Msg Base:  AREA 3  - ASK FATHER (AMDG)
  Msg No: 199.  Wed 12-16-92 20:04  (NO KILL)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Bill Grabbe
 Subject: Purgatory

BG|;rep:713,4324
  |I am a participant in many religious echos.  Most of them do not have
  |many (if any) Catholics on them.  In one discussion regarding Purgatory,
  |I was asked how the thief on the cross next to that of Jesus could have
  |gone to Heaven that day if he was going to have to make a stop in
  |Purgatory on the way?
 
BG|I dropped back and punted, "In Him, all things are possible."
 
BG|The response:  " If this is true then why would a person who has
  |accepted Christ go to purgatory for minor sins.  After all in him all
  |things are forgiven."
 
BG|The mechanics of Purgatory get awfully sticky, especially with such a
  |paucity of scripture on the subject.  Did the thief perform a perfect
  |act of contrition?  Was my first answer better than I think it was?
  |Your thoughts are apppreciated.
 
BG|Thank you in advance,
 
BG|Bill
 
Dear Bill,
 
St. Joseph Communications -- P.O. Box 720, West Covina, CA 91793-0720
(tel. 1-800-526-2151) publishes a set of tapes by Scott Hahn entitled
"Answering Common Objections" (order #5214).  One of these tapes is
"Purgatory: Holy Fire".  The whole set of 5 tapes costs $24.95 plus
$3.00 postage.  But I'd bet they would sell you just the one tape on
purgatory for $5.00 plus $3.00.  You could call, and I recommend it.
 
Who says the thief on the cross "was going to have to stop in
Purgatory on the way"?  That is not Catholic teaching.  Baptism in
adult age can erase one's whole debt of temporal punishment. So can
the sacrament of the anointing of the sick (James 5:14-15).  So can
an act of perfect love or of perfect contrition.
 
The Good Thief, as we call him, or Saint Dismas, "identified" with
Christ.  He perfectly humbled himself and he praised the Lord (Luke
23:41).  He prayed the Lord for salvation and final perseverance.  He
achieved such perfect union with the atoning death of Christ, that
all his sins and the temporal punishment due to them was forgiven at
once.  There was no need of Purgatory for him.  According to Catholic
tradition, martyrs for the faith go at once to heaven.  St. Augustine
said it would be an insult to pray for the martyrs.  One should at
once pray TO them.
 
Of course, in Christ all is forgiven.  He purchased our salvation
with his sacrificial death upon the Cross.  But we have our part to
play in union with and in subordination to Christ.  And part of our
part is to offer fitting atonement in Christ for our sins and so
remove with his cooperation the last vestiges of our selfishness and
sin.  When those are gone, we can enter Heaven.  Until then, if we
die before atonement is complete, we will suffer in Purgatory.
 
Some say, "But atonement is *already* complete -- Christ completed it."
Of course, he did radically and in principle.  But in you and me, the
application is not complete.  So St. Paul says, "In my flesh I am
filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ." (Col.
1:24).  What was lacking was that *Paul* should share the afflictions
of Christ both for himself and, vicariously, for others so that none
should be cast away.
 
It is Christ who is active in Purgatory, as He is active here on earth.
Our salvation comes from Him -- but according to His plan, not Luther's!
 
                                                Sincerely in Christ,
                                                        Father Mateo
 
.ORIGIN: 043/001 - THE ANGELUS,      -the Word became flesh                     
                                and made his dwelling among us -                
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