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Show 143: Purgatory · The Uncensored Catholic

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The f A. Hey, y'all, welcome to today's show. I am
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recording outside today, so there may be a little background noise. I'm at
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my mother's and it should be called, well, you know, North Carolina
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is called the land of the long leaf pine. It should actually probably be
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called the land of the lob lolly pine, because we have far more lob
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lollies than long leafs, and therefore, see, lob lollies grow very tall
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and they're constantly dropping pine straw and pine cones and bark and limbs and twigs
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and everything you can imagine. So really it should be called the land of
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the leaf blower. So you're probably gonna hear maybe a passing car, probably
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a couple of neighbors with leaf blowers. You see. Yesterday, of course,
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was Mother's Day, and my mother has a neighbor who's just really nice.
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He's from Kuwait. He's just really Kuwait the Catholic. Actually, he
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goes around and gives flowers to all the mothers in the neighborhood carnations on Mother's
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Day. And of course my mother, being Southern, says, what do
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you want? What's your favorite food? I got to give you some food
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since you're so kind. And his favorite food is smoke turkey. So I'm
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a pitmaster. I do very good barbecue. And so my task beginning early
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this morning, was to begin smoking a turkey to share with the neighbor.
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I'm gonna share quite a bit of it with myself as well. It's,
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you know, sixteen eighteen pound turkey. I'm smoking it over cherry ed birch.
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So yeah, he's a single man. He can only eat so much
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of it. He'll get about a fourth. So well worthy effort. But
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it doesn't mean I have to record outside today. So let's jump into the
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topic. We're actually gonna finish up a chapter, well really two chapters today,
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one in radio replies, and then we'll get into Father Spirago's exhaustive explanation
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of the Catechism, and we're going to discuss purgatory. So starting with radio
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replies, the questioner says, well, actually accuses the priests. They say,
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it is most unkind of you to speak so sarcastically of other religions.
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The priest answers inquirers put their religious theories before me, and if they are
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illogical, I say so, giving my reasons for saying so. It is
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not sarcasm above all, since I respect the sincerity of those are whose theories
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are mistaken. Nor is it unkind if you saw a sick man taking not
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the medicine prescribed by the doctor, but some other drink by mistake, would
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it be kindness to keep quiet, just to spare him the confusion of realizing
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his mistake. That's something you know as an apologist, as one who defends
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the Catholic and explains. That's what apologies. That's what apologetics means. It
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actually means explaining. It comes from I think it's apologia, which is Greek
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apologia. I guess people say, well, you know, all Christians believe
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in God, and you're being mean for saying the Catholic Church is the truth.
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And of course that's the very answer I give. If I saw someone
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walking toward a cliff and they didn't see it, if they were blind or
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looking in another direction, I would have a duty to tell them they were
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walking toward a cliff. Well, the person goes on and says God is
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love, and they say right, But whilst love may excuse the man who
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makes a mistake, it cannot say the mistake is not a mistake to deny
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that truth is error, or that error is the truth. But I make
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every allowance for those who make error, who mistake error for truth. And
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the person says, We're all going to the same place, and there will
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be no distinction there, And he answers, we all wish, perhaps to
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go to the same place. But the difficulty is to the right road.
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The difficulty is as to the right road to that place. One man says
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one way, another maintains in other ways the correct path. All sick men
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wish to get better. But you do not argue. After all, they
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all hope to attain the same health. Therefore, let the sick man drink
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anything and everything, and even the wrong medicine. Altogether, it is immaterial
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as to the is it immaterial as to the means one takes. Merely because
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all hope to attain the same health. There will be a distinction in heaven,
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at least in degrees of happiness and glory. But we shall all be
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united in the same charity as I hope we are now, and also as
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in this and also in the same truth as we are not now. For
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when you get to heaven, you will change your ideas and accept all that
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Catholics now believe on earth. Thus you will be in perfect harmony with them
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throughout eternity. That is, of course, unless should become a Catholic still
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earlier in this life, as I hope and pray you will, for the
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sake of all that it would mean to you, both in time and in
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eternity. All right, now, we'll move on to Father Spirago and we'll
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discuss Well, certainly, one of the biggest differences between the Catholicism and Protestism
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is a belief in purgatory, and we will discuss this. I know some
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people say they're afraid to go to purgatory. Of course I am, but
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I am actually grateful for the opportunity because I'd much rather go to purgatory and
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eventually to Heaven than go to hell. So we'll talk about purgatory. Purgatory
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is a place where the souls of those must suffer for a time who,
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though dying without grave sin on their souls, have not done complete penances for
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their offenses against God. Judas Maccabeus was convinced that the souls of those who
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had died in battle with idols on them had been punished for that reason,
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and ordered sacrifices to be offered for them in Jerusalem. That Second Maccabees twelve
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forty three. That's the reason Martin Luther Cook cut Maccabees out of the Bible.
