If Purgatory is more intense

[Layp3rs0n]

Why does Purgatory “take longer” than being purified on earth? If we suffer here, we may even skip Purgatory altogether, but if the suffering there is more intense than here why is it not “faster”? Forgive my use of temporal lingo, since we are talking about para-eternity, but it is the only way I know how to anthopomorphosize what we will experience. (I try to stay away from anthropomorphism but feel it’s necessary here. Ugh.)

 

[Least]

Here, GOD gave you a metronome, your mother’s heartbeat, then your own, the movement of the heavens and the tide, your age.

Purgatory you have nothing, and therefore may as well be eternal.

 

[DelsonJacobs]

Why does Purgatory “take longer” than being purified on earth? If we suffer here, we may even skip Purgatory altogether, but if the suffering there is more intense than here why is it not “faster”? Forgive my use of temporal lingo, since we are talking about para-eternity, but it is the only way I know how to anthopomorphosize what we will experience. (I try to stay away from anthropomorphism but feel it’s necessary here. Ugh.)

There is nothing in Catholic dogma which states that the purification of Purgatory will “take longer” than what would be experienced on earth. Some may theorize about it in those terms in such a way that does not deny the Church’s official teaching on the matter, but since there is no dogmatic definition on whether temporal or eternal suffering will “take longer” there is also no definitive answer.

It should be noted that you did hit the subject on the head when you mentioned you are using “temporal lingo.” The Church does at times speak of being in Purgatory in temporal terms because we have little else to use. Terms are illustrative of a reality we cannot comment on with total accuracy since we have no frame of reference with the reality of the afterlife. One thing is for certain: the paradigm of Purgatory is one where “longer” would not exist as we now understand such since Purgatory does not exist on the temporal level.

The best way I have seen it explained is by comparing it to “being in” debt. The state of debt is not a place, it has no definitive time to which one must remain in it, no two people are in debt in exactly the same way, but everyone gets out of debt the same way. One is not “delayed” from being debt-free while in debt as there is no set time to when one must become “debt-free,” but that doesn’t mean time doesn’t go by when you are in debt.

 

[KrazyKat]

I highly recommend the book:

PURGATORY
explained by the lives and legends of the saints

By Fr. F.X. Schouppe, S.J.

If you really dare to know. Prayers for Church Suffering are of the utmost importance.

In my humble opinion.

 

[Dorothy]

The most accurate book on Purgatory is by St. Catharine of Genoa. The wisdom of Father Benedict Groeschel pointed this out to me.

He stated that other books and stories about Purgatory are written in a sensational style and can cause misunderstanding.

 

[KrazyKat]

The most accurate book on Purgatory is by St. Catharine of Genoa. The wisdom of Father Benedict Groeschel pointed this out to me.

He stated that other books and stories about Purgatory are written in a sensational style and can cause misunderstanding.

I beg to disagree, I would not classify St. Bridget , St. Gertrude, St. Lidwina or any of the other Saints to be sensationalists.

However, this is my humble opinion.

 

[vames]

How Long Does Purgatory Take?

Because we don’t know how time works in the afterlife, theologians have had different speculations as to how long purgatory may take or if it takes any time at all. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) seemed to side with the latter opinion. He wrote:

"The transforming ‘moment’ of this encounter cannot be quantified by the measurements of earthly time.

It is, indeed, not eternal but a transition, and yet trying to qualify it as of ‘short’ or ‘long’ duration on the basis of temporal measurements derived from physics would be naive and unproductive.

The ‘temporal measure’ of this encounter lies in the unsoundable depths of existence, in a passing-over where we are burned ere we are transformed.

To measure such Existenzzeit, such an ‘existential time,’ in terms of the time of this world would be to ignore the specificity of the human spirit in its simultaneous relationship with, and differentation from, the world.

“[Purgatory] is 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."

catholic.com/blog/matt-fradd/the-logical-case-for-purgatory

 

[chimo]

Why does Purgatory “take longer” than being purified on earth? If we suffer here, we may even skip Purgatory altogether, but if the suffering there is more intense than here why is it not “faster”? Forgive my use of temporal lingo, since we are talking about para-eternity, but it is the only way I know how to anthopomorphosize what we will experience. (I try to stay away from anthropomorphism but feel it’s necessary here. Ugh.)

