What Is Purgatory? Is Purgatory A Place Or A Process?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraphs 1030 to 1032, says the following about Purgatory:-
The Final Purification, or Purgatory
All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. the tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire.
As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.
This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: “Therefore Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.” From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:
Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.
With regard to whether it is a process, this is within the speculative realm of theology. The Church has not given any teaching on whether purgatory is instantaneous or it is a process. It could be both. For some, it might be instantaneous, but for other souls it may be drawn out. Now, it’s not going to be the duration or experience of time like we experience it in this life. Some theologians speculate and call it aeviternity, where you have a succession of instantaneous changes. It is not change in our sense of physical reality, where something is progressing from point A to point B.
You could very well have a succession of instantaneous changes. And so theologians have called this aeviternity. It’s not the eternity of God, and it’s not our experience of change in this life within the corporeal world, but it is some change nevertheless.
Now with regard to whether we can experience purgatory to some extent in this life; the answer is yes. When understood in this sense, remember, purgatory deals with those remnants of sin that impede us from entering into the beatific vision of God. So the question is: can we deal with those remnants of sin in this life? And the answer is yes. When you have the guilt of venial sin, you pray an act of contrition, with a sincere heart, you ask for God to forgive you, and the guilt of that venial sin will be removed.
Another example is if you have unhealthy attachments to created goods; you can reorder that through works of charity, works of love, fasting, abstinence, etc.
Finally, by undergoing any suffering in this life out of love, and offering it up to God, we can discharge any or some of the remaining debt of temporal punishment due for sin. If some is still remaining after this life, we go to purgatory. If it’s completely dealt with in this life, we go immediately to heaven.
