If anyone understands the doctrine of purgatory, it is
little children.
If you ask children, “Do you love your parents?”, they will
say, “Yes!”
“And do they love you?” “Yes!”
“And when you do something really good, are they excited
about it?” “Yes!”
“And when you do something wrong, do you get punished?” “Yes.”
Yep, you do get punished when you do something wrong. Case
in point, end of doctrinal study.
It is right and just that you get punished, even though we
might not think it at the time. Because when you do something wrong, your
parents want to teach you not to do it again. So when you get put in timeout
with your nose in the corner and have to do it for 20 minutes, when you get
out, are you excited? Of course you are. You do not want to go back into
timeout, do you? So you change your behavior.
Punishment causes us to change. If we do not change our
lives in this world, there will be a reckoning. We must change, because there
is no confessional after death. The beautiful grace that we have here on earth,
to go in and have our sins forgiven, isn’t there after we die.
Our Lord taught us, “If you are going to court, settle
before you get to the judge. The judge will not free you until you have paid
the last penny.”
When we are not perfect before we die, we go to purgatory.
That is the place where all the desires we have for the world are taken away
from us and replaced with the pure love of God, which we are all called to.
Losing those worldly desires is like the burning and refining fire that makes
metals shiny and pure. Because of our sinfulness, we tarnish ourselves, like
metal tarnishes, but the Lord wishes to make us beautiful and perfect. The fires
of purgatory are what help us to get to that point of beautiful perfection.
So let us pray for all our loved ones who have died, to help
them on their way. Are you happy to get help when you need help? Yes. Because
when we ask for help, it means that we cannot do it on our own.
And so it is
with the souls in purgatory, because after we die, we cannot merit grace, we
cannot do anything for ourselves. We were already given the chance during our
lives to merit that grace. So it is up to the saints in heaven, and we the
church militant on earth, to pray for the holy souls in purgatory, to help
release them into heaven.
We have no reason to mourn without hope, because purgatory
is a one-way street. Everyone who goes to purgatory, is getting into heaven
eventually. Some of us need more help than others. And so that is why we need
to pray for the souls. And so pray for your loved ones who have died. All Souls
Day is a day when we should all sacrifice and pray for the souls. But we can do
this every day of the year.
Have you ever seen a priest wear black during Mass? Why do
you think we wear black on All Souls’ Day?
Because Jesus cried when Lazarus
died; it was a sad day. And guess what, your parents are not happy to put you
in the corner and punish you if you do wrong. And just as they are sad to
punish you, so was our Lord sad to see sin cause death. God did not want death,
we chose death through sinning. So we wear black on All Souls’ Day to remember
the sadness of sin causing our death.
--Father Jacob Meyer
