Embracing the Flames

As a convert to the Catholic Church, there were some doctrines with which I had to wrestle and study before understanding and accepting them. One of those doctrines was the whole matter of purgatory. The Bible clearly states, “it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27, RSVCE) Where did the Church come up with this whole notion of purgatory? Isn’t it a sort of “I can live however I want, but will get a second chance after death” kind of notion?

As I’ve come to grasp more of its meaning, though, I have seen that this doctrine is not a free pass to heaven. It is a furthering of the process begun on earth, as we strive to become more and more like Jesus, and less and less like Adam.

There is an argument that this is impossible. After we die, we are judged, and that is the end. No more second chances. Yes, that’s true. The path we have chosen to live on this earth still leads us only one of two places: eternal punishment or eternal reward. But since we only stop living mortally when we die, we are still very much spiritually alive! In the same way, our journey to heaven doesn’t stop with our last gasp of breath in this realm. At the moment of death, we do not suddenly become saints. We either lived as a saint, a sinner, or an unrepentant sinner. Therein lies the difference between immediate welcome into heaven or another step along the trek to eternal bliss.

While we may strive to become holy throughout our lifetime, if we are honest, we know we often fail in that endeavor. Purgatory is just what the name implies: a purging of the remnants of Adam, so that there is “less of me and more of Him.” Those who have become saints (whether canonized or not) are those who lived in constant awareness of who they were and who Jesus is, and continued to allow Him to purge out “them” and replace that with more of Him. A continuous openness to the Holy Spirit’s searching and probing. Death cannot change what we lived or became in mortal life. But it can take us to that place where God’s work in us can be completed, before we step fully into the presence of the One who is all-holy.

I’m so thankful for grace that keeps cleansing me and never stops until that moment when I experience the beatific vision: my Lord and Savior, face-to-face.