COVID helped me to better understand purgatory

We don’t speak much of purgatory in current times. Perhaps because it is seen as negative, or as part of fire and brimstone subject matter. Purgatory, however, is a very important part of our faith and our lives and not talking about it would be a huge loss.

I empathize with those who struggle with the idea of purgatory, because I have too. If God is merciful, why doesn’t he just forgive all our sins, cleanse us in an instant, and let us enter into heaven without further ado?

There are two things that have transformed my understanding of purgatory, and perhaps not surprisingly, the COVID pandemic has been key in this.

1. Understanding Purgatory as God’s mercy

C.S. Lewis wrote, “Our souls demand purgatory, don’t they? Would it not break the heart if God said to us, ‘It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, not draw away from you. Enter in the joy’? Should we not reply, ‘With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I’d rather be cleaned first.’ ‘It may hurt you now.’ ‘Even so, sir.’”

Mercy and justice have given us this opportunity to cleanse our hearts and souls so that we can truly see God face to face and enjoy him fully. Purgatory isn’t so much a punishment as it is an extension of God’s healing ministry to make us whole.

During the pandemic I’ve experienced a sort of purification which, although painful, I’m grateful for because I’m more at peace and live more surrendered. Anne, a modern lay apostle and mystic who wrote a Church-approved book on purgatory called the Mist of Mercy, says “purgatory is not something to be afraid of.” It is a place imbued with God’s mercy, preparing us for heaven.

Anne also talks about different layers of purgatory. The peace and joy increase as a soul heals and comes closer to heaven.

2. Realizing that purgatorial pain is the pain of being separated from God

The experience of grief during pandemic has helped me better understand the reality of purgatory and the kind of pain that is experienced there.

In this last year I’ve heard people speak of an ache for community, Mass, and spending time with their family in person. I have experienced great longing for gatherings, meals shared together, and connecting with others without the fear of doing or receiving harm.

Grief is the witness to how much you love the person or thing that you miss. Similarly, in purgatory the souls’ “love is the measure of their distress,” wrote the late English Catholic bishop Msgr. John S. Vaughan. The pain in purgatory is one of longing and yearning for God whom they cannot fully possess. “Were God less attractive, less lovable, less beautiful, the privation of his presence would be less agonizing,” he wrote.

This fast of the Eucharist, community, and those things that were our daily bread, has given us a glimpse into what it feels like to be separated from what we need and desire the most. It puts in perspective our pain and grief at being separated from loved ones.

May we allow this desire for God, the Eucharist, family, and community to purify us, as it happens in purgatory. May our experience of loss and yearning for what we don’t have move us to compassion for the souls in purgatory who have seen the face of God who is all goodness, beauty, tenderness, and love, but can’t be with him.

Susan Tassone, author and speaker on the topic of holy souls, writes, “Imagine your greatest love and longing and know it cannot compare to that of the holy souls as they await being brought into the presence of the Lord.”

Let us commit to praying more often for the holy souls in purgatory who can’t pray for themselves, and let us commend to them our intentions, for they love us and want to help us with all our needs. They are our brothers and sisters, the suffering mystical body of Jesus.

A holy soul assured the 16th-century discalced Carmelite Venerable Frances of the Blessed Sacrament that it prayed daily for her and “as often as anyone remembers us, we also remember him and intercede for him with God,” wrote Tassone. “Especially do we implore for him the grace to serve God well and to die a happy death.”

Whenever you walk or drive by a cemetery, lift up a prayer for the souls in purgatory. Remember them in your Rosary, your Stations of the Cross, your Mass, and your Divine Mercy Chaplet. A very simple yet powerful prayer is: “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.”

For more prayers for Holy Souls, you can go to rccav.org/prayers.