prior (or "below it," in the world of blogs). That said, I'm jumping in.

Several years ago, I heard Dr. Scott Hahn speculate on the fire of hell; and while this isn't what you'd call de fide doctrine, I think many people might benefit from his thoughts. Hahn branched off from what we've already looked at concerning the "fire of purgatory," that it is a transformative encounter with God Himself (Hebrews 12:29, 1 Cor.3:12-15) - the touch of God burning away whatever sin and imperfection keeps us from full participation in His Divine Life. We ourselves are set aflame with this Divine Life; we dwell in the All Consuming Fire, and He dwells in us! Hahn asks if the Fire of Hell could be the same Fire, God - but as He is experienced by a person who refuses Him entry, refuses to be taken up into Divine Life? Keeping God only at the "surface" of their being, they experience Him as "Fire," but refuse the transformative nature of His embrace.

You see, each of us, at every moment, are held in existence by nothing but God's will. That's the corollary truth to having been called into existence from nothing; if we ever ceased to be part of God's will, we would simply unravel. (Wow - that makes sitting on the couch and watching the tube seem pretty spiritual - never mind something as glorious as Bridget cramming that whole White Castle into her mouth). Every being has to be held in existence by Him - there can't be a being who is completely free of His "touch," not even the devil himself. But for one who refuses to be in relationship with Him, this touch would be agonizing. It's like the child, absolutely starving, who stubbornly refuses every bite of food his mother puts before him. He screams and protests, "It's not the food I want," refusing his mother's attempts to explain that it's what his constitution needs. Unwilling to violate her child, she won't shove her fist down his throat and deposit the food in his gullet. Her love for him forces her to let him be, to writhe and protest - becoming ever more angered by her looks of concern.

No one "goes" to hell by accident. It's a choice; a stubborn refusal to accept our place in God's Family. Instead of living within the parameters our Father established for us - established because He created us, and knows what we need far better than we do - we dig in our heels and choose what is incompatible with Divine Life. St. Paul gives a list of such behaviors, 1 Corinthians 6:9. If we choose these over God, and refuse to reorient ourselves, God will not force us to receive Him. He respects our freedom so much that He allows us to keep Him at bay, to create our own experience of hell.

The Fire of "Twilight"

Well, the fourth book in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight- series actually, Breaking Dawn. That’s right, I too partook of the forbidden fruit (note the cover art). I really enjoyed reading these books, and there’s a lot that could be said from the faith-angle; but tonight I’m sticking with the themes of fire and the resurrection/glorified body.

SPOILERS ABOUND – you have been warned.
In book four, Bella finally became the bloodsucker she’d always hoped to be. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill, B-movie bloodsuckers though. The vampires of Twilight, while being blood-drinkers, are creatures of light. That’s right – in sunlight they become luminous; like a diamond, their skin refracts light. But I digress. The agent of Bella’s transformation was venom from the teeth of her beloved, very-pretty-yet-masculine-vampire Edward.
What I found so fascinating was the way the venom worked: it coursed through Bella’s body, an unseen, transforming fire. She felt as if she had been taken out of time; nothing existed but the fire. Her weakness and imperfections were re-cast as the fire methodically worked its way through her, the flames finally drawing in to focus upon her heart. And then she awoke, as if seeing reality for the first time.

That’s purgatory – an encounter with “God, [Who] is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). It can take place completely in this life, or it can be finished after our death; it all depends on how much we cooperate in the process. Two blogs back, I referenced 1 Peter 1:7, where we’re given the image of God refining us like gold in fire. He visits us in trials, allowing them to bring imperfections to the surface. And then with God’s grace we deal with them. We allow the Holy Spirit, often imaged by fire, to purify and transform us. God has to “pry us open” and deal with what we keep hidden in the depths of our souls. Jesus was adamant that “from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man” (Mark 7:21-23). When we shed our bodies at death do the impurities, the imperfections in our capacity to love, just disappear? If they are in the heart, and we take that with us, then no – and thus the need for an encounter with the fire of God’s Love after death. The Apostle Paul spoke of such a purification accompanying our judgment, “the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