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Well, there were a couple of reasons. Actually, First Maccabees,
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let's see, Second Maccabees is the one that we're referencing now. I guess
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it was First Maccabees where the whole family was tortured to death because they refused
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to renounce Judaism. Of course, he renounced Catholicism and didn't want anybody to
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think there was anything wrong with doing that, so he removed both books of
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Maccabees, leaving a huge gap in Biblical history that has confused many. Actually,
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the stains which the soul has received during its sojourn in the body must
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be removed by a purging fire, says Saint Gregory of Nysa, and Saint
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Gregory Nazianzen tells us that in the future life there is a baptism of fire,
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a hard and weary baptism to destroy what is earthly in man. As
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to the situation of purgatory, most of the saints seem to think think it
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is beneath the earth. Hence the prayer of the Church at Portia and Fairy,
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etc. From the gates of hell. Deliver him, O Lord,
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and the deprofund us or day profundus, out of the depths. I have
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cried to thee, O Lord. Some also believe that many souls, for
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a time at least suffer their purgatory in those places on earth where their sins
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were committed, and that they are often present at the prayers which are offered
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for them. It is certain also that the holy souls have appeared to many
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saints e g. To Saint Teresa, Saint Bridget, Saint Philip Neary.
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As to the state of the holy souls, the saints are of the opinion
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that they suffer in all resignation to God's will. Saint Catherine of Genoa tells
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us that God fills them with his love so that their greatest pains become tolerable.
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Moreover, the knowledge that they will finally gain the vision of God and
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that they are secure of their eternal salvation gives them great consolation. Besides,
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as Saint Francis of Rome tells us, they are comfort tforted by the prayers
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of the faithful on earth and the blessed in heaven, and by the visits
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of holy angels. The consciousness that they are making atonement to God and suffering
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for him makes him as courageous as martyrs, says Saint Catherine of Gentlemen.
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The holy souls suffer in purgatory to expiate either of their venial sins or those
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mortal sins which, though absolved, have not been completely atoned for. Venial
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sins are visited with temporal punishment, as in the case of Zachary who doubted
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the Angel or Moses. Mortal sins, also, though repented and put away,
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are often visited with temporal punishment, as in the case of Adam and
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David. The Council of Trent teaches that whoever does not satisfy completely for his
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sins on earth must do so in purgatory. So on earth a man may
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be punished by a fine. If he does not pay it, he must
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go to prison. Hence, we should not be satisfied with the penance given
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us by our Confessor. We should add something of our own. Much may
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be done by the patient enduring of sickness or willing acceptance of death, not
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even the least sin should be neglected. They must all be atoned for.
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The sufferings in purgatory include exclusion from the vision of God and other great pains.
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Hence the prayer grant rest to the souls of the faithful departed, and
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let perpetual light shine upon them. When we burn candles by the coffins or
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graves of the dead, we pray that their poor souls may be admitted to
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the side of God. Apart from duration, there is no distinction between the
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torments of hell and those of purgatory, says Saint Thomas. The same fire,
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says Saint Augustine, burns the lost and the saved. Hence we see
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why the Church in the recreem Mass prays God to deliver the souls from the
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pains of hell. It's according to Benedict the fourteenth Saint Augustine tells us that
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the pains of purgatory are greater than the sufferings of all the martyrs, and
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Saint Thomas teaches that the least pain in purgatory is greater than the greatest on
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earth, all the tortures that one can conceive of in this world, says
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Saint Cyril of Alexandria refreshing compared with the last paint with the least spain of
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purgatory. The greatness and duration of the sufferings in Purgatory vary according to the
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gravity of their sins. Saint Augustine tells us that those are longer in the
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purging fire who have been more attached to the goods of this world, that
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those who have grown old in sin take longer to pass through the cleansing stream.
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The foundation masses going on for centuries leads us to suppose that some souls
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have to suffer through many generations of men. Where this impossible, the Church
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would have abolished such masses. Catherine Immerate Immerich and her Revelations says that our
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Lord descends into Purgatory every Good Friday and frees one or more souls of those
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who had been witness of his passion. Even where the punishment has lasted only
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an hour, we are told by Saint Bridget that it appears intolerably long.
