Purgatory ...

.... confusing Christians of all denominations for years. Well, here's a good analogy posted on CAEI:

The Church has traditionally depicted Purgatory as a process of cleansing, which I understand and accept gladly and gratefully. But I thought that another useful analogy could be that of a hospital, where the soul is cured of its brokenness and its remaining diseases before entering into the glory of Heaven.

This analogy is appealing to me because it can address several aspects of Purgatory that are hard to understand or accept for many people. For instance:

1) Just like people stay in a hospital for a longer or shorter time depending on the severity of their illness, souls stay in Purgatory for different lengths of time, depending on their state (although, of course, time has a different meaning there)

2) Just like people are admitted to different areas of a hospital and are subjected to different therapies, Purgatory provides different souls with different ways of being healed.

3) Just like in a hospital we are healed, but go through some suffering to achieve that, Purgatory does involve a suffering component, as the soul is repaired or rid of its illness.

4) Just like we can pray for our loved ones who are in hospital, asking God to quicken their recovery and alleviate their related suffering, we pray for the souls of our loved ones in Purgatory for the same goals.

5) Just like we can shorten our time in hospital when we are sick by previously exercising, taking vitamins etc, so we can shorten our stay in Purgatory by doing those things that the Church recommends, including indulgences!

6) This analogy brings to the fore in a clear way the image of God as the Great Healer.

7) Since souls do not die, Hell could then be seen as our decision to remain outside the hospital, with a sick or broken soul and therefore suffering the torments that such sickness entails, but for eternity and steadfastly refusing the healing that God had offered.

8) God's willingness to save people even when they accept Him only at their death can be seen as His willingness to admit souls to Purgatory at any time up to death.

And while we're speaking about temporal punishment for sin, get your plenary indulgence tomorrow for the celebration of the Immaculate Conception (of Mary if you didn't know). I'll post more on the Immaculate Conception AND indulgences tomorrow.