Florida Catholic | Bishop Wenski's Column

Belief in Purgatory helps Catholics maintain hope, trust in God’s mercy

NOVEMBER 9, 2007

“We believe in eternal life. We believe that the souls of all those who die in the grace of Christ — whether they must still make expiation in the fire of Purgatory, or whether from the moment they leave their bodies they are received by Jesus into Paradise like the good thief — go to form the People of God which succeeds death, death which will be totally destroyed on the day of the Resurrection when these souls are reunited with their bodies” (Pope Paul VI, “The Credo of the People of God,” 28).

Though November is the next to the last month of our calendar year, it does invite us Catholics to reflect on what spiritual writers have called the “Last Things.” These Last Things, of course, are Death, Judgment, Heaven (for many, if not for most of us, via Purgatory) and Hell.

Oftentimes in the past, it might have seemed that these spiritual writers wanted to “scare us” into heaven. Today’s emphasis on the mercy of God more than on his justice is certainly a welcome shift. Nevertheless, if the older approach may have led some sensitive souls to despair of their salvation, the other might unwittingly lead some to presume it. However, our faith if well grounded in Church doctrine teaches us to avoid both despair as well as presumption.

Both despair and presumption are sins against the virtue of hope. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (CCC, No. 1817).

Our belief in Purgatory — the final purification of the elect — helps us Catholics to remain firm in that hope — thus avoiding both despair and presumption. Despair is contrary to God’s goodness, to his justice — for the Lord is faithful to his promises — and to his mercy. Because there is a purgatory, we need not despair of our own or our loved ones’ personal salvation if when we die we still fall short of the perfect holiness required to enter into God’s presence. And while guarding us from despair, our belief in purgatory also protects from falling into presuming that we can save ourselves — without the help of God’s grace — or that we can obtain forgiveness without conversion, or grace without merit (Cf. CCC, Nos. 2091, 2092).

During the month of November, conscious that our baptism unites us all — living and dead — into one communion of Saints, let us not neglect our departed loved ones for the “suffrages of the living faithful are of advantage to them, namely, the sacrifices of Masses, prayers and almsgiving and other works of piety” (Council of Florence).

As we pray in the Roman Canon: “Though we are sinners, we trust in your mercy and love. Do not consider what we truly deserve, but grant us your forgiveness. Through Christ our Lord.”

Return to the Diocese of Orlando Front Page