Heaven And Purgatory

[kafka]

Here is a little article about Heaven and Purgatory I wrote a couple of years ago and spent some time modifying last night. Some of it is speculative theology. I dont think I will ever publish, so I figured I might as well post it here and let anyone who reads it judge whether or not there is truth in it:

[b]Heaven and Purgatory[/b]
[i]
Is Purgatory a Place?[/i]

“Incorporeal things are not in place after a manner known and familiar to us, in which way we say that bodies are properly in place. . .” –“Summa Theologica” Saint Thomas Aquinas

It seems Purgatory is not a Place, since it is not physical. It seems the Holy Souls in Purgatory are not in Time, since they are separated from their physical bodies. Yet Purgatory and the Holy Souls are created. All Creation of God has a beginning. With Creation is the beginning of Time and Place.

“Time is the fixed ordering and separation of events into before and after. Place is the separation and ordering of things into here and there.” –“Time and Eternity” Ronald L Conte Jr.

Only God is Uncreated, is Eternity, is Simplicity, Undivided, and so on. People say, “Human souls are simple and have no parts.” Not absolutely so, since even when separated from their bodies, they are still created beings. Time and Place in a sense divides souls even in a non-physical way. “Let us make Man to our own image and likeness.” (Gen. 1:26) The simplicity of human souls is a mere reflection of the absolute Simplicity we call God who is beyond Time and Place.

Purgatory is created. In Purgatory the Holy Souls experience Time in a non-physical way. The passing of Time is measured by the change they undergo. In a sequence, at one point they have atoned for fewer sins than a following point. At one point they are less like Christ than a following point. This is the before and after of Time. This is the order and separation of Time, even in a non-physical realm. By nature, a non-physical realm is higher than a physical one; therefore Time in Purgatory is beyond Time on Earth. Some call Purgatorial Time: Eviternity.

Purgatory is a non-physical place. It is not Earth, not Hell, and not Heaven. Just as New York is not Paris. They are two different things, as Purgatory is different from Hell. The difference makes them separated and ordered into here and there. Hence, Earth, Purgatory, and Hell (but not Heaven!) is a Place even in a non-physical way. The only way to completely understand Time and Place in Purgatory is to experience it.

In Purgatory the Holy Souls are not yet with God. This is one reason why in Sacred Scripture is sometimes described as a “prison.” (1 Pet 3: 19, 20) As they atone for sins, part of the captivity is that they are still bound by Time, and Place. “And see if there might be in me the way of iniquity and lead me in the way of eternity.” (Ps 138: 54) More than ever they long to be with Eternity (God), but are still bound by Time, and Place as they atone for personal sins not made up for before death, and bound as they ultimately become more Christ-like than as they were on Earth.

[i]Heaven[/i]

When a soul’s stay in Purgatory ends, he is ready for Heaven. Heaven is beyond Time and Place. By a flowering forth of the salvific (or justifying) grace of God, Angels and Saints are with God, and see Him face to face, experience Him, and truly know Him. Heaven is created, yet it transcends all Creation. Heaven is 'supernatural' and God is immediately present with Angels and Saints in a miraculous way, which originates from the movement and effect of sanctifying grace in the deepest subjectivity of Angels and Men which begins in life (proper to Angels and Men) and flowers forth in Timeless and Placeless Heaven with God. God is One and everywhere/when. He is Eternity, beyond Time and Place, therefore present at all times, and all places. He is present at all Times and in all Places, since He is beyond presence. God moves and effects a soul in the state of grace in a greater way than His everywhere/when presence moves and effects men not in the state of grace as well. Beyond Time and Place God guides the histories of all times and all places by what we call Providence. The seamlessness of the will, grace and providence of Eternity(God) is mysterious. Christ is God. Christ is wholly ascended of Heaven with God, and He is wholly present on Earth in the Holy Eucharist. Yet a Saint of Heaven with God is with Him in a miraculous, mysterious, and deeper way. This gift of being with Christ of Heaven, transcends all Creation, and all human or angelic powers without exception. The miraculous ability to intuitively see God face to face, and know Him is called the Light of Glory. (Rev 22:5). This ability to see God face to face is the greatest gift given to Angels and Saints by the power and love of God, and it is in fact the true purpose and end of all human (and angelic) life.

