There is nothing quite as bittersweet as a funeral for a family member or close friend. Flowers and hymns, laughter and tears, eulogies recalling the grace, wit and wisdom of the departed are de rigueur for all - except the deceased.
These traditional and sentimental accouterments are for the ones left behind, the ones stunned with grief and sorrow. They are meant to comfort and console, and that's a good thing, a much needed thing. Yet the prayers and platitudes that suggest the departed's instant bliss and immediate entry into heaven come with no guarantee. Can that be hazardous to the health of the soul?
Many Catholics consider purgatory passé, along with hell and other negatives; others barely give it a mumble. While it's certainly appropriate for us to feel optimistic about our salvation and that of our loved ones, it might be tempting to adopt the attitude that this "halfway house" is nothing more than medieval Catholic thinking and, as such, should be tossed into a spiritual rubbish bin.
Unfortunately, the current crop of counterfeit visionaries who claim to have been given visions of purgatory where wailing souls suffer unspeakable torment and agonies horrific enough to scare a pope, have helped turn people off to its reality.
Consonant with disbelief in such an unspeakable place, is the notion that since it does not exist, the departed souls do not need our prayerful assistance after all. But make no mistake. The Church clearly teaches there is such a state of purification, and it is essential for souls who led less than a perfect life on earth. It can be likened to heaven's entry hall, one stop in an elevator going up to the penthouse, a detour along the road to paradise, or an adjacent dressing room in which to clean up before attending an elegant and eternal banquet.
Aside from the scriptural references to purgatory, and the papal statements reiterating its reality, great saints have written about it not as a place of fire and torment, but as St. Catherine of Genoa cheerily assures us, "Apart from the happiness of the saints in heaven, there is no joy comparable to that of the souls in purgatory. There, the incessant communication with God grows more and more intimate, and according to the impediments of that union ( the rust and remains of sin ) are consumed."
Still, for all the lovely comfort in Catherine's words, the souls are still in dire need of our prayers to catapult them out of the stopover place of purification, and hurled into eternal bliss with the creator. St. Thomas More took this to heart when he wrote, "Pray for me, and I for thee, that we may merrily meet in heaven."
Although there is no assurance that neither we, nor the ones who have preceded us, "will go right up," purgatory, with its salvational promise of cleansing and deliverance in preparation for the ecstasy of the Beatific Vision, is meant to encourage deeper belief in God's love and mercy, and the guaranteed happiness that awaits those for whom he has prepared a place.
Jane L. Sears is a freelance writer and member of Our Lady of Angels Parish, Burlingame.
