be done in heaven or hell, Christ must have had in mind another state––that
which the Church calls purgatory.
“Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to
court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the
guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out
till you have paid the last penny” (St. Luke 12:59).
The judge in this parable represents God, the accuser our neighbor. If we
have not reconciled with our neighbor before death, God will hold us
accountable for the wrong inflicted on him. However, it will be a
punishment that is only temporary, as implied by the words “you will never
get out till you have paid the last penny.”
St. Paul also writing his first letter to the Corinthians (3:13-15) says: “each
man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it
will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one
has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives,
he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer
loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”
The words “he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” indicate a
process of purification that takes place before the soul enters heaven. Some
Protestants argue that this verse does not refer to purgatory, for it is our
works and not our souls that will be tested by fire. This might appear to be
the case on the surface, nevertheless, it is the soul that will feel the
consequences of that testing. This is what St. Paul means when he says that
“he will receive a reward” and “he will suffer loss.”
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to
the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the
judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect” (Heb. 12:22-
23).
The ‘heavenly Jerusalem’ is inhabited by ‘innumerable angels’ and ‘the
spirits of the righteous made perfect.’ These spirits are the souls of the Just,
made perfect by the merits of Christ applied through the mysterious
purifying process the Church calls purgatory.
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