Purgatory is the discipline which God gives for you to be saved for eternal life with Him. Purgatory actually begins in this life and only continues in the next life if you still need it. God only continues what is exactly there at death. I sense Purgatory is more for the lazy and disobedient ones. The Justice or Discipline of God is necessary for these as well as for those who do not share the Mercy of God. One can say Purgatory was made for the “couch potatoes” and what God does at death is to remove their couches! Yet Purgatory is really a Discipline God gives in order that the recipient may know of His love in order for that person to be thankful. Purgatory takes longer if one does not follow through in loving God as He deserves to be loved. In other words you can do something about this before you die. There are two attributes which God has to save you. One is His Justice where Purgatory is a by product and the other is His Mercy. You can go through either door but would it not be better to enter through the door of His Mercy than through the door of His Justice? If one does not go through the door of His Mercy than it must come through the door of His Justice if you are going to be saved. After death the Purgatory state is most helpful but before death a certain “couch” can prevent you in obtaining this heavenly state.

 

[Dorothy]

I beg to disagree, I would not classify St. Bridget , St. Gertrude, St. Lidwina or any of the other Saints to be sensationalists.

However, this is my humble opinion.

I agree with what you said. In hearing Father Groeschel’s comments the other books he mentioned were not by saints.

 

[GEddie]

There is no time, as we understand it, in Purgatory (unless the city in Colorado is meant).

Time durations historically attached to indulgences are obsolete and, in fact, **never ** referred to Purgatory but to duration of canonical penance.

Experienced time is an artifact of the entropy in our earthen bodies; our eternal self/ pneumatikon soma has no time.

ICXC NIKA

 

[judynurse]

The only comment I have on “time” in Purgatory" is the one I heard from a Priest. After death we are in Eternity. As Scriptures indicate “a day is as a thousand years” the opposite is also true “a thousand years is as a day”. Therefore, there would be no sense of “time” in Purgatory, since “time” only applies to our life here. When you enter Purgatory, there is no time. When you leave Purgatory for Heaven, it will seem as a day.

Also, I think the Brown Scapular promises include that the Blessed Virgin will take those who are faithful to the requirements of the Brown (Carmel) Scapular to Heaven on the first Saturday after their death. Personally, I always have prayed to die on a Friday, since I was a child!

 

[SentinelofTruth]

I agree. Purgratory doesn’t take longer. It doesn’t take any time at all.

 

[fred_conty]

Does the church teach anywhere that there is no time in purgatory? I haven’t found it if it has.

I’ve read somewhere where some souls will be there until the end of the world, while others will not be. So this may imply that there is time in purgatory.

Anyone know of any documentation, like official, one way or the other? Maybe a doctor or father of the church even. St. Thomas?

 

[judynurse]

Time relates to the human life, to earth. Eternity has no time. In the first 5 books of the Bible, (original Hebrew Scriptures) and in Psalms, it refers to “A day is as a thousand years” in reference to God and Eternity. If a day = a thousand years, the opposite is also true i.e., a thousand years = a day IN ETERNITY. We will not (I believe) be AWARE of time, in other words, in purgatory, we won’t be saying: ‘I came here in 2014, and now it’s 2016, so I’ve been here 2 years.’

I know that Mary said in an Apparition in Lourdes that a particular person who had died would be in purgatory “until the end of the world”. However, that person will not “count” time in years or days or weeks. The time in purgatory will just be the time in purgatory, regardless of the time in the physical world. Eternity has no time:

Therefore, we will not be aware of “time”, only of our repentance and purification, knowing that when it ends, we will be with the Lord in Eternity and in Heaven. Doesn’t that make sense?

 

[fred_conty]

Time relates to the human life, to earth. Eternity has no time. In the first 5 books of the Bible, (original Hebrew Scriptures) and in Psalms, it refers to “A day is as a thousand years” in reference to God and Eternity. If a day = a thousand years, the opposite is also true i.e., a thousand years = a day IN ETERNITY. We will not (I believe) be AWARE of time, in other words, in purgatory, we won’t be saying: ‘I came here in 2014, and now it’s 2016, so I’ve been here 2 years.’

I know that Mary said in an Apparition in Lourdes that a particular person who had died would be in purgatory “until the end of the world”. However, that person will not “count” time in years or days or weeks. The time in purgatory will just be the time in purgatory, regardless of the time in the physical world. Eternity has no time:

Therefore, we will not be aware of “time”, only of our repentance and purification, knowing that when it ends, we will be with the Lord in Eternity and in Heaven. Doesn’t that make sense?

Yes, from your point of view which I appreciate. But it dosen’t present any hard evidence from weighty material that there is no time in purgatory.

Although the bible does say how God sees time, it doesn’t say how it actually is.

I can look back on my life and say that 10 years to me seems as 1 day now. But actually it was 10 years.

Thanks for your response but I need some heavy cannons.