Purgatory

God's waiting room? A dentention center or demi-hell? For centuries, artists, theologians and the faithful have been trying to attach images to our transition from this life to eternal life with God. In searching for a way to describe the mystery of this process, some used the image of gold being purified in fire, which then led for many to the notion of the physical pain experienced in burning flames.

The Catholic Church does teach the reality of purgatory. Let's look at how the Catechism describes it:

"All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1030)

 Some points to keep in mind:

1. Purgatory is a transitional process, not a place.
2. The purpose of the process is to remove from us anything that still burdens us spiritually at the moment of death, so that we are ready to meet God face-to-face joyfully, without reservation or hesitation.
3. People 'in' purgatory are on their way to heaven. To put it another, highly un-theological way, they won't 'flunk a quiz' and go to hell.
   
4. The pain or suffering of purgatory lies not so much in physical torment as in the struggle of facing and letting go of those final sins and burdens, and the as-yet-unfulfilled longing to be united with God.
   
5. "Time" is a human invention; God lives outside of chronological time. 'Days' or 'years' in purgatory as we describe it may be as the blink of an eye at the moment of death, or may indeed be a longer period (no one's come back to tell us!).
6. We as Church have a long tradition of offering prayers and other means of spiritual support on behalf of those who have died, to assist them on their way. The custom of having Mass celebrated for the intention of the newly deceased, of saying other prayers and offering other sacrifices on their behalf speaks to our belief in the efficacy of prayer and in the reality of the communion of saints - our bonds with our brothers and sisters in faith are not broken in death.
7. (The system of indulgences, connected closely to the concept of purgatory, has, over time, been subject to misunderstanding and abuse... as Martin Luther clearly pointed out in his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. But that's a subject for another post!)