Don' go to purgatory!

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I personally do not like these kinds of images of Purgatory; I’m just thankful that while Purgatory is a dogma, these images are not.

These stories and anecdotes seem to emphasize the pains of Purgatory, as if they were the most horrible things anyone could experience. They seem to neglect the fact that all those in Purgatory are saved and are in the state of charity, plus they have the knowledge that they are saved and are certain to go to heaven. I cannot deny that there is suffering, after all, what purgation does not? But I must also accept that in light of the charity and certainty of salvation that exists in Purgatory, these souls are in fact joyful despite the purification, as it is a willing purification, endured out of love for God.

God willing, and by his grace, I should make it there. I would be most happy to gain a plenary indulgence at the moment of my death, but I would be a joyful soul to find myself in Purgatory.
 
Live a good and upright life, do at least one thing every day in the spirit of penance, remember the souls in purgatory, and gain indulgences.
 
Skyhighblue34 said:
I just read one of the most horrific things about Purgatory. I am in utter shock… How does one avoid such a terrible fate! Please pray for those in Purgatory!
catholickingdom.com/Cathedral/Poor%20Souls/sub_pages/time_duration.html
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Please remember when someone gives you, or you otherwise obtain, one of these writings, that we will not have bodies in Purgatory! Yes, there is pain – the pains of regret, sorrow, the pain of knowing how short of the Purity and Holiness of God we have fallen, how often we fell into sin, even after knowing better! Think of your worst time of shame and regret over a sin and that is a shadow of what we will feel in Purgatory. Yet, by being in Purgatory, we know that when we are purged of our sinful pasts, we are already facing an ETERNITY in Heaven with our Lord! That is the joy of Purgatory. I don’t look forward to those regrets and sorrows, and I too hope for a Plenary Indulgence to avoid Purgatory, but I’d rather face a very long time in Purgatory, than an eternity in Hell!! I used to fear Purgatory terribly, until I realized it is actually just God’s Justice and Blessing, to cleanse me so I may be with Him Eternally!!🙂
 
I don’t really believe this account of Purgatory. It’s seems like someone is just making stuff up about Purgatory. In reality, we don’t know the true nature of it because it hasn’t been divinely revealed to us. Personally, the fact that the person believes in a young-earth creation also discredits him even further.
 
I would question the web site if it’s true Catholic and ok with the church.
 
For one mortal sin, a soul is sentenced to Purgatory for 7 years. If a person got into the habit of getting drunk every weekend, that would be a mortal sin every week. In a month, that would be 28 years in Purgatory. (Remember that that those 4 mortal sins merited 28 years of Purgatory which would feel like 873,600 years!)
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Hahahaha well that just great. Im going to feel a couple of quadrillion years old when i get out of there… :juggle: let’s just hope they don’t run out of cigarettes :rotfl:
 
Yeah, don’t know where that seven year thing comes from; however, Our Lady gave the children at Fatima some info about Purgatory. From the website “Bible, Prayer and Homiletic Resources”:

frtommylane.com/homilies/years_abc/all_souls-2.htm
How long does one stay in Purgatory? That depends on how one lived and how much repentance one did for sin before dying. We could imagine that a person who had lived a wild life and converted just before death would spend much longer in Purgatory than someone who had lived a life in union with God. We cannot compare time in this life with time in the next life. Our Lady at Fatima, when asked by the visionaries about a certain man, said he would be in Purgatory until the end of the world. Time in Purgatory does not pass like time here on earth. St. Robert Bellarmine wrote that for some people the time in Purgatory will last entire centuries according to our time here on earth. (Fr. F.X. Schouppe S.J. Purgatory Explained page 68 in 1973 edition) Accounts of Purgatory by saints and mystics who were either transported to Purgatory or visited by souls tell us that there are various levels in Purgatory ranging from lower levels which are closer to hell to upper levels which are closer to heaven.
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Purgatory until the end of the world? :bigyikes:
 
I have a firmly rooted faith in the Divine Mercy, and the awesomeness of God’s LOVE of and for humanity, AND that He is always moved by the advocacy and offerings of ‘righteous’ people who pray for the souls in Purgatory. I for one particularly direct my prayers and offerings towards advocating for those souls amongst ‘the most forsaken’, including any indulgences - particularly plenary ones - I hope and pray increasing numbers of others do likewise.
 
Skyhighblue34 said:
I just read one of the most horrific things about Purgatory. I am in utter shock… How does one avoid such a terrible fate! Please pray for those in Purgatory!
catholickingdom.com/Cathedral/Poor%20Souls/sub_pages/time_duration.html
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Oh, thanks for this link!

