Purgatory

The Church, in her wisdom has many laid down activities that are celebrated either as Feasts, Solemnities, Memorials or Optional memorials. This time, the Church has decided to pay attention to an area where people do not always like to pay attention to. In the Catholic faith, we believe that the Church is divided into three, which are the Church militant (the living), the Church suffering (the holy souls in purgatory) and the Church triumphant (the saint). The church militants are people who are living like you and I, who have opportunities to amend their lives, making reparations for their sins and also praying for themselves. These set of people have lots of chances to choose the kind of life they want to live.

They have the privilege to enjoy the so-called free will and make decisions as they wish. The church triumphant are the saints, those who have washed their garments in the blood of the lamb, they are the ones being talked about in Revelation 7:14 “one of the elders asked ‘do you know these people? They are those who have come out of the great tribulations and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb”.

These people have suffered persecution, they have carried their crosses and at last they were given the crown of unfading glory. The Church sufferings are the Souls in Purgatory. The Bible says that once a man dies, after that comes judgement (Hebrews 9:27) and it also says that nothing unclean shall enter heaven (Revelation 21:27). Looking at the above quotations, it means that none of us can be saved without the grace of God because we have sinned against God in one way or the other.

The word purgatory is a state of purification since our God is all holy and he cannot behold anything that is sinful therefore every soul that must meet him must be purified and holy. Purgatory according to the doctrine of the Catholic Church is a state of purification whereby people who died in God’s grace make atonement for their past sins so that they can be fit to enter heaven. In purgatory, the punishment due to sins depends how great the sins are. It is not permanent but temporary.

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Those who go to purgatory cannot go to hell again. Purgatory was created out of the mercy of God. It is a place where those who die in venial sin go to. According to catholic doctrines those who die in mortal sin will go to hell, while those who die in venial sin will go to purgatory. They go to purgatory because such souls still have an opportunity to be cleansed from their iniquities.

The most painful situation for these souls is that they cannot help themselves. They depend on the living (The church militant) to pray for them. They have great power to always intercede and pray for us at all times. Since they cannot pray for themselves, the church in her wisdom has devised a means on how to help them. We are told to always pray for them. Like praying the Rosary, offering Masses, giving alms to the poor, reciting Stations of the Cross, making sacrifices and so on.

Most times when people die, we do not always remember to pray for them, the most important thing. Instead, we may begin to shed continues tears. Some people are so bitter that they refuse to be consoled while others focus more on externalities by spending so much on the burial celebration but only a few may sometimes remember that the dead member needs to be prayed for.

Some persons are buried in their houses while others are buried in the cemetery where they have no one to visit or pray for them. We should always remember that dead people are also members of the family; that is the more reason we should try as much as possible to remember to pray for them. These souls promise us that when they get to heaven they will not forget us. 

Souls in purgatory are called “Holy Souls” because they were able to die within the grace of God. They are those that have the opportunity of going to heaven. They can no longer go to hell they are on their journey to heaven, where they will be with God forever. When on earth, the try their best to live holy lives, they are also known as friends of God, the only problem they have is that they are not yet fit to see the face of God.

Souls in purgatory are at our mercy, we need to pray for them. As we have physical Doctors, and Nurses who look after the sick in the hospitals so also do we have the same in the case of these souls in purgatory. The illustration is that the place called purgatory represents the hospital where these souls stay until they are truly cleansed or purified and taken up to heaven. Who are these Nurses and Doctors? The Nurses and Doctors are human beings living on earth that are ready to offer prayers, do sacrifices and penance on their behalf for the release and relief of these souls.

Our pains and sacrifices always bring them comfort and healing. Furthermore, in 2 Maccabees12:44 it says “if we were not expecting that those fallen would rise again, It would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead” from the above scriptural passage we could see that to pray for the dead is not a waste of time. It is a habit we should imbibe or adopt so that those who have reached their places of rest can attain the rest they actually needed. Praying for the dead is one of the seven corporal works of mercy, it is not something that is out of place but rather it is our duty as Christians to pray for our beloved ones who have died.

Eternal rest grant unto them oh lord and let perpetual light shine upon them, May they rest in peace, Amen. The above slogan is used by those who have devoted their time, talent, resources, and energy to pray for these holy souls. They have now come together as a family and taken the name known as the Purgatorian Society.

They are identified as the friends of these suffering souls in purgatory and they have the privilege to enjoy their protection while on earth. Due to their pains and sufferings, those praying for them are able to enjoy some privileges like answered prayers, protection both physical and spiritual. Whenever you are been faced with difficulty, you can ask them to intercede for you and you get instance results.

The aim of the Purgatorian Society is to empty purgatory by their constant prayers and sacrifices. The Church has dedicated every 2nd November as a day of commemoration of the dead. Eternal rest grant unto them oh lord and let perpetual light shine upon them, May they rest in peace, Amen.

Dear holy souls, please when you get to heaven do not forget us who are here on earth! 

Sr Margret Ogbebor SSMA is a Catholic Nun, working in the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto. She is the Head Teacher of St Martin de Porres Nursery and Primary School Katsina. [email protected]