Purgatory, Indulgences, and the Mass

[TomD123]

This has probably been asked many times, but I was not clear about something with purgatory, pennance, the mass, and Indulgences. From what I have heard, purgatory is thought of in 2 ways:

1. a place of purification after death if pennance did not complete the job on earth
2. a place to make reparation to God’s justice for our sins after death

these both make sense, however, my question is this: if 1 is the correct view, how do indulgences fit into the equation and how does a mass said for someone after their death help them become purified? if 2 is correct, then where does Christ’s sacrafice fit into the equation because I thought he earned for us infinite satisfaction?

Any responses are greatly appreciated

 

[Thoma25]

This has probably been asked many times, but I was not clear about something with purgatory, pennance, the mass, and Indulgences. From what I have heard, purgatory is thought of in 2 ways:

1. a place of purification after death if pennance did not complete the job on earth
2. a place to make reparation to God’s justice for our sins after death

these both make sense, however, my question is this: if 1 is the correct view, how do indulgences fit into the equation and how does a mass said for someone after their death help them become purified? if 2 is correct, then where does Christ’s sacrafice fit into the equation because I thought he earned for us infinite satisfaction?

Any responses are greatly appreciated

Indulgences dispense with the temporal punishment due to sins which are forgiven. The holy souls in purgatory are experiencing temporal punishment, hence their purgation. They can’t gain indulgences or merits, so the living can gain merits and indulgences, and apply them to the holy souls through suffrage.

Christ’s Sacrifice is infinite, but its merits must be applied to us, hence the need for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Since Christ’s Sacrifice has gained for the Church a superabundance of merits, these are applied to remit temporal punishments due to sin via indulgences.

 

[Don9of11]

III. The Final Purification, or Purgatory

1030 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.

1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.606 The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire.

      As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

1032 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."609 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.610 The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:

      Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.

This is taken directly from the Catechism, if you want to read this in it’s entirety go to this link usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art12.shtml

Hope this helps

 

[manualman]

The issue with purgatory for protestants and catholics alike is that most of the language surrounding it is archaic and/or theological lingo that your average Joe Sixpac like me easily misunderstands. Things like “temporal punishment” are not self-explanatory.

At the root, purgatory does NOT exist to satisfy the demands of judicial part of God’s character. On the contrary, purgatory exists because WE need it, not God. Let’s face it, all of us fine christians still have problems with sin. Even if we received the Grace of reconciliation an hour ago and the Eucharist 5 minutes ago, we’ve still got this problem of “concupiscence” (the inclination toward sin, the thing that makes sins look attractive to us). If I died in that state of Grace something still has to happen to me before I enter heaven. If I enter ‘as-is’ it won’t be heaven anymore! I’ll wreck the place with my laziness, gluttony, pride, lies, lust, etc… We all know that God isn’t going to put an involuntary leash on us that PREVENT us from sinning in heaven, so we clearly need changing before we can enter. We need to be purged of that concupiscence. The ‘temporal punishment’ of purgatory is NOT the paying of a judicial debt (Jesus did that!), but the learning process that occurs when a loving Father disciplines a child. We are changed in the process. We will be confronted with the TRUE nature of what sin is and how our sins ripple through time and space causing havoc and carnage. And we’ll learn to be as offended at the very idea of sin as God is.

That’s worth an Amen, no??

 

[Bluegoat]

As I understand it -

What is being purged is supposed to be the temporal punishment, which Christ’s work does not cover.

The merit received comes from the extra merit of the saints. Because they were so good, they did not have any “left over” temporal punishment due. In fact many - especially the BVM - still gained “extra” merit on top of what was required to account for their own temporal punishments. This extra went into the Treasury of Merit. The Church has access to this Treasury and dispenses it under certain conditions, and that is what an indulgence is.

 

[Don9of11]

The issue with purgatory for protestants and catholics alike is that most of the language surrounding it is archaic and/or theological lingo that your average Joe Sixpac like me easily misunderstands. Things like “temporal punishment” are not self-explanatory.

Well I don’t know where you are getting this “temporal punishment” from. No where in the CCC that I posted says anything about temporal punishment. In fact I don’t recall reading anything in the CCC on temporal punishment. If it’s there I don’t remember reading it.

Temporal has to do with life here on earth. When we pass from this life to the next, the earth and everything else in it time included passes away, everything physical is gone. When we die, we stand in judgment and receive one of three outcomes, immediate entrance into heaven and I believe there are many who go directly to heaven. The second is Hell and the third is purgatory. We do not know how “long” this purging takes or what it involves. St. Paul’s alludes to it as fire that “test” our works. (1 Corinthians Chapter 3),

 

[laszlo]

The purgatory is either reparation of the demaged soul, and expiation for the sin, which caused the need for reparation.

I understood in that way, long long time ago, that the poor souls need weeding garment to go to the heaven. This can be received only through some suffering, what they reluctant to take. The intercession of the Saints, the indulgences and the propitiatory power of the Holy Mass helps them to see God who is behind that wall of suffering, and helps them to be eager to accept the necessity and go through that wall.

Apparently Thornton Wilder had the same vision in the Our Town.

 

[manualman]

Well I don’t know where you are getting this “temporal punishment” from.

That is the older phrase traditionally used (I called it archaic, even). Look here: catholicity.com/baltimore-catechism/lesson33.html

The CCC that came out in the 1990’s doesn’t use that language anymore, but not because it was wrong, but because people widely misunderstood it. The current CCC tries to describe the same thing in a way people can understand.

The bottom line is that heaven isn’t heaven if sinners live there. Thus sinners need to be completed in sanctification between death and heaven. That’s what purgatory is.