Why fear purgatory?

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AlanFromWichita

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Why do we pray for “suffering” souls in purgatory?

Isn’t purgatory where souls get final cleansing for heaven?

Once they get to heaven, don’t they have an eternity?

So why does purgatory get such a bad rap?
 
I have always been told that the reason we pray for souls in purgatory is so that their time there could be lessened, and that our prayers for them would help them be with Jesus sooner. I believe that we should not fear purgatory, because if we make it there that gurantees we make it to heaven.
 
I like the distinction you’re making. 🙂

They may be temporarily suffering, but it is not anything to fear.
 
The suffering in purgatory is an absence of God. They are yearning to be purified so that they can enter the kingdom of heaven.
 
Those in purgatory suffer more pain than they possibly could when they were here on earth. Sometimes their suffering is so great that time is distorted (an hour may seem like a month)

Saint Anthony tells the story of a sick person who suffered so atrociously that he considered it beyond human nature and thus continually prayed for death. One day, an angel appeared to him and said, “God sent me here to offer you a choice. You can spend one year of suffering on earth, or one day in Purgatory.” Choosing the latter, he died and went to Purgatory.
When the angel went to console him, he was greeted with this groan of pain, “Deceitful angel! At least twenty years ago, you said that I would spend only one day in Purgatory . . . My God, how I suffer!”
To this the Angel responded, “Poor deluded soul, your body is not even buried yet.”

True or not, these stories help us get a true sense of the sufferings in purgatory.

americaneedsfatima.org/Articles/the-real-truth-about-purgatory.html

read and learn
 
I picture purgatory to be like boot camp. Not the most pleasant experience, but you need it.
 
AlanFromWichita said:
Why do we pray for “suffering” souls in purgatory?

Isn’t purgatory where souls get final cleansing for heaven?

Once they get to heaven, don’t they have an eternity?

So why does purgatory get such a bad rap?
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Why fear Purgatory? No reason that I can think of.

However, purgatory should not be seen as a goal either. The Goal must remain heaven and to acheive that we must pursue heavenly perfection in this life. We must seek to be perfected in Love and not think, “Well I’m good enough to get into purgatory”.

Purgatory is the safety net for those who (like myself) have not achieved that perfection when they die. The purgation then completes the necessary purification.

Fr Corapi once said - And I paraphrase here - "Don’t aim for purgatory. If you aim for Heaven and miss, you’ll likely land in purgatory. If you aim for purgatory and miss, it’s a long long fall into the abyss.

Peace
James
 
Thank you for all your answers.

It seems most of us don’t really “fear” purgatory, but we believe there is suffering, even through feelings of separation, when there.

Alan
 
AlanFromWichita said:
Thank you for all your answers.

It seems most of us don’t really “fear” purgatory, but we believe there is suffering, even through feelings of separation, when there.

Alan
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read this book and all your questions will be answered - tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/694

purgatory is something to fear because, for one, it can be avoided, and also, it is real pain like we have never felt, and why is that? well i can’t explain it entirely, because it is a spiritual place and cannot be understood or explained by our physical world, but we know by(as is explained in that book) the visits to the saints from the souls in purgatory, and by what the bible says on it, that it is indeed a place of extreme agony,
we cannot say or believe reasonably that the spirit cannot feel pain like the body can, because we simply have nothing to base that idea off of, but from what the saints have witnessed, we atleast have reason by that to believe it is really and truly pain like we know now, only intensely worse, since they cannot die.

the basic truth of it is, being that it is a spiritual place which we cannot analyze or examine, all we have to go by is what we have been told by either God, those in heaven, or the actual souls in purgatory,
and so what have we been told? here is a book for free online, which you can also buy, called “Read me or rue it”, and it will also explain many things, including what some souls in purgatory have to tell us - 2heartsnetwork.org/ReadMeorRueit.doc

and here are two others by the same author -
2heartsnetwork.org/PURGATORY.doc
2heartsnetwork.org/HowtoAvoidPurgatory.doc

it’s true that the separation from God is much more an immense suffering for the souls in purgatory, but the inflicted pain they go through is still far worse and immense than anything we could ever go through on earth…well, to better understand it just read those books, they are not very long, and they will explain it much better then i can :3

ok hope this helps, take care.
 
EmeraldWings said:
read this book and all your questions will be answered - tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/694

purgatory is something to fear because, for one, it can be avoided, and also,** it is real pain like we have never felt, and why is that?** well i can’t explain it entirely, because it is a spiritual place and cannot be understood or explained by our physical world, but we know by(as is explained in that book) the visits to the saints from the souls in purgatory, and by what the bible says on it, that it is indeed a place of extreme agony,
we cannot say or believe reasonably that the spirit cannot feel pain like the body can, because we simply have nothing to base that idea off of, but from what the saints have witnessed, we atleast have reason by that to believe it is really and truly pain like we know now, only intensely worse, since they cannot die.

the basic truth of it is, being that it is a spiritual place which we cannot analyze or examine, all we have to go by is what we have been told by either God, those in heaven, or the actual souls in purgatory,
and so what have we been told? here is a book for free online, which you can also buy, called “Read me or rue it”, and it will also explain many things, including what some souls in purgatory have to tell us - 2heartsnetwork.org/ReadMeorRueit.doc

and here are two others by the same author -
2heartsnetwork.org/PURGATORY.doc
2heartsnetwork.org/HowtoAvoidPurgatory.doc

it’s true that the separation from God is much more an immense suffering for the souls in purgatory, but the inflicted pain they go through is still far worse and immense than anything we could ever go through on earth…well, to better understand it just read those books, they are not very long, and they will explain it much better then i can :3

ok hope this helps, take care.
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The soul has greater range of feelings than does the body. Therefore, the soul can experience pain beyond what the body can and the soul can experience joy beyond what the body can.

