Purgatory has a bad rap. Often it is considered synonymous with hell, and it is quite the opposite. Purgatory is not in Satan’s domain. Even when people understand that, they often label it as one of those “weird Catholic things.”

Let me ask you a question. Consider if, while you are reading this blog – heaven forbid – you were to have a fatal stroke. Are you ready to enter heaven right now? Put another way, what would you think of heaven if it were filled with people as they are at the moment (forgiven but carrying the weight of a lifetime of sin)?

You may be a saint and therefore good-to-go on immediately entering heaven. For me, being a saint is a goal to strive for – the Catholic Church calls on each of us to be one. I am not proud to report that I am still struggling to get there. If I die right now, I need something between where my soul is at the moment and where it must be. I do not want to lower the standard by entering heaven as I am!

The fix for this problem is purgatory. The word is related to “purge,” and its function is to cleanse us of the temporal remnants of the sins we have committed. Those who enter purgatory will enter heaven. It is cause for great relief! All this is, of course, totally foreign to my Protestant upbringing but is something that really clicked when I understood it.

I like to think of purgatory as a very special hospital. One in which 100% of the patients will have a successful outcome — guaranteed. However, like all hospitals, the treatment may be uncomfortable, and your stay will be as long as necessary. No one looks forward to a hospital stay.

In the old days the Catholic Church tried to figure out a formula for how long that stay might be. The truth is, no one knows. Nor do they know how painful it may be. However long it is, it is finite. In the scope of eternity it is but a moment.

Wait you say – stop right there. If I have been saved and am going to heaven, then are not my sins forgiven? Yes, absolutely. However the sins you committed, while forgiven, have left a scar on your soul. Sometimes this is compared to a nail driven into wood. The nail represents sin, and the wood is your soul. When the nail is removed (forgiven) it leaves the hole which represents the lasting damage. When you look back on the sins you have committed, forgiven though they are, how does that make you feel? That is what I am talking about.

Our time in purgatory may be mitigated through several avenues. One is the power of prayer. Do you believe that your prayers for someone in the hospital are heard? This is the same thing. There are also things we can do (e.g. good works) – or suffer – in life which have a curative effect on our soul. This makes complete sense to me.

Catholics give sin a lot of thought. When God created the world He created a paradise free of sin. In that world, God placed Adam, then Eve. He gave them free will and clear instructions. Life was good. Good until Satan succeeded in tempting Eve. That changed everything.

God could have just given up at that point. Yet, as undeserving as we are, He didn’t. Instead God sent us an instruction manual for life in the commandments. He loves us so much that he even sent His son to directly teach it to us. If that were not already enough, Jesus freely suffered a horrible death as punishment for our sins. Jesus died so that we do not have to.

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.

John 8:51

This is the greatest gift we could ever get. In return, we are only asked to love the Lord and each other. We sometimes fail and that is sin.

Sin does not hurt God. He is disappointed but His love is infinite. Sin hurts us. When we give in to the devil’s temptations, we may think we benefit in some way but we do not. What we are doing is distancing ourselves from God or even breaking our relationship with Him. Catholics call these venial and mortal sins respectively. Mortal sins are grave sins, that we know are sins and deliberately commit anyway. They are mortal because they are a spiritual death by our separation from God.

We can sin in several different ways. It can be overt by what we say or do. It can be less obvious to others (not to yourself or God), but equally damaging, by what we think or fail to do. All sins put a heavy weight on us. They are a burden to our soul.

I know that much of this is familiar to all Christians. Some, like my friends Nick and Mike, take it to heart, avoid temptation and are truly sorry for their slips. That is good and will help them to live a Christian life and obtain salvation. On the other hand, some think they are saved by simply proclaiming their belief in Jesus (without the inconvenient necessity of living as He taught). Yet others believe a general corporate confession as part of their Sunday service will cover it without having to face the uncomfortable specifics.

Catholics believe you must clearly understand what are sins, face yours head-on and repair your relationship with God. There is no easy out or glossing over the shameful facts! You not only maintain a state of grace by doing this, but over time strengthen your defenses to temptation. This might be “uncomfortable” but is spiritually very healthy and required if you hope to actually live as a Christian.

Venial sins – a damaged but unbroken relationship with God – may be forgiven in several ways, including saying an act of contrition, the use of a sacramental (such as praying the Rosary or blessing oneself with holy water) or other acts of sincere repentance. They may also be repaired by receiving Communion – which Catholics do at least every Sunday at Mass (unless they have committed mortal sin and are thus not in a state of grace). The catechism says:

Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ increases the communicant’s union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also reinforces the unity of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ.

CCC 1416

Mortal sins – a broken relationship with God – must generally be repaired through the absolution received in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (confession). This is the subject for my next post (update, see: Confession, getting out of deep trouble).

People often say Catholics have too many rules. In truth, these rules only push you to live the Christian faith you profess. As a Christian you must live as Jesus taught anyway, and the Catholic Church helps you to do that. This makes it easier, not harder, for me.