What is this business about Purgatory?

There has been great confusion of a great many things in the Catholic Church over many years, and Purgatory would certainly be one of the disputed questions. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.

The scriptural evidence relates to a cleansing fire as noted in 1 Cor 3:15, and 1 Peter 1:7. The word "purgatory" is never used in the Bible, but the noted passages point to a purging or cleansing effect that transpires.

In trying to relate this topic to others, I find it very helpful to think of the following scenario. Imagine for a moment that someone steals $100.00 from a devout, faith-filled Christian. The person reads the Bible and therefore has a deep and profound knowledge of the ways of Christ. He remembers that it is appropriate to turn the other cheek and strives to forgive without condition. Putting these things into practice, he forgives the thief, not only does he forgive the thief, but rather he is not at all concerned about the $100.00. He wrote it off as a loss. He is so profoundly inculcated with the teachings of Christ, that the next time he meets the thief, he does not let the past transgression cause any barriers but only truly and deeply reflects the love of Christ. Even though the thief expresses concern, the Christians only response is, "Don't worry about it, it is over, I forgive you". (This seems to reflect perfectly Christ's attitude toward our sinfulness.) I believe that this expresses a dimension of God's infinite mercy towards us. Mercy after all is the heart of the law.

The repentant thief on the other hand is awed by the response of the Christian. He cannot get over his magnanimity. He himself is so moved by this Christian's response that he begins to study assiduously the Sacred Scriptures. He is moved by the great mercy that God shows to His people. He also notes that in addition to God being infinitely Merciful, God is also infinitely Just. He becomes convicted by this and pays back the Christian whose money he had stolen in full. The Christian graciously accepts it, knowing as well the demands of God's Justice, and by accepting this token, this act of receiving the $100 will indeed help the reformed thief to grow towards perfection.

God is infinitely merciful, and also infinitely just. Purgatory is the place that affords the faithful and those who have been saved by Jesus' victory over sin and death the opportunity to make restitution of sorts for what the Church would call, the temporal punishment due, as a result of sin. Purgatory is not a "second chance".

Another image that may be helpful is that Purgatory is like a screened-in porch. A child, after playing in the mud comes home. The parent is, shall we say, not a happy camper and says to the child, "you are not stepping one foot into this house until you can get all that mud off you (the mud by analogy is the temporal punishment due to sin). The child is not cut off from the home, he or she is just not fully able to take advantage of all the benefits of a warm cozy home with all its amenities, like heat or air-conditioning. The good news is that the child has arrived home safely. After some period of cleansing or purging, the child will be received into the full comfort of the home.

Other Questions
Is there a real binding obligation to attend Mass on Sunday? In the Catechism of the Catholic Church it states that Catholics have a "grave" obligation to attend Mass on Sunday's (Saturday after 4pm suffices for the Sunday Mass, even if it is a wedding Mass) and on Holy days of obligation. Clearly if one forgets a Holy Day, they are not held culpable for the sin.

Does the Eucharist, the host at Mass, really only represents Jesus and is not His true presence? Statistics point to an alarming number of Catholics who believe that the Eucharist is merely symbolic of Christ and not His Real Transubstantiated Presence. The Eucharist is Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus who is Lord both now and Forever.

Does the Catholic Church worship Mary? The Catholic Church does not worship Mary. In antiquity the Greeks did draw distinctions. The Greek word for adoration or worship is something like latria, they said that those who are with God, the saints should not be worshipped, but should be respected. The word they used to talk about this kind of respect was dulia, since Mary was the first disciple of Jesus and a preeminent follower, a special respect is due, but certainly not worship, the word they used to describe this type of respect is hyper-dulia. This is not worship. A story that may help understand why special respect for Mary is seen as imitated by the Master, Jesus Christ. Jesus was a good Jew and obeyed the Jewish Law. Part of this law is the ten commandments, also known as the Decologue. The fourth commandment states that One must Honor thy Father and Mother. Jesus being a follower of the law would have given special respect to His mother. (This is illustrated in the story of the Wedding at Cana in John's Gospel [2:1-12]) So Christians are to imitate Christ, so therefore it is not unreasonable to respect Mary the same way Jesus Himself respected her. This is not meant to be a proof, it is merely intended to suggest that there is indeed something special about the person who was the mother of God, Jesus Christ.

Can Divorced Catholics receive the Sacraments? Yes, if they are not married outside the church. There are many situations where for the safety of parties involved, which could extend to both physical safety and emotional health, the sad reality of separation may be the prudent choice. The "Sin" would not necessarily be the divorce, but the act that would keep a Catholic from receiving the Sacraments would be when the divorced person enters into a new sexually active relationship without receiving an annulment which would recognize that there was no sacramental marriage from the beginning of the relationship.

Is the only reason for conjugal relations in a true Catholic Marriage to have children? No! There must be an openness to life regarding all conjugal relations (no use of artificial means to prevent conception), but the conjugal life is to be both open to life (procreative) and unitive (it brings the spouses together). The pope in his reflections on the theology of the body relates how every human being longs for communion, in marriage the conjugal act is indeed a great blessing and a great gift to the husband and the wife in their married life. A great resource and website: www.giftfoundation.org

If you have enough money, can anyone can get an annulment? A person's financial status has no bearing in a legitimate case brought before the marriage tribunal. It is conceivably possible that a corrupt official of the church may have claimed to grant an annulment as a quid pro quo arrangement, but this is not how it works. The church asks the persons involved to help defray the cost of the annulment, but if they are unable to do that, the case would still be pursued. Typically the incurred cost of an annulment is but a fraction of the legal proceedings that result from a divorce. The Church profits nothing financially from the annulment proceedings. Feel free to contact the Marriage Tribunal with further questions 219-422-4611.