All of life is preparation for the final four things: death, judgement, heaven or hell.
The other day, I heard on the radio, the discussion of the Church militant (here), the Church suffering (in purgatory) and the Church triumphant, (in heaven). In November, we should be spending energy and time and devotion on the Church suffering.
Consider how hard life here can be at moments –when a heart is broken, when you get bad news, when you mess up at work or a friend does, when you’re lonely, when the news cycle tears away at the soul. Yet here is not the church suffering.
How hard the divide of waiting for that reconsiliation with our Lord, with all of love, with all of Heaven must be. Purgatory is often misunderstood so I decided to check with the experts about the nature of the experience. From the catechism:
1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.604 The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. the tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:605
As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.606
In ages to come, the thought of waiting when in this life, we’ve become so accustomed to God’s mercy through the sacrament of confession, indicates the fundamental difference between the time we spend now, and the eternity we prepare to experience.
It made me ponder how we should procede. We have a few months left of this year of hope. We ought to use them in this month of November when we pray for the souls of the departed, to acquire indulgences for them. For those unfamiliar, here are a few ways such a gift can be procured. Our goal should be to empty purgatory, to fill heaven with souls cascading with joy by our cooperating with God’s grace in this moment in time.
To gain an indulgence one must:
- Detachment from sin: Have complete detachment from sin, even venial sin.
- Sacramental Confession: Make a confession within 20 days before or after the day you perform the pious work.
- Holy Communion: Receive Holy Communion.
- Prayer for the Pope: Pray for the intentions of the Pope. An Our Father and a Hail Mary are suggested.
- Pilgrimage: Make a pilgrimage to a designated Jubilee site, such as the Cathedral or other special churches designated by the local bishop.
- Pious visit: Make a pious visit to a Jubilee site and engage in activities like Eucharistic adoration or meditation.
- Works of mercy: Perform a work of mercy, such as feeding the hungry, visiting the sick or imprisoned, or praying for the living and the dead.
- Perform acts of penance: Engage in acts of penance like participating in a public novena, a Stations of the Cross, or receiving Eucharistic processions.
- Offer up suffering: For those unable to go on pilgrimage due to illness, age, or other serious reasons, you can unite yourself spiritually with pilgrims and offer up your sufferings or hardships. This includes reciting prayers like the Our Father and the Creed.
- Participate in missions: Attend missions, spiritual exercises, or formation activities.
It is both easy and effort to receive an indulgence. If one only fulfills some of the requirements, one obtains a partial rather than penetential indulgence but these too, are of great merit to our souls, and those of the Church suffering. Love is always about giving more than you expected, more than you knew you could. Love is infinite, so it always calls us to the infinite.
What all of this does, is remind me, that writing is one of my missions. So I must return to my mission. Pray for me, I’ll pray for you. We’ve got a lot of work to do.
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