THE
PAINS OF PURIFYING LOVE: A Reflection on Purgatory
By
Herbert B. Rosana
Today we commemorate the souls in
purgatory. In a solemn manner we are led to remember the memory of our departed
loved ones. The Holy
Scriptures, the teachings and customs of the Church teaches us that there is a
soul that after the physical death of the body this soul continues to exist and
awaits the resurrection of the body and the last judgement day. Some people especially those who are not
Catholics cannot imagine the idea of purgatory.
But I would think that the Holy Scriptures has given ample proof of
the existence of place, as something of an interregnum before the last
judgement day. In I Peter 3:18-19 it
says:
"For Christ
also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might
bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the
spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in
prison,"[i]
It
was also reported that after Jesus’ death on the cross, many who were dead have
been seen again in Jerusalem, “They
came out of the tombs after Jesus' resurrection and went into the holy city and
appeared to many people.” Matthew 27:53[ii]
This
interregnum between life and the last judgement day is a continuation of
life. Jesus rebukes the Sadducees for
their unbelief in the resurrection of the body.
In fact Jesus said that they were in grave error as far as their views on the the resurrection
of the Body was concerned. The scriptures would have
not referred to God as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of
Jacob if these were dead men. Jesus
revealed to us that God is not the God of the dead but of the living. Thus
to an extent the Scriptures teaches us about punishment, temporal and
eternal. Temporal punishment refers to
the natural consequence of wrongdoings.
God forgives us and saves us but as a natural consequence we have to pay
for the consequences. And the parable of
Jesus aptly describe this thus:
Luke 12:59 –“I say to thee, thou shalt
not go out thence, until thou pay the very last mite.”[iii]
Our prayers for the dead will benefit
only those who are in purgatory and this prayer that we offer for their relief
in some way open the door for the prayers of this souls to help us too as we
walk in this perilous journey of life.
Since the early days of the Church, this idea has been supported as we
read in 2 Timothy 1:16 – “The
Lord grant unto him to find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many
things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou very well knowest.”[iv]
Here
are also some quotes from the early church fathers that shows us that prayers
for the dead were practiced by the early Christian Church:
St. Basil the Great [+379] “O Christ our God...(who) on this
all-perfect and saving Feast, art graciously pleased to accept propitiatory
prayers for those who are imprisoned in hades, promising unto us who are held
in bondage great hope of release from the vilenes that doth hinder us and did
hinder them ... send down Thy consolation... and establish their souls in the
mansions of the Just; and graciously vouchsafe unto them peace and pardon; for
not the dead shall praise thee, O Lord, neither shall they who are in Hell make
bold to offer unto thee confession. But we who are living will bless thee, and
will pray, and offer unto thee propitiatory prayers and sacrifices for their
souls”[v]
"The Holy
Sacrifice (Eucharist) of Christ, our saving Victim, brings great benefits to
souls even after death, provided their sins (are such as) can be pardoned in
the life to come."[vi]
As we honor and commemorate the memories
of our dead, let it not simply be a social event of meeting friends in the
cemetery but let it be a solemn moment of prayers and quietness. A wish and prayer that the souls of the
departed will find peace. Let us offer
our masses and our sacrifices and pains for the relief of the souls in
purgatory. For we all die in hope and in faith.
This is our assurance. But for
those who died in the absence of faith, let us hope that in the recesses of
their hearts they should have found the light of God. For God is a merciful God and we can never
set a limit to His Generosity and Mercy.
Amen.
[i] NASB
[ii] New
International Version
[iii] Douay-Rheims Bible
[iv] Douay-Rheims Bible
[v] Isabel
F. Hapgood, Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church
(Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, Englewood, New Jersey, 1975, 5th
edition), p. 255.
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