Purgatory At The End Of The World

[Dave]

I understand that after the Final Judgment, purgatory will cease to exist. But what about those people who died shortly before the end and haven't been in purgatory long enough to have sufficiently expiated their temporal punishment? Or those who are alive at the end and who are in the state of grace but who have committed venial sin that needs to be expiated? What do y'all suppose God will do about them?

[the_rev]

Whoa, Deep thinking there Dave! That is a really awesome question Dave!


From reading up about purgatory in the CCC, I would say they'd make antombment for there sins.

For those who want to know the teaching of Purgatory from the CCC, here it is!


CCC 1030-1032
[quote] 1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. 606 The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire: 607


As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come. 608
1032 This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." 609 From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. 610 The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:


Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them. 611
[/quote]

[ilovechrist]

keep in mind Dave, that--
when we die, there is no longer time. we are out of time. so.. hopefully they should have "time", or should be able to purify their souls before the Judgement.

that's what i've always thought.. but then, we need to remember that we don't know everything about that event. God will reveal it to us when He wants to... anybody else have any other ideas?

[Crusader_4]

I kno this might not b theologically sound but here i go...perhaps it would b more intense in a shorter amount of time. Although human time doesnt really matter as mentioned before.

[Theoketos]

As St. Thomas warns, do not over use your imagination when thinking about metaphysics...

Purgatory is in eternity and out side of time. The rules of time thus do not apply.

[Aloysius]

i thought purgatory was actually within time. in that once you enter eternity, your soul can no longer be changed, it can only change while within time. thus, if you are being purified, you must remain in time. when you enter Heaven, you enter eternity. But there you're at the only spot within time where no matter what all changes in your soul are good changes. I don't see how one could actually exist in eternity and be purified.

i see two scenarios
either Jesus makes a jail break like He did when He died on the Cross, but He preaches to them with the fullness of the Flame of the Holy Spirit thus with one really intense heart to heart talk of Jesus to these souls their souls are made perfect again, this would go along with Crusader_4's idea of a more intense shorter purification.

or

there's souls that just havta remain in purgatory a lil bit after the end. The state of purgatory will be maintained to exist by God until the time when every single soul has been perfected.

i do think it's wrong to say that in purgatory you exist outside of time. Only with time can our hearts and minds and actions and prayers and prayers from others for us change the state of our soul.

my $.o2
Pax Amorque Christi

[ilovechrist]

[quote name='Aloysius' date='May 19 2004, 12:49 AM'] i do think it's wrong to say that in purgatory you exist outside of time. Only with time can our hearts and minds and actions and prayers and prayers from others for us change the state of our soul. [/quote]
hm.. i thought that once you died, your soul existed out of time, wherever you went after your Judgment.