As A Catholic....

[Brother Adam]

[jezic]

these are a lot of interesting questions brother adam.

Myself, i hope that i am in a state of grace.

I know that i would go to Heaven (At least it is my undieing belief) because i love Jesus. I seek to grow in faith everyday. I seek to transform myself and follow him so closely that it leads other people by example.

I seek to see Christ in everyone and act out of love for those people.

Sometimes i fail in this regard, but that strengthens my resolve to ask for even more grace and try harder.

As far as purgatory, some of those questions can't be answered. We use our limited knowledge as humans to judge what we think happens, but we don't really know with certainty. I believe that God in his infinite mercy understands our prayers and applies them as he sees fit (which is how we should want them applied). I can't really say what he does though.

i think one might liken purgatory to waiting just outside Heaven until your soul is so thirsty for Christ that it is only he that can fill you.

I don't know if they can pray, but maybe. I will have to ask God when i die.

I think the most important thing is to work to fulfill the primary commandment of Christ to love God with your whole heart, mind, and soul. When you do this and live it in life and mean it as it would require, i think that you do not have to fear hell.

[Brother Adam]

yep sure enough. I was just bumping up old pre-Catholic topics I found interesting to see whaty I said so long ago.

[homeschoolmom]

Mem'ries... light the corners of my mind... Misty water colored memories... Of the way we were.....

[son_of_angels]

A person in purgatory exists outside of time, so there is no point of reference for knowing if our prayers "speed up" a persons time in Purgatory. Perhaps what's more important is that at the point they are purged, our prayers for them become their prayers for us, thus giving us lots of invocations and a fullness of communion with all those Christians who have gone before us.

[Birgitta Noel]

LOL, great bump Adam.

I was reading my Magnificat tonight and came upon this from the recounting of the life of Saint Drithelm ( never heard of him!)

He had a near death experience of a sort...

[quote]His account of the souls in purgatory that were nearly ready to enter heaven (as retold by St. Bede) is particularly heartening. They appeared as joyful young people, clothed in white robes, sitting in a "very broad and pleasant meadow" flooded with light and fragrant with "the scent of spring flowers." Drithelm also expressed how greatly the souls in purgatory are helped by Masses offered for them.[/quote]

Kinda reminded me of the joy that I've seen in the eyes of youth at Adoration, on seeing the Pope (either one we've known recently), or at hearing the Truth! :

[jezic]

so this is old?

[Brother Adam]

[quote name='jezic' date='Sep 13 2005, 10:21 AM']so this is old?
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[/quote]

Aug 16 2003

In case you missed it I became Catholic about a year ago :

Edited September 13, 2005 by Brother Adam

[Livin_the_MASS]

[quote]Don John,

As a correction to your post above, "I think Brother Adam you need to think of it like this--Purgatory is a hopeless place not because its further from God but because all who are there KNOW they will see God there is no need for HOPE," it is the commonly held opinion that, as they have not yet been admitted to the intuitive vision of God, and as there is nothing otherwise in their condition which is at variance with the concept of this virtue, they have the habit and elicit the act of hope.

The words of St. Paul (Rom., viii, 24) are to the point: "For we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen, is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he hope for?" The souls in Purgatory do not see heaven yet, and so they continue to hope. Hope has as its main object union with God in heaven, which has not been attained yet for those souls in Purgatory.[/quote]

Those in purgatory have seen God for their particular judgement. The pains of purgarory is the longing for the Union of God. This is why we must pray for them. If we remember them in our daily prayers they will remember us in their prayers when the gift of union with God is givin to them.

Yes hope is there, but the pains the [b]FIRE[/b] of purgatory is for the Union with God. This is what CMom is talking about being purified before they can be in union with God, Nothing unclean shall enter!

Just an add on with a different veiw!

Pax,
jason

[dspen2005]

frequent confession, good examination of conscience, prayer, prayer, prayer.... these will help and empower us to live in thef fullness of God's life for us...