Although Heaven is created, it is also Timeless and Placeless, since it is with God. Saints experience Timelessness and Placelessness as well as Timefullness, and Placefullness, since they are with God, who is Eternity (beyond Time and Place.) The First Heaven ends at the General Judgment when all souls shall rise, unite with their new bodies, and be judged by Christ as either worthy of the Second Heaven, or condemned of the Second Hell (Rev 21:1). Another way to describe the endless sufferings of the damned is that they will be trapped in a sort of Creation which eternally experiences a mere Time and Place—with the thought they could seen God face to face in the Timeless and Placeless Heaven. Time and Place are a burden to fallen nature, hence the druggie shoots up to experience a sort of pseudo-timeless and placeless experience. So may God be especially merciful to them.

“So it is also with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown in corruption shall rise to incorruption. What is sown in dishonor shall rise to glory. What is sown in weakness shall rise to power. What is sown with an animal body shall rise with a spiritual body. If there is an animal body, there is also a spiritual one . . . So what is, at first, not spiritual, but animal, next becomes spiritual. The first man, being earthly, was of the earth; the second man, being heavenly, will be of heaven. Such things as are like the earth are earthly; and such things as are like the heavens are heavenly . . . Now I say this, brothers, because flesh and blood is not able to possess the kingdom of God; neither will what is corrupt possess what is incorrupt. Behold, I tell you a mystery. Certainly, we shall all rise again, but we shall not all be transformed . . .” (Cor. 15: 42-51)

The new resurrected and glorified bodies of the Saints are befitting for the New Heaven. These glorified bodies are a mystery. Some have speculated on the qualities of a glorified body based on the passages of Christ after His Resurrection and other passages of Sacred Scripture. I speculate the glorified bodies will be given a miraculous quality of timelessness and placelessness, since the whole Saint (glorified: soul-body-spirit) will be of Timeless and Placeless Heaven, with God. The timeless and placeless quality of a glorified Saint of the New Heaven will no longer feel the burden of Place and Time, and so according to their heart's desire (and in accordance with God's will) they will be able to travel throughout all Time and all Place at will. For, the Saints, being with God, seeing Him, and knowing Him fulfills the boundless desire of their souls which God designed and created to find an end in the gratuitous unmerited gift of Himself. And the Timeless and Placeless quality of Heaven fulfills the longings of Saint's bodies, who on Earth were stuck in a situation of Time and Place which they could not transcend, yet had to bear in patience, in suffering, and ultimately death, because of sin.

The Saints and Angels of Heaven are not with God as He is with Himself. They do not see and, experience God as God knows and experiences Himself. God is always beyond His beloved creatures. God is eternally of Himself and for Himself, yet as a gratuituous and free gift the Angels and Saints of Heaven are truly together with God. A mystery beyond complete human understanding.

[i]Is Purgatory a Midpoint between Heaven and Earth?[/i]

It seems Purgatory is a midpoint between Heaven and Earth. And, metaphorically speaking it is. Yet even that is a limited analogy. Purgatory is truly closer to Heaven than the Earth is, and Purgatory is a true non-physical Place, and the Holy Souls pass through non-physical Time. Yet created Heaven with Eternal God is Timeless and Placeless. Heaven is not of the created-physical Universe, nor is it of the created-non-physical realms. To think if science had the technology to travel by ship throughout the whole Universe, and eventually find Heaven and see Jesus and Mary living in Heaven is absurd. An angel or soul can travel in a non-physical realm, e.g. a Holy Soul in Purgatory can travel from a lower part to a higher part as he undergoes change. Yet even an Angel or Holy Soul traveling in a created non-physical realm cannot stumble upon Heaven.

And so there truly is no midpoint between Heaven and Earth, Heaven and Purgatory, or Heaven and Hell. Heaven is Timeless and Placeless. The only analogy I can come up with for the realm of Heaven is that it is cloaked. Think of a spaceship in a science fiction film which possesses a cloaking device. It exists, it is a creation, yet no man can see it or locate it on radar. A spaceship with a cloaking device is beyond a spaceship without one. A limited analogy.

Heaven exists, it is created, yet it cannot be seen by men in the physical universe, nor angels and separated souls in the non-physical realms. Heaven is a Timeless and Placeless Creation of God, with God, in a miraculous and mysterious way. Heaven transcends all Creation, Time, and Place. I do not know what else to write, since it is a mystery beyond complete human understanding.

