Lent Points To Purgatory

The 1st Sunday of Lent

Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross

     One of the things that confounds people outside of Catholicism is the way Catholic Christians tend to understand that things which are true can be true in different ways, as in, for instance, the traditional Four Senses of Scripture. This multi-faceted Catholic Vision doesn 't apply only to Biblical interpretation, but to all sorts of beliefs and practices.  A good example is the Season of Lent, in which we see the patterns of the next world reflected in this one.  
     On the primary level, Lent is about where we are right now. We understand that we are prone to sin, that we must undergo a period of preparation, and of spiritual cleansing, before we can experience the joy of Easter.  And so through various penitential practices, including the sacrament of Confession, the “giving up” of various things, devotions (e.g., the the Stations of the Cross), and works of charity we seek to acknowledge and express sorrow for our sins,  and to turn away from attachment to worldly things, so that we can turn instead to God.

     The logic of these Lenten practices also applies in the next life, in Purgatory.  The word Purgatorium means a place of cleansing. The Catholic belief is that Purgatory is both a completion of temporal punishment (penance), and as the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, "purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven," for  those "who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified" (CCC 1030). That purification is sometimes described in terms of removal of our remaining attachment to sin, so that we are prepared to meet our Lord in the unfiltered light of Heaven.  If we need Lent here, where we see dimly as through a mirror, the same is certainly true in the next life where, God willing, we will as see Him face to face (see 1 Corinthians 13:12).  

     Our tradition tells us that the greatest Saints are taken directly from this life into the Presence of the Almighty.  Most of us, however, even if by God's Grace we find ourselves bound for Heaven, have reason to expect a detour through Purgatory. That’s something to keep in mind as we go through Lent here in this world: if it’s appropriate to purify ourselves in preparation for the Feast of Easter, how much more so for the Eternal Supper of Lamb in the New Jerusalem?