I don’t remember where I read that. I may’ve even gotten that from the aforementioned Purgatory book.
 
Why fear Purgatory? No reason that I can think of.
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Not to pick at you or anyone, but this attitude seems to be the growing norm, and this is not good.

Personally, I am terrified of going to purgatory. I know it’s guaranteed heaven, but think of the greatest pain you’ve ever felt. That pain is nothing close to what you would feel in purgatory. The pain in purgatory is constant, not periodic. Also, you can go there for years…years and years…years and years and years and years.

So as for me, I’ll do penance for myself, for the souls in purgatory and for others. I’m aiming for heaven because I love God, but also, screw purgatory. I’m not willing to be there for a minute, and I hope one day it can be empty.
 
It sounds like purgatory is something to be avoided, but I don’t know where this teaching comes from.

Personally I am fascinated by St. John of the Cross, because I think part of what we go to purgatory to do can be done while here on earth, in the form of purgative contemplation.
 
AlanFromWichita said:
It sounds like purgatory is something to be avoided, but I don’t know where this teaching comes from.

Personally I am fascinated by St. John of the Cross, because I think part of what we go to purgatory to do can be done while here on earth, in the form of purgative contemplation.
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Purgatory, I believe developed from a couple of scriptural references. First is in 2 Macabees 12:44-46., where Judas Maccabee prays for the the dead and encourages others to do so. The other is a reference in 1 cor 3:10-15 where Paul speaks of each mans works being tested as by fire.
Without a belief in the ability for God to “purge” sins after death, there is no reason for Macabees to pray for the dad, and no reason for Paul to allude to a “trial by fire”. This purging then must take place between heaven and hell, and the name given by the Church to this place (or state) of purgation is “purgatory”.

See the Catachism for more information.

Peace
James

Peace
James
 
This thread shows a very Western view of Purgatory. The Eastern (specifically Byzantine is what I’m referring to) Catholics have a very different view of our time in between death and Heaven. They call it the Final Theosis, and it is a time where, while there is suffering, there are are also moments of powerful joy. We should not fear it, but in fact look forward to it.

Prayers of the dead are still efficacious to those undergoing the Final Theosis.
 
If I make it, you will hear the loudest “whew” in Salvation history:o
 
Marc_Anthony said:
This thread shows a very Western view of Purgatory. The Eastern (specifically Byzantine is what I’m referring to) Catholics have a very different view of our time in between death and Heaven. They call it the Final Theosis, and it is a time where, while there is suffering, there are are also moments of powerful joy. We should not fear it, but in fact look forward to it.

Prayers of the dead are still efficacious to those undergoing the Final Theosis.
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Could you expand on this a bit, please?
 
Marc_Anthony said:
This thread shows a very Western view of Purgatory. The Eastern (specifically Byzantine is what I’m referring to) Catholics have a very different view of our time in between death and Heaven. They call it the Final Theosis, and it is a time where, while there is suffering, there are are also moments of powerful joy. We should not fear it, but in fact look forward to it.

Prayers of the dead are still efficacious to those undergoing the Final Theosis.
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This is interesting - and enlightening. There are obviously different ways of viewing this, “Final Theosis”, or “Purgation” or “Sanctification”. In fact I suspect thamt many of our protestant brethren believe in some sort of purgation, they would simply express it differently.

Peace
James
 
Personally, I don’t understand the cavalier attitude so many have towards Purgatory. The fact is, we do not have to go to Purgatory. Become a saint here - maybe a martyr! - and you will not have to go there, or will go for only a short time. It just seems wrong to take the attitude of, “Well, I guess I’ll keep offending God in minor ways while I’m here, but in the end I’ll go to Purgatory and it won’t be that bad.”
On another day a good priest, showing [St. Lydwine] a vessel full of mustard seed, said : “Indeed, I should be happy not to undergo more years of Purgatory than there are seeds in that pot!”
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" What is that you are saying!" she cried. “Do you not then believe in the mercy of the Messiah? If you knew what the torments of that place were, you would not speak like that!”
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Now this ecclesiastic died some time after and several persons, who had been present at this conversation, enquired of Lydwine for news of his fate.
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“He is well,” she said, “because he was a worthy priest ; but it would have been better for him if he had had a firmer faith in the virtue of the Passion of Christ, and if he had had during his life a greater fear of Purgatory.”
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(From “St Lydwine of Schiedam” by JK Huysmans)
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OK, it is private revelation and secondhand and from the Middle Ages. Still, the lesson stands: it is better to entrust ourselves to the mercy of God and work wholeheartedly for our sanctification than count on spending time in Purgatory. Otherwise it seems like we don’t care that we are offending God or we don’t really believe that He has given us enough grace to avoid Purgatory if we are faithful to it.
 
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