What Is Purgatory?

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mrs_abbott

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As a Catholic, purgatory was always something that was taught as the “last resort” cleansing of the soul before you could enter Heaven, meaning if you died and had some venial sins then you went to purgatory to cleanse your soul so that you could enter Heaven. We were also taught that purgatory was like Hell, only difference is that it’s known to be temporary, unlike Hell, which is permanant.
Was anyone else taught this or something similar to this?
 
mrs_abbott said:
As a Catholic, purgatory was always something that was taught as **the “last resort” **cleansing of the soul before you could enter Heaven, meaning if you died and had some venial sins then you went to purgatory to cleanse your soul so that you could enter Heaven. We were also taught that purgatory was like Hell, only difference is that it’s known to be temporary, unlike Hell, which is permanant.
Was anyone else taught this or something similar to this?
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I wasn’t raised in the Faith, so I don’t have any childhood impressions of being taught about Purgatory. However, as an adult now fairly well educated in the Faith, I would agree with all of your description except that which I’ve highlighted above.
 
I thought I’d jump in with my own simplistic view of it before one of the more scholarly folks gives you the correct theological answer. That way, if I’m off base, they can correct me.

I was brought with the overall impression that purgatory was like prison, where you served your sentence as a form of punishment for sins. But now I view purgatory more as a state of being rather than a place. Purgatory is a place where we are “cleansed”, but that is vague, so I view it as a process whereby we let go of sinful habits. For example, if I am a selfish person, going to confession doesn’t make me unselfish, but the painful process of falling and getting back up - hurting others, seeing my selfishness and its affects on others, apologizing, making amends, trying again… Ridding oneself of a sinful habit or tendancy is painful and it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s like dealing with a drug or alcohol addiction. It takes many painful steps. Purgatory is the place where we deal with those sin areas that aren’t dealt with here on earth. How it happens, I don’t have a clue, but I suppose I will have to find out. 😦
 
mrs_abbott said:
As a Catholic, purgatory was always something that was taught as the “last resort” cleansing of the soul before you could enter Heaven, meaning if you died and had some venial sins then you went to purgatory to cleanse your soul so that you could enter Heaven. We were also taught that purgatory was like Hell, only difference is that it’s known to be temporary, unlike Hell, which is permanant.
Was anyone else taught this or something similar to this?
Click to expand...
As an RCIA Candidate, I found this web site quite helpful…

purgatory.ca/purg.php
 
I can tell you one reason why so many were taught that Purgatory was like hell. The book, Purgatory: Explained by the lives and legends of the Saints by Fr. F.X. Schouppe is downright scary. In it, he talks about the saints who have had visions of both hell and purgatory. He writes that the sufferings of those in purgatory exceed anything we could imagine on earth. Several of these visionaries thought that purgatory was hell until it was explained to them that it was not. One person wrote that “*he arrived at a large deep valley of immense extent, all fire on one side, all ice and snow on the other; on the one hand braziers and caldrons of flame, on the other the most intense cold and the blast of glacial wind. This mysterious valley was filled with innumerable souls, which tossed as by a furious tempest, threw themselves from one side to the other. When they could no longer endure the violence of the fire, they sought relief amidst the ice and snow; but finding only a new torture, they cast themselves again into the midst of the flames” * pg 43.

Obviously this is not an official teaching of the Church and we are never required to believe in any private revelations, but this could definitely be the reason that some Catholics were taught that purgatory is a very unpleasant place.
 
I once heard it explained that Purgatory was Purification and that there was no suffering. I don’t know if that’s completely appropriate; it seems like purification would bring suffering to some degree.

I guess my understanding is that Purgatory perfects us, ridding us of all the flaws we have upon the moment of death. Whether or not that’s painful, I don’t know. It couldn’t exactly be like Hell, though, could it? I mean, I’ve heard it said that the souls in Purgatory have more joy than souls on Earth simply because they know they will make it to Heaven. That alone should make it immensely better than Hell, even if there is pain as a result of the purification process.
 
KindredSoul said:
I once heard it explained that Purgatory was Purification and that there was no suffering. I don’t know if that’s completely appropriate; it seems like purification would bring suffering to some degree.

I guess my understanding is that Purgatory perfects us, ridding us of all the flaws we have upon the moment of death. Whether or not that’s painful, I don’t know. It couldn’t exactly be like Hell, though, could it? I mean, I’ve heard it said that the souls in Purgatory have more joy than souls on Earth simply because they know they will make it to Heaven. That alone should make it immensely better than Hell, even if there is pain as a result of the purification process.
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I agree with you. The knowledge that you are going to be with God eventually is certainly better than the despair that must come with hell. I wanted to clarify too that just because I quoted that book, doesn’t mean that I believe everything in it, just that this may be why the op had always been taught that purgatory is like hell. I’ve also learned through various readings that a theory is that the ‘pain’ involved with purgatory is completely spiritual and comes with the knowledge that you know who God is, but that you cannot be with Him yet. I’m sure there are lots of different theories…
 
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