And this brings me to my next point – Bella’s new vampiric life as an image of resurrection and the glorification of the body. I was struck by how similar this “new” Bella was to the risen Jesus. First, there’s the subtlety of the body – to think is to move; there’s no more friction between mind (spirit) and matter. Bella’s senses are sharpened and integrated by a new mental agility – she recognizes beauty even in whirling specks of dust. The speed with which she moves reminds me of Jesus, appearing and disappearing as He chose. And then there’s Bella’s changed appearance – even her own father needed reassurance that it was really her. We see something similar in the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection. He appeared and spoke with people who had known Him in his former life; but they didn’t recognize Him, until He desired them to (Luke 24:16; John 20:14). The prior form is there, but it has been changed. The beauty of the soul, and the beauty of God within the human soul, must show through the body in a new way. The ability to disclose ourselves to another must become dependent on something more than our appearance registering with their ocular nerve and cerebral cortex. (There’s mystery here to be sure – can’t wait to discover the answer!)

The other thing that strikes me is how Bella’s metamorphosis allows her to interact with Edward on a completely different level. It wasn’t until Bella was transformed that she could really engage Edward physically. They had married, and they had consummated that union; but Edward was always having to hold back, unable to unleash the full force of his passion because Bella was simply too fragile to handle it. There’s something to be said there about our relationship with God. In the beginning, He may seem to treat us with kid gloves. But as we progress, as we begin to mature, He begins calling us to embrace more and more of the Cross – for virtue to grow and be solidified through trial. When we read the saints, we catch glimpses of how each step on the road to Heaven brought deeper, more intense experiences of God’s presence. Like Bella, they found themselves bruised at times – but they “hardened” (becoming, in fact, more and more tender) and able to engage God as slightly more mature children. Their vision is sharpened, and they see the world a bit more clearly – sharing the gaze of its Maker. Don’t you get the feeling that when Mother Teresa looked at a street in Calcutta, she saw something there that escapes you and I? Rest assured, now that her transformation is complete, she sees even more.

By our being fused to the humanity of Jesus, we "participate in the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4) ! Saints have used the image of a piece of iron, plunged into a fire: even though it remains iron, it takes on the "nature," the characteristics and properties of the fire - its heat and color. Jesus has opened up a new way of being human. Listen to how St. Paul describes Jesus' Church, His Spouse; she is "the fullness of Him Who fills the universe" (Ephesians 1:23). The Church, joined eternally to Jesus, is "Christ come to full stature" (Ephesians 4:13). In Jesus, we will be engulfed in God's Fiery Love, in God Himself! "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Jesus appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).

Now, still to consider: Why does our agnostic vampire, Edward, have such strong convictions about right and wrong, virtue and vice?

NOTE: A slightly adapted form of this post appeared on Catholic Exchange, Dec.26th, 2009.

The Symmetry of Penance

Do our failings ever "just go away," just disappear, without our ever having to address them?

On the night before Jesus died, as He was being interrogated by the high priest, Peter was outside in the courtyard, warming himself at a charcoal fire with the high priest's servants and officers. That charcoal fire was the setting for Peter's three denials (Jn.18:17-18, 25-27).

It was no coincidence then when Jesus, after His resurrection, invited Peter around another charcoal fire, and asked him three times whether he loved Him (Jn.21:9-17). Cruel on Jesus' part? No, He loved Peter. He had already forgiven him for his denials. This was part of Peter's healing from his sin - a penance.

Penance is meant to undo the damage of ours sin. The scene of Peter's denial is recreated, and his professions of love put in place of the denials; there is symmetry. In our own lives we rarely see it as perfectly as in Peter's, but it is a reality; and if we try to avoid it we are hindering our own progress. Think about it: which of our problems really "just go away?" Isn't there always a need to turn and confront them? Don't we have to deal with our failings and make amends before we can truly move on? God has forgiven us, but there is still a need to deal with the consequences of our sins.