From an article in Patheos On-line Magazine.<\/p>\n
How to Explain Purgatory to Everyone<\/strong> One of the most responding, human impulses that St. Paul describes in his letters to the early churches is the idea of wanting to do what he doesn\u2019t do. The want to do something other than what we do and, sometimes, the mere want to want. \u00a0Purgatory is like this.<\/p>\n I\u2019m reading a book right now by Reformed philosopher and theologian James K.A. Smith called You Are What You Love. In it, Smith takes a decidedly Catholic approach to orienting our lives towards God. In the course of the book, he refers to a 1979 Russian film called The Stalker. It\u2019s an admittedly obscure film depicting the journey of three men in a post-apocalyptic world, trying to reach something called The Room\u2014a place in which their innermost desires will be fulfilled.<\/p>\n After a harrowing journey the three stand on the cusp of The Room in a place called The Zone and, suddenly, have what Smith describes as some serious reservations.\u00a0 What if what we really desire in our hearts isn\u2019t what we should desire?\u00a0 What if what lies behind that door, in The Room, uncovers our secret, hidden wishes? The true call of our heart that we didn\u2019t even realize was there?\u00a0 Because The Room reveals to us\u2014gives to us\u2014what we desire most; what we love the most.\u00a0 Even if we don\u2019t know it.<\/p>\n This is a picture of purgatory.<\/p>\n In the teaching of the Catholic Church, we believe that God doesn\u2019t simply wave a magic wand when we die and make us fit to live, with Him, in Heaven.\u00a0 In Heaven no imperfection can exist\u2014nothing but perfect love\u2014and, with that, no remorse, no wishful thinking, no hesitation or changing our mind.<\/p>\n Our loves and desires are perfected and oriented towards God. The Ultimate Perfection. The Ultimate Love.<\/p>\n Enter purgatory.<\/p>\n In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, purgatory is described as this, Like our characters\u2019 hesitation to complete their journey and reveal the true loves of their heart in The Stalker, we too pause at the precipice of Heaven\u2014we must\u2014before we can charge the gates because when we die we\u2019re not perfect, despite the very real sacrifice of Christ.<\/p>\n While we\u2019re certainly saved, by Christ alone, we still have our hurts and hang-ups, don\u2019t we? We still sin, and become frustrated, and like St. Paul, do things we do not want to do.\u00a0 And we want to do better.\u00a0 And, sometimes, we simply want to want to do better, and on those days when I\u2019m a miserable, sorry mess, I\u2019m absolutely unfit for Heaven even if my salvation\u2014my faith in Christ\u2014remains utterly unshaken.\u00a0 I surely want to be perfect, but I\u2019m not. This is purgatory: What St. Paul, and the Church, calls a kind of slow burning fire to purify us of whatever we\u2019re still hanging on to.\u00a0 To orient our desires fully to Christ\u2014to ensure that what we really love is God and when we open the door to The Room it\u2019s God on the inside.<\/p>\n Ultimately, how we explain purgatory is simple.\u00a0 God can never bend our will. He refuses to wave a magic wand and change who we are because that would negate our ability to exercise free will. Instead, God designed a process to help slowly and surely transform us into images of Himself. This is life; this is the goal of our everyday existence on earth. A way to finish the job, on the precipice of Heaven, so once we enter into those lofty gates what we love is, ultimately, what we should love and we can enjoy eternity in the presence of God without hang-ups, hurts, or hesitation.<\/p>\n Read more at http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/albertlittle\/explain-purgatory-everyone\/#yVdM9MrtRR62FhcW.99<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From an article in Patheos On-line Magazine. How to Explain Purgatory to Everyone OCTOBER 17, 2017 BY K. ALBERT LITTLE One of the most responding, human impulses that St. Paul describes in his letters to the early churches is the idea of wanting to do what he doesn\u2019t do. \u201cFor what I want to do, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-deacons-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olqu.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olqu.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olqu.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olqu.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olqu.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olqu.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487,"href":"https:\/\/olqu.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions\/487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olqu.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olqu.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olqu.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOCTOBER 17, 2017 BY K. ALBERT LITTLE<\/p>\n
\n\u201cFor what I want to do, I do not do,\u201d Paul writes in his letter to the Romans.
\nIn this, Paul captures something so profound that scholars and poets alike have spent the last two millennia working to unpack it.<\/p>\n
\nAll who die in God\u2019s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven (1030).
\nPurgatory is that which makes us fit for Heaven.<\/p>\n
\nIf I were to die on one of those days, or even on a good day, would God simply wave a magic wand and make all my insecurities and struggles vanish the second I kicked the bucket? \u00a0The Catholic Church says no.<\/p>\n
\nAnd this, too, is the purpose of purgatory.<\/p>\n