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Those who wear the scapular are assured of a considerable shortening of their scufferings,
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since the brown scapular of Mount Carmel. If you don't have one, get
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one. Just look up the Scapular confraternity. There's several organizations that will send
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you a free scapular, or you can buy one very inexpensively and your priests
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will enroll you into the Order of the Scapular. According to Saint Matilda,
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the sufferings in purgatory are an intimate relation to past, since Saint bridget saw
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souls suffering most in those things which they had send most, and Saint Margaret
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of Cortana saw some who could not be released till the evil done by them
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on earth had been made good. That there is a purgatory we learn from
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the teachings of Christ, and especially from the practice and doctor of the Church.
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Moreover, it is a remarkable fact that nearly all nations on earth believe
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in approaching fire. In addition, we know from sound reason that there must
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be a purgatory. Prisce words are he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost?
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It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in the
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world to come. That's Matthew twelve thirty two. He compares purgatory to a
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prison. A men, I say to the thou shalt not go out from
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thence till thou repay the last farthing Matthew five twenty six, and Saint Paul
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adds that many shall be saved yet so as by fire in One Corinthians three
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point fifteen. The practice of the Church and the following points reminds us of
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purgatory, the prayers for the dead said at every Mass, the Memento after
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consecration, the masses for the dead, in particular those on all Souls Day,
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the day of the death and burial, and on the day of the
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death and burial, and on the anniversaries, and the passing Bill which calls
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upon us to pray for the departed, and the solemnities of Solemnities on all
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Souls Day, which were first introduced in nine to ninety eight by the abbot
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Odilo of Clooney, and later extended by the popes to the universal Church.
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Saint John Christostom reminds us that the universe reminds us that the practices of Christians
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are not meant for mere show, but they are ordained by the Holy Spirit.
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The bishops of the Church at Florence in fourteen thirty nine. Trent in
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fourteen forty four through sixty three expressly defined that there is a purgatory. The
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idea of purgatory is common among the nations. The Egyptians believed in the transmigration
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of souls into animals. Among the Greeks we have the story of Prometheus condemned
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to be bound to a rock and his liver gnawed by a vulture because he
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stole fire from heaven. The Jews of the same belief, for they offered
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sacrifice for the dead, as we saw in the case of Judas Maccavius.
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The early Christians were accustomed to pray for the dead during the holy sacrifice that's
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the Mass, of course. Saint Augustine relates that his mother Monica, on
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her deathbed, said to him and his brother bury me where you will only
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I pray. You will think of me always at God's altar. Saint John
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Christostom declares that the Christians from the very beginning prayed during Mass for the dead
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by order of the Apostles. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem rites is a great service
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to pray for the dead when the Holy sacrifice is being offered. Hence,
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the the oldest Mass books contain prayers for the dead. Reason also teaches that
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there must be a purgatory. We know, for instance, that nothing defiled
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can enter heaven, according to Apocalypse or Revelations twenty one twenty seven. Yet
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there is there is not Yet there is many a man not so wicked as
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to be lost forever. And if he can enter neither Heaven nor Hell,
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there there must be a third place where he can be purified. The faithful
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in earth can help the Holy souls in purgatory by good works, in particular
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by prayer, fasting alms deeds, by offering or being present mass, by
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receiving the sacraments, and gaining indulgences. The Holy souls cannot help themselves,
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since they can no longer do good works to satisfy for their sins. After
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death, the night cometh when no man can work, that's John nine to
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four. Hence, they must pay off their debt by enduring the pains which
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God has laid upon them. Yet we on earth can help diminish their pain
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by masses, prayers, almsgiving, and other works of piety. And that
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was defined by the Council of Leon in twelve seventy four the Holy Sacrifice that
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His Mass is, of all things the most helpful to them. Council of
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Trent twenty five, and according to Saint Bonaventure or Bonaventura, the offering of
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the Holy Communion is of great assistance. Not by weeping, says Saint John
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Chrysostom, but by prayer and almsgiving. Are the dead relieved? No pompous
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funeral, no profusion of reas, or of any avail without good works.
