The Great Woe of Having Dismissed the Knowledge of Purgatory

David Martin | The Daily Knight

A great woe of our time is that with rare exception our Catholic clergy no longer speak of the reality and pains of Purgatory. Many now dismiss it as a myth. Many of today’s funeral Masses have been reduced to farewell ceremonies where they celebrate ‘the salvation’ of the departed.  

This obnoxious attitude reflects the loss of the awareness of our accountability for sin. Clergy and laity seem to have forgotten that we will be evaluated for every thought, word, and action of our life when we stand before God in judgment, so that if there remain any sins or faults that have not been completely expiated we will have to pay our dues over the veil.

The Church infallibly teaches that there exists in the next life an infernal realm of banishment and suffering for those who did not properly cleanse themselves upon earth. This infernal prison is what we call Purgatory, signifying a purging place where souls are cleansed of imperfections by means of fire and bleak longing before they can enter into their eternal reward. St. Augustine says, “This fire of Purgatory will be more severe than any pain that can be felt, seen, or conceived in this world." (xli, De Sanctis on Purgatory)

St. John Vianney tells us, “How dearly we shall pay for all those faults that we look upon as nothing at all, like those little lies that we tell to amuse ourselves, those little scandals, the despising of the graces which God gives us at every moment.” (Sermon on Purgatory, St. John Vianney)

The Council of Trent affirms that “There is a Purgatory, and that the souls detained there are aided by the suffrages of the faithful." (Session XXV) That souls must atone for their sins is seen in Christ's preaching that we "Do penance" (paenitentiam agite, Matthew 4:17), which not only signifies contrition, but the punishing of past sins by fasting and penitential exercises in order to satisfy for them.

The Bible

It is for reason that the people of God even from the Old Testament have always prayed for their dead, in keeping with Holy Scripture: “It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” (2 Machabees 12:46) The Book of Ecclesiasticus says, “A gift has grace in the sight of all the living, and restrain not grace from the dead.” (Ecc. 7:37) That is, do not withhold from them the grace of your prayers and sacrifices.

As we understand it, the souls in Purgatory are completely helpless in that they cannot pray for themselves or plead their own cause in any way. The only satisfaction they can make is to endure this slow burn and undergo the fierce torment and longing in the fires of Purgatory, which could last twenty, fifty, a hundred years, or even longer. St. Catherine of Siena says, “They endure pain so intense, that no tongue is able to describe it. Nor is any mind capable of comprehending the smallest spark of that consuming fire, unless God should show it to him by a special grace.”

The Reality of Indulgences

However, we can gain indulgences for the poor souls to either release them from Purgatory or to shorten their stay there. An indulgence is defined as: “The remission of the temporal punishment due on account of our sins which have been already pardoned as far as their guilt is concerned – a remission accorded by the Church outside the sacrament of Penance.” (Catechism of Pius X)

There are two kinds of indulgences: plenary and partial. A partial indulgence remits only part of the temporal punishment due to sins committed, so that the rest must be remitted in Purgatory if not properly atoned for on earth. A plenary indulgence remits the entire punishment due to one’s sins, so that were he to die upon receiving the indulgence he would go straight to Heaven with no Purgatory in between.

November is the month of the holy souls in Purgatory and from November 1 to 8, the faithful are provided with an effective means of immediately releasing up to eight of these souls from this infernal underworld. That is, they can gain a plenary indulgence for a soul in Purgatory whereby he or she is immediately released to behold the face of God.

What is required for this indulgence is that one visit a cemetery and offer any prayer of his choice for a departed soul along with prayers for the pope (one Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be is the typical formula used). One can visit a cemetery each day within this octave to gain a plenary indulgence for eight departed souls. The condition for receiving this indulgence is that one must have gone to confession and received Communion within eight days before or after visiting the cemetery and must have a complete detachment from all sin. 

There are souls in Purgatory who made a perfect confession while on earth and completely detached themselves from every stigma of sin, but because the remainder of their life did not give them sufficient time to make up for their sins, they still had to endure the rigors Purgatory as a temporal punishment for these sins. 

This is where a plenary indulgence kicks in. If a soul has years of temporal punishment to endure for confessed sins, a plenary indulgence cleans it up immediately. Upon death, he at once enters Heaven with no Purgatory in between.

Seen in that light, a plenary indulgence is a bit too good to be true, but it is true because Christ gave the powers of the keys to Peter (and his descendants) to immediately pay for the temporal punishment due for sins committed. If a plenary indulgence is gained for a soul in Purgatory, he is immediately loosed from his Purgatorial binding.