“This is a true story told by St. Antoninus of the Franciscans in his book Summa. This story will illustrate the time frame and the suffering of Purgatory. There was once a monk who had been suffering a terrible sickness for a long time, causing him much pain…”

I do not doubt that this is a true story.

We need to pray for the Holy Souls suffering in the Purgatory.

We can lessen punishments by obtaining indulgences. For example, partaking in confession, Mass, Holy Communion, in a state of the soul where we renounce all attachment to sin, even venial sin, followed by 1/2 hour of Eucharistic adoration, and some prayer (e.g., Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be) for the intentions of the Pope, will obtain a plenary indulgence for either ourselves, or for a deceased person on whose behalf we offer it. A plenary indulgence means that all of our sins (or all of the sins of the deceased soul) are forgiven, and all punishment is forgiven (however if we still have some attachment to sin, we can obtain a partial indulgence instead of a plenary indulgence - that is, a partial remission of the punishment deserved).
 
If a person receives the Apostolic Pardon, and he is in the state of grace, he receives the remission of the temporal punishment due to his sins. He goes straight to heaven when he dies. This is found in the Pastoral Care of the sick, USA numbers 184, 187, 195, 201.
If the Anointing of the Sick is given with Viaticum, it may be given then.
 
From the descriptions I have read of the Apostolic Pardon, it seems to remove temporal punishment for sin, but does it remove penalties for attachment to sin?
 
Bobby_Ray said:
I don’t really believe this account of Purgatory. It’s seems like someone is just making stuff up about Purgatory. In reality, we don’t know the true nature of it because it hasn’t been divinely revealed to us. …
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I agree with this.

Purgatory is, to me, one of the most misunderstood aspects of our faith.
As children we are taught the very simplistic view of purgatory as punishment for some part of sin here on earth and many never get past this childish view. They retain the very OT, Mosaic Law, style view of the Church as one of “rules” and “punishments”. This is unfortunate because, while such a simplistic view is useful when we are young in our faith, we miss so much more that is deeper and more beautiful - as well as more challenging - in a maturing faith.

To truly understand Purgatory, I invite all to look at the word itself. The root is not punish, but “purge”. We go to purgatory to undergo a purgation, to be purged of all that is impure in us, to be made “perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).

In this process all of our failures - our faults and sinful habits that we have not overcome will be laid bear. We will see, by the grace of God, the true horror of the things we had done…not unlike the “movie” commercial HERE.
Through this process - the pain that comes will not be imposed by God, but will well up in us. It will rise to the surface of our being and be expelled…much like impurities are expelled from ore in the refining process.

This of course is why the NT writers used the refining process as an analogy in the first place. Refining purifies by removing unwanted materials from the desired product. In the same way our faith journey is one of removing impurities from ourselves through God’s grace and our submission to Him. The sole purpose of Purgatory is to complete this process because we desire that it be completed.

The question of time and purgatory is yet another thing that is “childish” in that since purgatory exists outside of our conception of time and space, we really can’t say how “long” our purgation might be. Some require more purgation than others…and surely we have no other way to express these matters than in the concepts of time and intensity…but these are constructs for our own understanding and do not necessarily reflect the reality of them.

The bottom line in all of this is that those who go to purgatory want to be in purgatory. They want to be purged of their lingering defects. We all desire to be “perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect”. We strive to achieve this in this life - or at least we better.
And then - when we stand before the great Judge - and our “movie” unfolds we will have no desire but to throw ourselves on His mercy and He will take care of the rest.

Peace
James
 
St_Francis said:
From the descriptions I have read of the Apostolic Pardon, it seems to remove temporal punishment for sin, but does it remove penalties for attachment to sin?
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I’m not sure I understand this comment…“penalties for attachment to sin”…

If I may -
I understand consequences for attachment to sin.
Even if we are forgiven for past transgressions, If we retain and attachment to sin, or a particular sin, such attachment remains as a fault and keeps us from that perfection to which we are called and so we still need to be purged of that attachment.

So - such purging, while sorrowful / painful, is not a “penalty”, so much as it is a “consequence”…

Or am I misunderstanding something…

Peace
James
 
porthos11 said:
I personally do not like these kinds of images of Purgatory; I’m just thankful that while Purgatory is a dogma, these images are not.

These stories and anecdotes seem to emphasize the pains of Purgatory, as if they were the most horrible things anyone could experience. They seem to neglect the fact that all those in Purgatory are saved and are in the state of charity, plus they have the knowledge that they are saved and are certain to go to heaven. I cannot deny that there is suffering, after all, what purgation does not? But I must also accept that in light of the charity and certainty of salvation that exists in Purgatory, these souls are in fact joyful despite the purification, as it is a willing purification, endured out of love for God.

