Purgatory - Cardinal Bacci

Purgatory

1. Purgatory is the masterpiece of God's justice and mercy. St. John tells us in the Apocalypse that nothing defiled can enter into the Heavenly Jerusalem. (Apoc. 21:27)

There are very few, however, who are privileged to arrive at the supreme moment of death still wearing their baptismal robe of innocence. Even the just man falls very often, as the Holy Spirit warns us. (Prov. 24:16) We all possess many failings and have been guilty of many sins, either mortal or venial. It is true that we can obtain forgiveness by penance and by receiving the Sacraments, but there still remains the temporal punishment due to our sins. Neither the small penance imposed by the confessor nor our own tiny acts of voluntary mortification are sufficient to satisfy our debt. We cannot be certain, moreover, that we shall be able at the hour of death to cleanse ourselves of all our sins by means of one good confession. Even if we appear before the judgment scat of God without any grave faults, there will still, unfortunately, be many debts to be paid and many imperfections to be purified.

What, then, will happen to us? The justice of God cannot admit us, imperfect and defiled as we are, into the everlasting happiness of the Beatific Vision. Will He reject us, therefore, even as He rejects those who die in mortal sin and are condemned to eternal punishment? This is unthinkable, for the mercy of God is as infinite as His justice. And so there is Purgatory, where the souls of those who have died in the state of grace, but still scarred with imperfections and burdened with debts to be paid, can find a way of purifying themselves and of making themselves worthy of an everlasting reward. Let us thank God for this gift, the last link in the chain of His mercies, which enables us to prepare ourselves for our entry into the Beatific Vision.

2. Devotion to the dead and the belief in a place of expiation and purification after death can be traced back not only to the early days of the Church but even to the dawn of the human race. Although Luther denied the existence of Purgatory, he was compelled to acknowledge the existence of this ancient and universal belief, sanctioned by tradition, by faith, and by human reason. This belief was already present among pagan people, as is attested by the better-known writers of antiquity such as Homer, Sophocles, Plato, and Virgil, and by ancient funeral inscriptions. Evidence of the belief among the Jews is found in Sacred Scripture, where it is related that, after he had conquered the worshippers of Jamnia, Judas Machabaeus collected twelve thousand drachmas of silver in order to have sacrifices offered for the dead. It is a holy and wholesome thought, adds the text, to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. (2 Mach. 12:46)

3. The clear testimony of the New Testament may also be invoked in support of this teaching. Jesus refers to sins which cannot be forgiven either in this life or in the next, (Cf. Mt. 12:31-32) from which the Fathers deduce that there are sins, namely those of a venial nature, which can be forgiven after death. St. Paul, moreover, speaks of imperfections which will be expiated and purged by fire after death. (Cf. 1 Cor. 3:10-15) Obviously, this cannot take place in Hell, but only in Purgatory. It would be impossible to cite here all the testimonies of the Fathers and of theological writers. Nobody can deny that they exist, however, for they combine to build up a tradition which the Council of Trent (Sess. XXV) gathered together when proclaiming the existence of Purgatory and the obligation of the faithful to pray for the dead who are expiating their sins there.

This is a very consoling doctrine. It is comforting to know that one day we shall find a way of purifying ourselves of all trace of sin and imperfection and that meanwhile we can be spiritually united with our departed loved ones and can help them by our prayers.