By Catholicism Columnist, Faith Addington
One of the beliefs that sets Catholicism apart from other sects of Christianity is the belief of purgatory. Purgatory occurs after particular judgment – the judgment of the soul by God after bodily death – and before entering into heaven.
Purgatory is the process of purification for the souls of those that are elected to enter into eternal life with God, but need to attain the holiness necessary to join into perfect union with God. One cannot enter into full union with God in the afterlife without first being liberated from the control and influence of sin and being made pure because anything that is impure cannot be made one with God, a being who is completely perfect.
Now, there are certain arguments that believe after particular judgment, should God decide that we are to enter into eternal life with Him, God would immediately purify our soul so that we could enter into immediate union with Him. However, this cannot be the case for three reasons. The first reason is that this sudden transformation from a sinful state to the state of perfection required for eternal life would be too profound and extreme for our souls to tolerate. Secondly, one would not recognize their own self because they would not be themselves. God would have transformed them instantaneously into someone they did not recognize by improperly eliminating sin. The final reason that immediate purification cannot occur is that it would completely negate the purpose of freewill in the human lifetime. If God could sanctify humans immediately after particular judgment without one cooperating freely in their own sanctified nature with the help of divine grace, there’s no reason why God wouldn’t just sanctify humans on earth now. This would undermine and shortcut the authentic maturation of the soul as well as freewill gifted to humans by God. He wants humanity to choose life with Him, not simply be given eternal life.
This Catholic belief is what gives foundation to the important practice of praying for the dead by offering prayers, almsgiving, indulgences and other works of penance. Take these next few minutes to offer up a prayer for your brothers and sisters in purgatory, that they might be freed from their sin and able to join our Heavenly Father in heaven.
The Saint 