God willing, and by his grace, I should make it there. I would be most happy to gain a plenary indulgence at the moment of my death, but I would be a joyful soul to find myself in Purgatory.
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God has done His best to inform us of the extreme pain endured by those in Purgatory so that we will be motivated to avoid Purgatory by purifying ourselves before death, which is much less painful.

This purifying process in this world also results in a lot of good being done in this world, while the increased pain endured in Purgatory apparently does not.

The result of the type of thinking I gather from your post is that less good will be done in this world! I don’t think that is what you want to do!

God through Christ and His Church teach us how to avoid the much-worse pains of Purgatory so that we will try to avoid Purgatory and accomplish good in this world. Imagine how this world would be if everyone was trying to avoid Purgatory!
 
November is the month dedicated to the departed souls! This is ideal we are talking about it, now!

There are a lot of ways to help souls in Purgatory, certains prayers…like the Chaplet of Divine Mercy can help multiply God’s mercy. Further, there is a Chaplet specifically for the souls in Purgatory.

Also, don’t forget to offer masses. Those are wonderful for those in Purgatory. Pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Rosaries are great!

Best of all…don’t you go to Purgatory, but it is VERY hard to avoid. One would need to be in a state of utter perfection to go directly to heaven! Do you realize how few people go directly to heaven? First of all, do you realize how few people go to heaven in the first place?

A bunch of saints have told us that we are going to hell like snowflakes! Almost nobody is saved. Further, out of those elect, almost nobody goes directly to heaven! It’s so difficult that it would be…almost impossible. It’s only possible at all through the grace of God.
 
Saint Dom Bosco, in his 40 dreams, found himself in a beautiful place. So beautiful, he thought he was in heaven. However, souls of some youth he knew in life, came to him and informed him that he was in purgatory.

Their suffering is not being with God in heaven, but their joy is that they are saved.

The OP article is the author’s personal opinion and can lead more people into scrupulosity than hope.

Jim
 
All such scaremongering stories are nothing but products of human imagination - pious legends that seek to make people avoid sin out of fear - by persuading them that purgatory and hell are actual places where souls are tortured by fire.

Their common origin is a mere hypothesis of Aquinas - “the place of Purgatory is situated below and in proximity to hell, so that it is the same fire which torments the damned in hell and cleanses the just in Purgatory”. But we know that Purgatory is not a place, souls can’t be tortured by fire and a LOVING God doesn’t torture souls who are already destined for Heaven.

Please, read Joseph Ratzinger - “Eschatology: death, and eternal life” for a true historical and theological presentation of the doctrine. The chapter on hell, purgatory and heaven can be read here:
ldysinger.com/@magist/2005_Ben16/Eschatology-Ch_7.doc

This is what he says: “Purgatory is not, as Tertullian thought, some kind of supra worldly concentration camp where man is forced to undergo punishment in a more or less arbitrary fashion. Rather is it the inwardly necessary process of transformation in which a person becomes capable of Christ, capable of God and thus capable of unity with the whole communion of saints.”

And the encyclical “Spe Salvi”, paragraphs 44-48:
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi_en.html

And this article from a CAF apologist:
catholic.com/blog/matt-fradd/the-logical-case-for-purgatory

I had downloaded such old books about purgatory from Archive.org. One of them cited a different “vision” of a saint, with souls in purgatory who lay passive and fascinated under “silvery showers of moonlight” falling from Jesus’ eyes. So who is right? Which vision do you choose to believe? Is any fantasy about God torturing souls for centuries or even until the end of the earth compatible with our concept of a God who is supposed to be loving and forgiving?

We should be able of recognizing pious legends and private revelations exactly for what they are: metaphorical visions, products of imagination and hypotheses 1) born out of human desire to find out how it’s like to be in purgatory or hell, 2) promoted to reinforce the belief in purgatory and in many cases to stimulate fear in the minds of people who tend to doubt its existence.
 
vames said:
All such scaremongering stories are nothing but products of human imagination - pious legends that seek to make people avoid sin out of fear - by persuading them that purgatory and hell are actual places where souls are tortured by fire.

Their common origin is a mere hypothesis of Aquinas - “the place of Purgatory is situated below and in proximity to hell, so that it is the same fire which torments the damned in hell and cleanses the just in Purgatory”. But we know that Purgatory is not a place, souls can’t be tortured by fire and a LOVING God doesn’t torture souls who are already destined for Heaven.
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I think purgatory is a mystery - which is to say, we know things about it, but we don’t fully comprehend it. So many saints have had visions of purgatory as a place of pain, and so many theologians and Church Fathers have held such, as well as the Scriptural references involving fire, it would be shortsighted of us to dismiss the idea that purgatory must have some element of unpleasantness. However, it’s also true that saints have had visions of purgatory as a joyful place. It’s a mystery, but let’s not throw out the insights of so many great Catholics. 🙂
 
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