S
Sparkling_water
Guest
When my father died we knew that he had cleansing to do before he could enter the eternal kingdom. But we believed that once he was completely free of sin, he would be in heaven. It has been two years since my father died and I noticed my family (mom especially) use the language that he is in heaven. In fact she used it almost right away. I think we say “they’re in heaven” because it comforts us… But we really don’t know how long it takes to free our souls from sin. The other piece to my question is, a non-Catholic relative, kept insisting to my mother that dad was just “sleeping.” Mom had great difficulty with this and very confidently said, “No… He is is in Heaven.” Yet Father says this during mass… Those who sleep in the hopes of rising again… I don’t understand this? I want to believe that our souls/spirit,once completely free of sin, will be in heaven. Yet I don’t understand this “sleeping”. Where might my dad’s soul be? IS he in purgatory, heaven or “asleep” in his coffin? (Like mom, I really don’t believe that either.) Thank you for helping me understand (as much as I can) about this great mystery.