Episode Transcript  

One

The Revealing Fire

Let’s begin this meditation on Purgatory with a very interesting passage from St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:11, Jesus is the foundation on which “you can build in gold, silver and jewels, or in wood, grass and straw, but whatever the material, the work of each builder is going to be clearly revealed when the day comes. That day will begin with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If his structure stands up to it, he will get his wages; if it is burnt down, he will be the loser, and though he is saved himself, it will be as one who has gone through fire. 

So here’s the image: People are bringing their gifts to the altar. And when they place their gifts on the altar, fire will be applied to the gift, to test it, to see what kind of a gift it really is. Some of the gifts will be really valuable, they’ll be gold, silver, and precious stones. And when those are put in fire, what happens? The fire will only make it glow more brightly and beautifully. But other gifts will be fake, worthless. Wood, hay, or straw. Maybe they’ll be disguised as something valuable. Like a crown cut out of cardboard, and painted a shiny gold. Or a little round pieces of wood, painted to look like silver coins. So what will happen when those are placed on the altar, and the fire is applied to it? St. Paul says those gifts will be “burned up.” They won’t last. They’ll go up in smoke, and be revealed for the counterfeits they are.

And what about the person who dared to present these fake gifts before God? Mercifully, St. Paul says that such a person will be saved. But only as by fire. And that’s where purgatory comes in.

Two

The Superficial Christian

So many people put on a good show. They talk the talk of the faith. They’re really into being Catholic. But the truth is, their faith doesn’t go very deep. They don’t really live that differently from faithless people. They look at bad sexual images on the sly, they gossip about people behind their backs, they’re habitually cranky with their spouse and kids, they watch the same trashy shows and news as everybody else, and they almost never spend time in meditation. 

People may think they're impressive, and they might even start believing it themselves. But the truth is, they’re pretty mediocre and even phony. So when the day of judgment comes, they’re going to have all these shiny, spray-painted gifts, the supposed virtues that everybody’s always been so impressed by, and then they’ll come before the fire of divine truth, and POOF! Everyone will see through the smoke and mirrors they’ve constructed.

So, what then? Well, then, even if their gifts to God have been burned up, they can still be saved. But now the fire that exposed the emptiness of their gifts has to be turned on us. Now we have to be purified of everything that is fake and empty in ourselves. The place of purification, or “purgation,” is not surprisingly called “Purgatory”

Three

Pain of Sense

Traditionally, there are two kinds of suffering that happen in Purgatory. The first suffering is called the “pain of sense,” and one way to think about it is simply 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. Your 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. And it is painful.

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 from your addictions now. Don’t put it off. Because we’re just putting off happiness. 

Four

Pain of Loss

The worst suffering of Purgatory isn’t the detox. The worst suffering is realizing the opportunities you’ve lost. 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

You don’t have to go to Purgatory

We don’t have to go to Purgatory. In other words,  we can be purified of our addictions, our disordered attachments, or vices, and we can mature in love here on earth. That is actually where we are supposed to do it, in this life. So, if you want to skip purgatory, here is what the saints tell us to do: Receive Jesus as often as you can in the Eucharist. Spend time with him in friendship in daily meditation, and have a resolution you actually practice. Do a brief examination of conscience each day and then go to Confession at least once a month. Love the people God placed in your life. Love means to think well of them, speak kindly to them, and do good for them. And remove any near occasion of sin, any person, place, thing, or situation that puts you in real danger of committing sin. It’s the moment just before you fall. Remove that!

Finally, accept whatever you did not choose, do not like, and cannot change. This is God purifying you! Make the habit of these things, and God will transform you, and you will have done your Purgatory here, like we are supposed to! Plus, you will be infinitely happier and more at peace here!

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