“ 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; truly I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny. – (Matthew 5: 25-26)
Musing on these words would lead us to discern that the metaphorical prison from where we would never get out until we have paid the last penny refers to Purgatory. For the unversed, purgatory is the temporal place of punishment where we will be held to make amends for our sins that haven’t been duly atoned for. Throughout our lives, we live in a state of sin however we do not always feel a sense of remorse for them. We fail to express a deep loathing for our sins implying a frivolous attitude towards sin and repentance. Sometimes, although we confess our sins, our penance isn’t heartfelt as it ought to be. Except for saints who had kept themselves squeaky clean, detested sin to the utmost and willingly chose to enter the narrow gate that leads to Heaven, nearly all souls are totally unworthy and unprepared to gaze at the face of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And so there’s this intermediate state namely purgatory for the purpose of purging our unrepented sins.
For the Sceptics
Probably the best explanation that can provide a convincing claim for sceptics is found in Matthew 12:32 which makes an implicit reference to purgatory – “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come“.
In this verse, ‘this world’ obviously refers to our present life while ‘the world to come’ is undoubtedly Purgatory. ‘The world to come’ cannot refer to hell, as in hell there is no forgiveness nor can it refer to Heaven as in Heaven the souls being without sin have no requirement for forgiveness.
What is Purgatory?
To be in God’s presence and behold Him, we need to be absolutely pure in every sense of the word for the Bible says “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8). Hence only a pure soul can be admitted into the presence of God for eternity. Accordingly after a person’s death, the soul needs to be purified. This calls for a process of purification which is achieved through the prison of fire we must pass through after death suffering its intense pain. In other words, Purgatory is this prison of fire meant to cleanse and purify souls from the stain of sin and is needed to achieve the level of holiness and purity necessitated for admittance into the Kingdom of God. The great doctors of the Church have observed – ‘One minute in this awful fire seems like a century.’ St Thomas Aquinas says that the fire of Purgatory is equal in intensity to the fire of Hell and that the slightest contact with it is more dreadful than all the possible sufferings of the Earth!
God desires that we pray for these poor souls
As made known to St Gertrude and other Saints, it is God’s greatest desire that we pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory for the expiation of their sins. He has entrusted into our hands the means of assisting them though our suffrages and offerings of Holy Mass. And so every Catholic must dutifully observe the practice of praying for these souls who are under God’s just scrutiny and in need of God’s infinite mercy.
What do the poor souls do in return for us?
The souls in Purgatory who are helped through our prayers are filled with immense gratitude and desire so much to repay our kindness. On being released from Purgatory and entering into Heaven, they immediately prostrate before the throne of God and pray for those on earth who helped them. These prayers are said to be very powerful as they are presented face to face with God Most High. By their prayers, the faithful on earth receive protection from all dangers and evils that threaten them in this world. Not only that, these holy souls who are now in Heaven obtain a short and easy purgatory and in some cases even remission of it for the ones who showed benevolence through prayers for these souls who were earlier detained in purgatory.
An incident recalled by Cardinal Baronius
Once Cardinal Baronius was called to assist a dying man. The last moments are usually very trying when the dying soul experiences fierce temptations by the devil. This man on his death bed was facing a similar encounter with the evil spirits causing him terrible agony. Suddenly a host of blessed spirits appeared and chased the evil spirits away. On being questioned as to who they were, they replied that they were 8,000 souls whom the dying man released from Purgatory by his prayers and good works during his life. The souls said they were sent by God to take him to Heaven without spending even a moment in Purgatory.
Numerous accounts of the Holy Souls from Purgatory appearing to people, asking for prayers and even thanking them for securing their release from the dreadful fire have occurred through the years. All of the cases render strong evidence to support its existence. Every Christian must therefore display solicitude in this matter and pray for these souls along with offering masses and acts of charity regularly for them.
The duration of Purgatory
The length of time one would need to spend in purgatory would be determined by the malice of sin committed by the individual. If a person had remained in a condition of serious offenses against God for a considerable length of time and hadn’t made due satisfaction for the same on earth, it can be expected that the individual would remain in purgatory for an unimaginably long period, even till the Last Day. Through revelations from God, St Gertrude states that such souls may not share in the ordinary suffrages of the Church for a very long time.
Supplicate God for His mercy
Here is an efficacious prayer to release souls from purgatory. It was given by God himself to St Gertrude:
Eternal Father, I offer You the most Precious Blood of Your Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, those in my own home, and within my family. Amen.
Our Lord told St. Gertrude the Great that each time she piously recited this prayer, it would greatly ease the suffering of those holy souls in purgatory.
So let not All Souls’ Day which falls on November 2nd be the only day to remember the departed souls. May we continually lift them up in our prayers for mercy.
