Episode Transcript  

One

“As Long as I get into Purgatory”

Yesterday, on the Feast of All Saints, we were reminded of a truth at the heart of the Gospel: every human being is created and called by God to become a saint. Yet life can wear us down. We can grow weary and settle for spiritual mediocrity, saying to ourselves, “As long as I make it to Purgatory, that’s good enough.”

But that attitude reveals a deep misunderstanding, not only of the Christian life, but even of what Purgatory actually is. Because if we truly grasp what Purgatory is, it won’t make us complacent. It will awaken us. The thought of Purgatory should not make us content with half-measures, but more serious about holiness.

Two

Who Will You Be after the Battle?

When we start to talk about purgatory, it’s maybe not bad to begin by reminding people that the Christian life is a spiritual battle. Jesus said, “Think not that I have come to bring peace, but the sword,” and St. Paul spoke of fighting the good fight. 

There are always three kinds of people after a war, and that’s true after the struggle of this life. There’s the Hero, someone who gave all they had, left it all on the field, who made amazing sacrifices and ran incredible risks for his cause. The Heroes of holiness are the Saints. And again, that’s what we’re all supposed to be. There’s the Traitor, someone who joins the other side, betrays his family, his people, those who love him, and fights for the enemy. After this life, the traitors, those who have served the devil in fighting against God, the Church, and human goodness itself…those are the ones who go to the side they have chosen. They retreat to Hell, along with their masters. Finally, there’s the Cowards, they don’t rebel against the cause, but they spend most of their time trying to stay safe on the battlefield, worrying about their own comfort, safety, or glory.

So what happens to the cowards? They may be saved, but they must endure the shame and the suffering of purgatory. 

Three

Pain of Detox

Traditionally, there are two kinds of suffering that happen in Purgatory. The first suffering we could call the pain of detox. All our sins, all our addictions, keep us from being happy. That’s why alcoholics and sexaholics and drug addicts, guess what? They’re not happy.

So if you brought your vices, your disordered desires and thought-patterns into heaven, you wouldn’t be happy and heaven wouldn’t be heaven for you. You’re only hope is to go through God’s rehab program. And rehab hurts. Ask anybody who’s tried to get over a physical addiction, tried to get the sickness out of their flesh. Then remember that in purgatory, you’ve got to get the sickness out of your soul. You’ve got to burn out the resentment, you’ve got to sweat out the self-centeredness, the vanity…, you’ve got to go through the shakes and the DTs until you can let go of the complaining and the denial about all the people you’ve hurt.

It’s gonna hurt because the pain of the soul is far greater than any physical pain. God’s rehab center is a mercy. But trust me, you want to spend as little time there as possible. You want to get free now. You want to be happy now. You want to get out of your addictions now. Don’t put it off.

Four

Pain of Loss

But the worst suffering of Purgatory actually isn’t the detox. The worst suffering is realizing the opportunities you’ve lost for helping our loved ones and friends to heaven. 

Do you remember in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, where the ghosts of rich men hover around a homeless woman and her child, and the ghosts scream in agony because it would have been so easy for them to have helped her. And now it’s too late. There’s nothing they can do. Or did you ever see Schindler’s List? At the end, the main character realizes how easy it would have been to have sold his car, or his watch, and saved the lives of more human beings. But now it’s too late. He missed his opportunity. 

In purgatory, you’ll realize that you could be with God right now. And you’ll see how you could have helped your children, and your friends, and strangers, it wouldn’t have taken much, just a little faith and a little sacrifice, and you could have saved them from so much misery. But you didn’t do it. You chose your own comfort, your own pleasure, your own will. And you left them to suffer. And now it’s too late. You can’t go back; you missed your chance. You will not be able to help that way ever again.

And you will see the suffering you could have prevented, and you will wail.

Five

Helping Others Through Purgatory 

While we are still on earth, we have time to help our family and friends to God, and we are even able to help those in purgatory. The Catechism (1032) reminds us that by our prayer, especially by offering the sacrifice of the Mass, by offering up our sufferings, by giving money to the Church and the poor, and by indulgences, we can help people in Purgatory to more quickly reach Heaven. We can, in a sense, speed up their purification process.

Helping souls in purgatory is a win-win proposition because once we help them get to heaven, they can turn and help us in an even greater way. CCC 958 Our prayer for the souls in purgatory is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.

So, let’s make a deal with those who have gone before us, I’ll help you by offering prayer, work, joy, and suffering, and then you help me, because I need a lot of help!

Let’s offer this decade for a loved one or friend who has died and gone before us. And then let’s offer our prayer, work, suffering, or even joys for them throughout the day.

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