Purgatory…What is it like?
If like me you’ve often wondered what Purgatory might be like. Naturally, during this month of the Holy Souls, we may be drawn to ponder the supernatural reality which lies ahead.
Think of how great it is to have one’s young children back in the house after they’ve been playing outdoors. They come inside “stinking of fresh air” (as my mother used to say, God rest her soul) and in need of a bath. Parents are delighted to have the children back inside. However, before bed, the washing and the cleansing of the face and body has to take place. Children, young ones especially, are almost angelic when they are freshly washed and scrubbed from the dirt of the day.
I think that’s how the Lord sees us. There must be a process of purification after death. We are all His little ones and He wants us to be spotless again. Just as infants who cannot wash themselves without help, so too, will we need help. Thus, the Holy Souls need us to pray and offer sacrifices for them. As a result we will speed up their final journey to heaven.
Guidance from Pope Benedict XVI:
Proof of this can be found in the book: “God and the World: Believing and Living in our Time” by Pope Benedict XVI and Peter Seewald. Pope Benedict XVI states:
“With regard to turning out right, which is what we all hope for despite all our failures, Purgatory plays an important part here. There will be few people whose lives are pure and fulfilled in all respects. And, we would hope, there would be few people whose lives have become an irredeemable and total No. For the most part, the longing for good has remained, despite many breakdowns, in some sense determinative. God can pick up the broken pieces and make something of them. In any case, we need a final cleansing, a cleansing by fire to be exact, in which the gaze of Christ, so to speak, burns us free from everything, and only under this purifying gaze are we, as it were, fit to be with God, and able, then, to make our home with Him.”
Let us befriend the Holy Souls especially for the most forgotten souls and those most in need of God’s mercy.
