When Questions on "Purgatory" arise

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Pope Benedict’s encyclical on “Christian Hope” in which he included thoughts concerning “Purgatory” is a “good read” for “Apologetics”. Due to CA word limit two paragraphs from the encyclical are shortened:

1. Some… theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The encounter with Him is the decisive act of judgement. … The judgement of God is hope, both because it is justice and because it is grace. If it were merely grace, making all earthly things cease to matter, God would still owe us an answer to the question about justice—the crucial question that we ask of history and of God. If it were merely justice, in the end it could bring only fear to us all. The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two together—judgement and grace—that justice is firmly established: we all work out our salvation “with fear and trembling”… Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to meet the Judge whom we know as our “advocate”…
2. A further point … Early Jewish thought includes the idea that one can help the deceased in their intermediate state through prayer … belief that love can reach into the afterlife … in which our affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death— has been a fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout ages and remains a source of comfort … a further question arises: if “Purgatory” is simply purification through fire in the encounter with the Lord, Judge and Saviour, how can a third person intervene … When we ask such a question, we should recall no man is an island… lives are involved with one another, … No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone… lives of others spill over into mine… conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse… my prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person… not even after death. In the interconnectedness of Being, my gratitude to the other—my prayer for him—can play a small part in his purification. And for that there is no need to convert earthly time into God’s time: in the communion of souls simple terrestrial time is superseded. It is never too late to touch the heart of another, nor is it ever in vain. In this way we further clarify an important element of the Christian concept of hope. Our hope is always essentially also hope for others; only thus is it truly hope for me too. As Christians we should never limit ourselves to asking: how can I save myself? We should also ask: what can I do in order that others may be saved and that for them too the star of hope may rise? Then I will have done my utmost for my own personal salvation as well.