It is important to remember that while the souls in Purgatory cannot pray for themselves they can pray for us. Their gratitude for easing their pains by our prayers is beyond our imagination. If we release even one of them we will have a loyal friend and saint at our side for the rest of our life to help us in all our spiritual and temporal needs. And if we release many, we’ll be surrounded by a team of grateful souls who will always be there to help us, especially in our spiritual journey on earth.

Plenary Indulgences Can be Gained for Ourselves 

It is good to point out that plenary indulgences can and should be gained for ourselves because we have no idea how much temporal punishment awaits us over the veil nor do we know when we are going to die. Listed below is a number of ways that one can obtain a plenary indulgence. Readers are encouraged to look these up online to get more detail on them.

• Plenary indulgence is attached to the Stations of the Cross

• Plenary indulgence is granted to those who in the solemn liturgy of Good Friday assist at the adoration of the Cross and kiss it.

• Plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who devoutly receive the Papal Blessing to the City and to the World (Urbi et Orbi), even if by radio or television.

• Plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who recite the Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart.

• Plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful for visiting a church or altar on the day of its dedication

There is also the plenary indulgence that can be gained by visiting the Franciscan Church of Portiuncula near Assisi, Italy, on August 1 or 2. The pope later extended this indulgence to all Franciscan Churches of Christendom. To gain the Portiuncula indulgence for oneself or a departed soul one must visit such a church, go to confession and receive Communion either eight days before or after the church visit, and recite the Apostle’s Creed, the Our Father, and another prayer of his choice for the pope’s intentions. To gain the indulgence one must be wholly detached from sin.

By a special decree of the Congregation of Indulgences of March, 9, 1904, His Holiness Pius X granted a plenary indulgence at the hour of death to all Catholics who, on any day they choose, will receive the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion and make the following act of love for God:

My Lord God, even now resignedly and willingly, I accept at Thy hand, with all of its anxieties, pains, and sufferings, whatever kind of death it shall please Thee to be mine.

To not avail ourselves of plenary indulgences could demonstrate pride and complacency. Materialism, acclaim, and worldly living have cultured a false security where even Catholics are under the illusion that they are packaged up for glory over the veil. People today are so careful about their health and beauty, going to great pains to eliminate any tumors or blemishes while the soul is full of blemishes and blotches! But when we die, the only thing God looks at is our soul, not our money, rank, acclaim, health, popularity, intelligence, academic skills, degrees, honors, or otherwise. When we stand before God we will be stripped of all these so that our soul is laid bare before him, placed under the divine X-ray as it were, so that if there remain any stigma of sin, any envy, anger, pride, ingratitude, self-admiration, stubbornness, coldness, untruthfulness, unkindness, self-love, indecent aspirations, or love of the flesh, these blotches will need to be rubbed out and burned off in the furnace of Purgatory.

And whereas many who bear these stains will have been decent Catholics who went to Church, respected Christ, and practiced a degree of charity among their fellow man, they also will have surrendered from time to time to these vices, and because they weren’t properly made up for in life the taint of sin remains as fuel for the purgatorial fire.

Purgatory is for the Redeemed

Purgatory then is for the members of Christ who die in a state of grace, not for those who are dammed through mortal sin (1 John 5:16). Christ rose from the dead that we too might rise from our earthly sepulcher and walk with Him in the path of holiness, but when we walk according to the world and allow the image of sin to leave its imprint on our souls this distorts the image of Christ in us and renders us unacceptable in His eyes so that we cannot abide with Him until we are first cleansed by fire.

Saved by Fire

St. Paul explains more clearly in 1 Corinthians where he says that the fire of God will try every man’s work. “Every man’s work shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide [in Christ], which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.” (1 Cor. 3:13-15)

By fire we will be saved, says St. Paul. The fires of Purgatory will consume and burn these unprofitable works from our being in a very painful process, like warts, so that we indeed will suffer the loss of them, having been attached thereto. But in the same process we will be separated from them and set at liberty so that we can finally enter into eternal life.

Purgatory then is an act of mercy on the part of God, for without it scarcely anyone could enter Heaven. Even the slightest spot or imperfection on our soul after death will keep us from entering into the company of God (Apoc. 21:27). Origen says, “If a man departs this life with lighter faults, he is condemned to fire which burns away the lighter materials, and prepares the soul for the kingdom of God, where nothing defiled may enter.” (Patres Groeci, XIII, col. 445, 448).

In the fourteenth century, Jesus told St. Bridget of Sweden:

“No one shall enter Heaven, but the one who has been purged like gold in the fire of Purgatory or who has proved himself over a long duration of time in good deeds on earth so that there is no stain in him left to be purged away.”