A person can enter heaven with a scant “black mark” on his soul as was the case with the good thief. The good thief admitted that he was a sinner and yet Our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ said that he would be in paradise that very day in spite of his past sins. There was no mention of purgatory for the good thief. It was only declared that he would be in paradise that very day.
EWTN Catholic Q&A
The Good Thief
Question from John Gregory on 06-20-2002:
Dear Father,
Do we know where the Good Thief was within 24 hours of his death? I have always been confused on that. Some people try to use this to say there is no purgatory. Meaning he was a real bad sinner but went to heaven as soon as he died. Do we know for certain that Jesus was talking about “this day” the way we think of it. And I glanced at another question and hope I am not repeating it but do we believe the good thief was enjoying the fullness of the beatific vision when he died? To me I am not sure what to think. On the one hand he REALLY went strait to the source we can be assured Jesus meant what He said but do we know what He meant? The Good Theif stood up for Jesus when many others would only be thinking of themselves with good reason of course. He was suffering immensly and still stood up for Jesus. That is faith. On the other hand he was a great sinner and he was not exactly a martyr for Christ I do not think. So he had to pay for his sins. Is it possible that after standing up for Jesus the suffering and death the Good Thief underwent may have eliminated his purgatory time?
All that being said wouldn’t he have had to wait until Easter Sunday so to speak instead of right after he died? Or did Jesus go strait to the land of the dead and set the good free, strait to heaven on Friday evening? Sorry for all these weird questions. You are so knowledgable I figured if something could be known you would know it.
Omnia pro Jesu per Mariam John
Answer by Fr. John Echert on 06-21-2002:
The Gospel of St. Luke records the repentance of the thief on the cross:
23:39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 23:40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 23:41 And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 23:42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 23:43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Some have raised the matter of purgatory with regards to this repentant thief. However, this man died a saint and merited the reward of heaven without the experience of purgatory. How so? The man had truly repented of his sins, asked forgiveness and made a profession of faith in the presence of others, not to mention a rebuke of the other thief who continued to revile the Lord. And he accomplished the sufferings due to his sins on the cross itself and so in the judgment of the Lord there remained no further need for any purgation. For his crucifixion was the just punishment due for his crimes and it was a terrible form of punishment. He was literally impaled upon a cross, no doubt after some form of torture, and he continued to hang in such agony and with public humiliation as an additional component. Finally, in order to hasten his death, his legs were broken while he still lived so that he could no longer support the weight of his own body and would suffocate to death. What a horrible way to spend ones last hours. Most of us would probably choose whatever purgatory consists of, even without knowing, rather than submit to such a barbaric, horrific end of our lives here on earth. This man paid the price, or rather, the Lord paid the price and this man embraced his own suffering as a share in it, thereby making it redemptive and purgative. But even beyond these considerations, the Church has always taught that anyone who dies after baptism without any subsequent personal sin is granted access to heaven immediately, without purgatory. In the case of the Good Thief, his confession of Christ would be the equivalent of a baptism in Christ, and so no purgatory is warranted. ©
The Church Fathers understood the promise of Paradise to the repentant thief mean heaven; more recently, Pope Paul VI wrote the following in commenting upon the Creed:
“We believe in eternal life. We believe that the souls of all those who die in the grace of Christ—whether they must still make expiation in the fire of purgatory, or whether from the moment they leave their bodies they are received by Jesus Christ into Paradise like the good thief—go to form that People of God which succeeds death, death which will be totally destroyed on the day of the Resurrection when these souls are reunited with their bodies.”
The Pope has affirmed that Paradise means heaven. As to “today,” I take that to mean from the moment of the death of this man, presuming he died after Christ, since the gates of heaven were opened only with the death of Christ on the cross. Further, keep in mind that time has no real meaning in heaven, so this thief began to experience the presence of God upon his death.
Thanks, John
Father Echert
COPYRIGHT 2002
www.ewtn.com
(reprinted with permission)