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It is far more to the purpose to give to the poor the money which
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is spent on an idle show. That's actually Catholic teaching. People don't talk
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about it much anymore. Instead of having a big, fancy funeral with tons
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of flowers and all that, take the money you would have spent and give
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it to the poor on behalf of the deceased. As to prayers, God
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does not regard so much their length as their fervor. Christ once said to
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Saint Gertrude, a single word from the heart has more power to free a
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soul than the recital of many prayers psalms without devotion. The hands are cleaned
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better by a little water and with much rubbing, than merely pouring a large
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quantity of water over them. We are not to conclude from this that in
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ordinary cases a short prayer and our Father, for instance, will once set
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free a soul, For says Maldonadis, God would be very cruel if he
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kept a soul for which he had shed his own blood in such terrible suffering
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for the sake of an our father, which had been omitted. The Church
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uses holy water in the burial service because it is a great efficacy for the
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holy souls. But the greatest help which we can give is the heroic act,
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that is the resignation in behalf of all the satisfaction made by God by
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our good works. Those who make this act gain every time they approach the
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Holy table plenary indulgence applicable to the holy souls. That means a full indulgence.
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Plenary means full. And priests who make the Heroic Act have every day
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they say the mass, the personal privilege of a pri altar. That's decoration
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by Pious the Ninth in eighteen fifty two. The relatives of the dead are
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bound to help them. They apply the words of the Holy writ. Have
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pity on me at least you, my friend, because the hand of the
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Lord hath touched me. That's from Job nineteen twenty one. God sometimes reveals
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the unhappy state of the dead to their relatives. In the year two hundred
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and two, Saint Perpetuus saw in a dream her young brother imprisoned in a
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dark place, all covered with dirt and parts with thirst. She began to
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offer up fervent prayer for him, and soon after he appeared to her again,
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but this time beautiful and happy. When Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia received news
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of the death of her mother, Gertrude, Queen of Hungary, she began
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to pray as scourge herself with discipline, and soon she had the satisfaction of
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seeing her mother in a vision and knowing that she was delivered from purgatory.
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Yet, we should not rely too much on the good works which our relatives
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may do for us after death, for the robverb comes only so often true
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out of sight and out of mind. And besides, after all, the
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works done for us after death can avail us only to elimited extent. One
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mass devoutly heard during wife, says Saint Anselom, is of more value than
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a great sum left for the celebration of one hundred masses after death, God,
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says Saint Bonaventure, values more a little voluntary penance done in this life
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than a severe and involuntary satisfaction in the next. Prayer for the dead is
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of great benefit to ourselves for his work of mercy. It might be objected
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that by doing too much for the holy souls, a man neglects himself,
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but this is not true. Prayer confers a blessing on him who has prayed
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for and on him who prays. He who has pity on the souls will
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find in God a merciful judge blessed other merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
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Christ accepts every deed of mercy is a favor done to himself. That's
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a Matthew twenty five to forty. The departed also display their gratitude when get
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to heaven, says Marie latost or Lataste. I guess is latass thou canst
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do nothing more acceptable to God or profitable with thyself than to pray for the
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holy souls, For they will be mindful of your favors in heaven and will
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pray unseasonally for you, that you may become holier in life and be freed
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from purgatory soon after death. It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray
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for the dead, that they may be loose from their sins. That's from
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Second Maccabee's twelve forty six. That's the words of the Bible, infallible inspired
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by the Holy Spirit. And the only reason our Protestant brothers sisters don't know
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that is because they don't have a real and complete Bible thanks to the Antichrist.
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Martin Luther. All right, y'all, so I'm going to wrap it
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up there for it consending noisier out here. I do want to announce that
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I have just published another book. It is Gospel Reflections for July through December
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of this year. So you know, my first book came out in December
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of last year. That was January through June, my first book of Gospel
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Reflections. I should say I've actually written fourteen total books, so that was
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getting ready to wrap up in about a month and a half. Go ahead
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and go to Amazon, or you can order directly from me a PDF,
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or you can get the hard copy on Amazon or whatever format your e reader
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likes. You from Amazon, and be sure to sign up for my subsecon
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to people every morning. And if you become a paid subscriber to the subsecon
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newsletter The Uncensored Catholic, not only do you get the podcast and everything else
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I do, but you get a free copy a free pdf of my new
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book, Gospel Reflections through July through December twenty twenty four. So check it
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out, and I hope you'll give me some good feedback on I love it
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when I've done some great feedback actually on the first book, really humbling feedback
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telling you what a difference people it has made in people's lives, and you
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know, that's what it's all about, really, so I really appreciate it
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when you buy the book and when you give me feedback, it really means
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a lot. It allows me to keep doing this, you know. So
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anyway, y'all have a great evening. Hopefully I'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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Tomorrow. I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day. Remember this is
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the month dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary. Try to make an extra devotion
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to her if you can, And in the words of Saint Padre Pio,
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pray, hope, and don't worry to you next time