I heard a priest say, "If heaven is love without pain and hell is pain without love, purgatory is love with pain or pain with love."
Purgatory is the place where one waits for the completion or the fulfillment of one's being and destiny. Purgatory is where one hopes for the grandeur that awaits them beyond the limbo of doubt, pain, and impatience that is the purgatory. And while hoping, while waiting, one is being purged of all the impurities that hinders one from experiencing the fullness of one's being and destiny.
One cannot do anything, but open oneself up to the abundance of God's grace to be refined as though in a fire, ridding us of all our imperfections and weaknesses. It is painful to get rid of something that, though imperfect and impure, has been a huge part of one's life. It is painful to know that the wait one must endure before becoming fully reunited with the Eternal God is long and arduous.
One cries out of the depths of one's soul for the great longing to finally be one with the Father. And the Father weeps for the child He so longs to be eternally with. But does nothing, except to wait for His child to become perfect and pure, ready to spend eternity with Him.
I am in purgatory and couldn't do anything but cry out to the depths of my soul for God's grace, love and mercy. Once my weaknesses have been removed, I can finally accept with much humility and joy, the identity and the future God has prepared for me. Then, I can start spending my life living for Him, through Him, and with Him.
Catholics pray for those in purgatory to speed up their reunion with God. Will you pray for me? :)
4 comments:
surely we will binut! i'm at a loss with what your plans are (rather, with what His plans are for you), but as a friend, i support you (or Him).
this is getting kinda confusing. hehehe! =)
btw, i believe the concept of purgatory makes people relax than strive for the higher "goal" that is heaven. somehow, some people look at it as a safety net. "at least get to purgatory", they say. hehehe! but i do believe in purgatory ha. ;-) just a thought.
Thanks B-Harbs for your support, kahit di mo naiintindihan completely where I'm coming from. I guess I'm not ready to talk about it yet, kaya vague ang aking mga posts regarding my identity and future. :-)
Yeah, what you said makes absolute sense. But, if I may just add, people have to realize that they have to be careful pa din. Kasi, we don't know pa what makes one go to purgatory versus hell. So, by relaxing, we might end up putting one foot on hell's doors na pala. Kakatakot din yun. :-)
Pero lam mo, ayaw ko yata mapunta sa purgatoryo. Syempre ayaw ko talaga sa hell. Pero, if what I'm feeling on earth is anything like purgatory, ayaw ko na talaga! Pero, who's to say where I'll end up someday, di ba? Kaya dapat pala di ako mag-relax Hehe :-)
Purgatory is one of those Catholic concepts that unfortunately, is not particularly well understood by most Catholics and is actually one of the points of contention between Catholics and Protestants.
My personal (i.e. I am not a Theologian so do not quote me on this, though I did take 15 units of Theology at AdMU) view of purgatory is that it is yet another manifestation of the loving nature of God. He loves us so much that he is willing to give us, sinful creatures that we are, as many chances as possible to redeem ourselves and be cleansed of our sins so that we may be able to attain the destiny that we have been created for. That is, a destiny of being united with Him in heaven.
Interesting that you also bring up the notion of Catholics praying for the souls of those in purgatory since this is the notion of the Communion of Saints, which again, is something which is a point of contention between Catholics and Protestants.
Hope your classes at the Catholic Studies Institute help. :)
i don't wanna end in purgatory too! from the term itself, ayokong "mapurga". hehehe!
goodluck gurl! *hugs*
Post a Comment