The Church Suffering

Hi all! I am sorry that it has been a more than a full week since I have last published an article; a lot has happened over the past week, the biggest thing being the death of my Great-Aunt Geraldine. Obviously, I was busy with all sorts of funeral stuff and so I just couldn’t find the time to pop on!First and foremost, I want to say thank you for all of you who have started to follow my page and I pray that you find some form of fulfillment from my articles and other zany things! If you feel so inclined, feel free to share this page with your friends! You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram.

Anyways, moving on! So this article I am writing is going to be about Purgatory. Since my Great-Aunt’s death, this has been on my heart and soul.

So what is Purgatory? If you speak to non-Catholics, they will tell you that it is this made-up fantasy world that Catholics have and that there is only Heaven and Hell. They say that Purgatory is not found in the Bible. That; however, is complete false. First, let us look at what the Catechism teaches:

All who die in God’s grace, 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 (1030)

This tells us that that if we die in God’s grace, we are assured of our salvation, though we must repay what we have taken from the Lord. “But nothing unclean shall enter [heaven]” (Rev 21:27). We are to be made clean by the Lord.

So, where is Purgatory in the Bible? Here you go:

Matt 5:24-25 “Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny.”

Jesus is explicitly telling us that if we sin, even if we are friends with our accuser, we are still held accountable to our sin. But notice that our Lord tells us that we will indeed get out of prison after the penny has been paid. We must “do time” for our sins. Those that are venial at least . . .

Well, what distinguishes sin? What makes certain sins lesser than that of others? We have the doctrine of Mortal and Venial Sins. Mortal sins being sins that warrant immediate judgement into Hell upon death (if we die without confessing them); and Venial sins being those sins that are forgivable, but ones that we have to repay.

Jesus lays this idea out here:

And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come (Matthew 12:32).

So what does this all mean for us? Well, we as the Church Militant, have the obligation to pray for those that are part of the Church Suffering (Purgatory). These poor souls that are suffering can no longer do works for themselves, need our prayers. I love to think that if we pray for souls into Heaven, we receive our own personal saint to intercede for us before the King of Heaven. Imagine your loved ones suffering in the Holy Fire of Purgatory being released into the Kingdom of God. Beautiful. Pray for the Holy Souls!

Let me offer something from my experience with my Great-Aunt’s death and funeral. My Great-Aunt by far did not lead the best life. She was pretty much insane really and she did some horrible things, but I believe that there was a certain purgation that she went through in her final years (she was put into a home and suffered greatly there). I hope and pray that she was somehow able to reach into the Fires of Purgatory so that I may pray for her soul. At first, the government (she was legally in their care) did not want to give her a funeral (it was “too expensive”). I pretty much went ballistic. A Catholic, regardless of their life and as long as it doesn’t cause scandal, is entitled to a Catholic funeral. I fought tooth and nail for this funeral and I won. If you have a loved one that is Catholic and the family is contemplating to not give them a proper Catholic burial, fight for them. They deserve it. What of her life? I pray for her soul. I pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I pray that she receives Eternal Salvation. I pray that even the most hardened sinner may receive conversion to God and that I’ll see them in Heaven (I always joke that maybe Hitler didn’t commit suicide, rather that he was killed, and he experienced a great conversion to the faith, and maybe I’ll see him in Heaven someday). We must pray and seek the conversion of souls. We must do anything to help others to avoid the damnation to Hell. How joyful it is to win but one soul for God.

I hope that you enjoy this and I pray that you’ll take up praying for the souls in Purgatory. I know that I rambled in this article, but perhaps there is some Truth weaved in there that you can find helpful.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. Fidelium animae, per misericordiam Dei, requiescant in pace. Amen.

-John Paul