"Praying someone out of purgatory"

[Jabronie]

I used the following analogy to describe one aspect purgatory. Was I correct?​

If a man spends his life doing terrible things to people, but repents and dies in God’s good grace shortly before dying he will go to Heaven. But the people still on earth remember all of the pain he caused them before his death.

In Heaven the man would have complete joy, but how can he have complete joy knowing all of the damage he had done while on earth? To erase the guilt he would have, the people he had hurt would need to forgive him. (“as we forgive those who trespass against us…”)

By forgiving and praying for him, they help erase his guilt and therefore help him prepare for eternal happiness in heaven. “Purgatory” is the state of his soul while he is cleansed of guilt.

 

[dylanschrader]

I wouldn’t say it exactly like this, but you’re on the right track.

If someone commits a sin but regrets it and asks forgiveness, he may still have some attachment to that sin. I think most of us experience this. We know we shouldn’t sin, but we may have a small or even large affection for certain sins.

In purgatory, through suffering the soul is purified of its attachment to evil so that it can fully love God. Once the soul is in Heaven, it cannot suffer even guilt (the guilt of the person’s sins has been forgiven by God). Once God forgives someone’s sins, he is no longer guilty of them. Human beings should still forgive one another, but if someone withholds forgiveness it is the sin of the one who withholds and does not harm the soul of the one from whom he withholds it.

In purgatory, the guilt of venial sins is cleansed as well as all the “temporal punishment due to sin,” that is, the bad consequences of sin is cleansed through suffering. The guilt we are speaking of is not “feeling bad” but is an objective disorder of the soul which is corrected on earth through the sacraments, penance, indulgences, etc. and if not fully repaired on earth is healed completely in purgatory.

Praying (and especially gaining indulgences) for people in Purgatory is the way God has given the Church on earth to help those members of the Church who are suffering and cannot help themselves. Because we are all in the Body of Christ, we can help each other spiritually across space and time.

 

[Lazerlike42]

dylanschrader has it about right. Here’s another way of looking at it.

Human beings are designed to operate with God’s Grace in them just like an engine is designed to operate with motor oil in it. If an engine operates with that oil, it will be fine. However, if someone decides to let all the oil out and run the engine, it’s going to be damaged, and the longer it’s run without that oil the more damage will be done. Even if you put oil back in the engine again, it’s still going to be damaged and not operate at its full potential. Now, in this case, you could slowly repair the engine piece by piece, or you could just rip the whole thing apart and rebuild it all at once.

When human beings let the Grace of God out through sin, it does damage to them. We can get that Grace restored in confession, but even then we are still not working quite right - we aren’t operating at the full potential God made us for. In this life, we can gradually be repaired piece by piece - we can grow a little in humility here, or in in purity there, or in charity over there. If, when we die, we aren’t back to our full potential, in Purgatory God essentially rebuilds us all at once so we will be capable of operating at our full potential in Heaven.

The main difference, of course, is that the potential of the car that it isn’t reaching is the potential to bring a person from point A to point B, whereas the potential that human beings are not reaching is the potential to Love.

Praying and indulgences and things such as this are sortof like taking an engine part that God gave us and giving it back to Him for use in that person.

 

[Nikhil]

I have accepted for years that Divine Mercy and the Mercy Chaplet serves exactly this purpose: saving souls by praying for them. I more or less accepted by the same token that we could pray souls out of purgatory.

I am praying the Divine Mercy chaplet this Lenten season for souls who have nobody to pray for them. Don’t know why but I got a feeling I needed to do it.

 

[Jabronie]

I have accepted for years that Divine Mercy and the Mercy Chaplet serves exactly this purpose: saving souls by praying for them. I more or less accepted by the same token that we could pray souls out of purgatory.

I am praying the Divine Mercy chaplet this Lenten season for souls who have nobody to pray for them. Don’t know why but I got a feeling I needed to do it.

It’s great that you’ve been doing that! There is one priest that I confess to and no matter what sins I confess, it’s always “three Hail Mary’s for the poor souls.” I always look forward to offering my penance for them.

 

[LilyM]

I’m doing either the Stations of the Cross or spending half an hour reading scripture on a daily basis during Lent to attempt to gain plenary indulgences for the souls in purgatory.

I don’t think I could gain one for myself since I don’t think I’ve met the requirement of ‘detachement from sin’ but that’s not an issue if you’re gaining the indulgence for a soul in purgatory