What a Priest Said When Asked Why Didn't the Good Thief Go To Purgatory When He Died? The Gospel Shows Christ Telling the Good Thief Crucified With Hi

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mdgspencer said:
This priest explains that the good thief could have been freed from the purification of purgatory before entering heaven.
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This is true, but it is also true that Jesus could have taken the thief with him when He gave up HIs spirit. Instead, he allowed the thief to remain on the cross for the remainder of the day, suffering and even having his legs broken to hasten the process. The thief admitted that he was receiving the “just punishment” for his sins. So it may be that the temporal punishment was the purification he needed.

We also cannot confuse “paradise” for “heaven”. The gates of heaven were not yet open, until Jesus ascended 40 days after His resurrection. At that times, the tombs were opened, and He took many souls with him to heaven. The souls of the Just waited for this deliverance in Sheol/paradise, or “Abraham’s bosom”.
 
The Church grants a plenary indulgence for repentant capital criminals who accept their execution as the just punishment of their crimes, as St. Dismas did.
 
Why would Jesus lie about it?
Jesus (God) is not limited to our rules.
He said he’d be with him that day in heaven, and I totally believe he was.
 
The thief, in all likelihood, hadn’t been baptized before (and if so, “only” with the baptism of John), so this would have been a baptism of blood. All of his sins would have been forgiven, and he would have a “clean slate”, not needing to undergo any purification unless he somehow managed to sin in between accepting Jesus as his savior and his death hours later.
 
But after this, regardless, Jesus according to a venerable tradition went to Hell after the Crucifixion.

Of course, we don’t understand how time works in Heaven exactly, but it makes sense if we translate it instead of
“I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise”
to
“I tell you today, you will be with Me in Paradise”.
 
He went to get the people who were asleep in the Lord awaiting the coming of the Messiah
Again, Jesus (God) is not restricted by a timeclock.
 
Yes, but why translate it a certain way when it makes sense to just place the comma in a different spot? The text doesn’t have commas, so in translating, we add the comma where we think it goes.
 
I’ll wager that if you looked at 8 diff translatiosn you’d get 8 different texts.
Doesn’t matter. He said what he said, and he did what he did,.
 
Kei said:
“I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise”

to

“I tell you today, you will be with Me in Paradise”.
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This translation makes sense.

The Catechism says :“HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN” interprets the Creed in this way:

CCC 637 In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven’s gates for the just who had gone before him.

I do not know why the souls of the just would have to wait for the Resurrection to enter Heaven. If they had, however, the alternate punctuation of what he said would explain what the Lord meant by the passage recorded in the Gospel.
 
I think that the baptism of blood refers to martydom and I don’t see the good thief as a martyr. Maybe a baptism of desire.
 
Elf01 said:
I think that the baptism of blood refers to martydom and I don’t see the good thief as a martyr. Maybe a baptism of desire.
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You’re right. I’ve been confusing terminology lately.
 
pianistclare said:
He said he’d be with him that day in heaven, and I totally believe he was
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I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Our Blessed Lord stated ‘Paradise’ and not ‘heaven’ for a reason. Perhaps because: “No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man”…Our Lord did not ascend into heaven until 40 days after His Resurrection.
 
On this very topic, Ambrose of Milan reminds us,

"It has not been left to be appraised according to man’s ideas on the subject, but has been entrusted to the divine judgment."

So there is no point in man speculating. All will be revealed to us when God deems it appropriate.

Pax et bonum!
 
It is at Christ’s death rather than at the ascension, that the sun went dark, the earth shook,
Matt 27: 52 The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. 53 After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many.
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This is amazing to me, I often wonder about the reactions of the witnesses and what happened to these good people following these events.

The good thief (now known as St Dismas) was promised that he would be with Jesus in paradise; that very day he received full pardon for his sins. The Church lists his feast on March 25 (most often date of death is the assigned date if available).

CCC on the Apostles’Creed, when Christ Descended into Hell:
633 … "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell. “Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.
634 “The gospel was preached even to the dead.” …
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The priest’s comments in the article confirm the importance, and great gift of the sacraments, for a person close to death. The “Apostolic Blessing” and the plenary indulgence associated with faithful Catholic practice are a great encouragement.

I heard once that a person in the state of grace, who at the moment of death embraces it as God’s will, receives a similar grace as that of a martyr for the faith.

Good St Dismas. An example of “the last shall be first and the first shall be last.”
 
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I heard someone explain once that the actual word used in the original language wasn’t the word for Hell, Hell. They meant more like the place where the prophets, Moses, St. Joseph, King David, all the Holy Jewish people who followed the religion with love and fidelity who died before Our Lord came ,and even St. Joseph, were waiting for Our Lord to open the gates of Heaven for them. It wasn’t Satan’s hell I believe. Then again, I may be wrong! It makes sense to me though, because why would St. Joseph be in hell, hell you know?
 
guanophore said:
The thief admitted that he was receiving the “just punishment” for his sins. So it may be that the temporal punishment was the purification he needed.
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This is the correct answer IMO. As the Catechism says with regard to punishment:

“When it is willingly accepted by the guilty party, it assumes the value of expiation.” (CCC 2266)

It is in Purgatory where our sins are expiated, if not done in this life (see e.g. CCC 1475).
 
mdgspencer said:
This priest explains how the good thief could have been freed from the purification of purgatory before entering heaven.
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THE
DOLOROUS
(SORROWFUL)
PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS

CHAPTER LIX

A Detached Account of the Descent into Hell :

I beheld a bright and beautiful space opposite to Limbo; it was enamelled with flowers, delicious breezes wafted through it; and many souls were placed there before being admitted into Heaven after their deliverance from Purgatory. Limbo, the place where the souls were waiting for the Redemption, was divided into different compartments, and encompassed by a thick foggy atmosphere. Our Lord appeared radiant with light and surrounded by angels, who conducted him triumphantly between two of these compartments; the one on the left containing the patriarchs who lived before the time of Abraham, and that on the right those who lived between the days of Abraham and St. John Baptist. These souls did not at first recognise Jesus, but were filled nevertheless with sensations of joy and hope. There was not a spot in those narrow confines which did not, as it were, dilate with feelings of happiness.
Continue-
http://www.jesus-passion.com/THE_PASSION6.htm#CHAPTER LIX
 
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