[i]Do the Holy Souls in Purgatory gradually ascend to Heaven? [/i]

It seems the Holy Souls gradually ascend to Heaven. And, metaphorically I suppose they do. Yet the Holy Souls are still in a Creation of Time and Place. In a non-physical realm, they are still in a Time, and at a Place. They are holy. In the ultimate sense, holiness is none other than being out from, or beyond the Earth and the created non-physical realms such as Purgatory. Holiness to a degree certainly can be attained on Earth, yet it is greater and different in Purgatory. All the Holy Souls are either formally or non-formally baptized, are in the state of grace, and are judged by God worthy of Heaven at the particular judgment. Still, the Holy Souls need to be purified, and need to atone for the temporal punishment of sins committed on Earth. Some men actually atone for all their own temporal punishment due to personal sins during their pilgrimage on Earth, and truly die like Christ and so they do not need to stay in Purgatory! Yet God who is Mercy, Justice, Wisdom, Love, and more; created Purgatory for those who died in sanctifying (or justifying grace) yet in a way were unable to atone for all their temporal punishment due to personal sins.

At his pinnacle of reparation and change, a Holy Soul of Purgatory is ready for Heaven. When a Holy Soul is ready for Heaven he must face the inevitable namely: Timeless and Placeless Heaven with God. Saint Catherine of Genoa once said, “Heaven has no gates.” This is true. One cannot walk, run, leap, drive, fly, or travel in a non-physical way to Heaven. The only way to be of Heaven is by a gratuitous and unmerited gift of God. The only way I can explain it, is at one moment the Holy Soul is still stuck in the Creation of Time, and Place, then in a flash is of Timeless and Placeless Heaven with God. Like a light bulb, one moment off and at the speed of electricity suddenly on. Instantaneous. How does this happen?

The Ascension of Christ is the cause of the ascension of the Saints. Christ accomplished the Ascension of His Saints, by His salvific Deeds of dying on the Cross, of Resurrecting Himself, and by Ascending Himself into Heaven by His own Divine Power. And so the Father is well pleased to receive the Saints into Heaven, since they die following Christ in the state of salvific grace which is also known as santcifying (or justifying) grace and which is identical with what we call love-faith-hope which is the same state Christ freely and gratuitously merited for us by His salvific death on the Cross.

Are the Saints assumed into Heaven or ascended into Heaven? The answer is yes and yes. They are assumed by a gratuituos and instantaneous flash by the power of God. In this way they are assumed into Heaven. Yet they also freely and actively participate in the Ascension of Christ by way of their own ascension. God gives them a gratuitous ability to ascend from the Creation of Time, and Place to the Timeless and Placeless Heaven. They cross the mysterious threshhold of Time and Place itself unto the Timeless and Placeless eternal and immediate vision of God. God gives the just who died in the state of salvific grace, the gratuitous ability to see Him face to face, know Him, and experience Him. And so He also freely gives the just a gratuitous and miraculous ability to cross the Creation of Time and Place to Transendent Creation of Timeless and Placeless Heaven. To cross the Creation of Time and Place of Earth or Purgatory to the Timeless and Placeless Heaven with God. I term this experience as the Transcendent Miracle. A man on Earth in free acceptance of the salvific grace of God, is moved and effected by God in a foreshadowing of the Transcendent Miracle in which he with the cooperation of God's sanctifying grace springs up in the immediate vision of God in the Timeless and Placeless Heaven as Jesus taught:

{4:14} Instead, the water that I will give to him will become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life.

And this is the flowering forth of one's own God established purpose of knowing and loving God forever, in the state of salvific grace begun on Earth completed in Heaven, and all gratuitously won by the salvific death of Jesus Christ.

[LadyChapel]

Good article. The idea of the souls in Purgatory still being bound in some way by time makes sense to me.

[kafka]

[quote name='LadyChapel' post='1818672' date='Mar 28 2009, 02:56 PM']Good article. The idea of the souls in Purgatory still being bound in some way by time makes sense to me.[/quote]
thank you.

Also true of us now working out our salvation in Christ, in spite of all the potential or actual troubles and risks, and failures and burdens of time binding us in our mortal existence during life on earth yet at the same time we yearn and turn ourselves toward our final end of eternal life:

2 Corinthians 5
{5:1} For we know that, when our earthly house of this habitation is dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven.
{5:2} And for this reason also, we groan, desiring to be clothed from above with our habitation from heaven.
{5:3} If we are so clothed, then we will not be found to be naked.
{5:4} Then too, we who are in this tabernacle groan under the burden, because we do not want to be stripped, but rather to be clothed from above, so that what is mortal may be absorbed by life.