Purgatory is one of those distinctive beliefs of Catholics not shared by our Protestant brothers and sisters. And it is a belief on full display during the month of November as the Church dedicates herself in a special way to praying for the dead.
Catholics are encouraged to pray for the dead throughout the year, but November’s celebrations of All Saints and All Souls’ days, as well as all the natural signs of death that accompany the fall season, make this a most fitting month to remember those who have passed from this life. But why do we pray for them? This question gets to the heart of what purgatory is all about.
When explaining the doctrine of purgatory to those outside the Church, Catholics tend to point to a passage in 2 Maccabees calling it “a holy and pious thought” to make “atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sin” (2 Mac 12:45-46). The logic is simple. There is no need to pray for souls in heaven. And it would be useless to pray for souls in hell. So if the scriptures say it is “holy and pious” to pray for the dead, there must be some possible state in which souls can exist after death where our prayers may benefit them. That’s purgatory.
The only problem with this from an apologetics standpoint is that Protestants do not recognize the canonical validity of 2 Maccabees. The two historical books of Maccabees in the Old Testament belong to the deuterocanonical texts rejected by Protestant reformers in the 16th century, which also include the books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom and Sirach (Ecclesiasticus). Therefore an appeal to these texts for authority is ineffective. A better argument is needed.
2 Maccabees may contain the only explicit reference in scripture to praying for the dead, but in his second letter to Timothy, St. Paul offers a prayer for his departed friend Onesiphorous, saying, “May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day” (2 Tim 1:18). And the writings of the Church Fathers, both East and West – including St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Tertullian, St. Augustine, Origen and St. Clement of Alexandria – all show that praying for the dead was a common and consistent practice among early Christians.
But when a friend asks, “Why do Catholics believe in purgatory?” what do you say if you can’t quote the Fathers of the Church or remember the name Onesiphorous? I find the best way to explain purgatory to people is not necessary by appealing to scripture or tradition, but to common sense and the mercy of God.
Assuming I’m speaking with a Protestant Christian, I begin by affirming basic beliefs we hold in common, such as the forgiveness of sins. When we receive the grace of God’s forgiveness, we enter into His friendship, and if we die in God’s friendship, we will not go to hell. Catholics and Protestants also agree that nothing impure can enter heaven (see Rev 21:27).
So is being forgiven enough to make us pure? The honest answer is no. We don’t need to argue this point from scripture. People know this from experience. Even after God forgives our sins, the effects of our sins often linger, including our attachment to them. Being forgiven is not the same as being perfected. Recognizing this helps us to appreciate the difference between forgiveness and sanctification. Sanctification is the process of becoming holy (becoming like God). Forgiveness is the beginning of that process, not its end.
It all comes down to this: if you die having been forgiven by God, you are not going to hell. But if you are not yet perfectly pure, you cannot enter heaven. Therefore something must happen after death to complete your purification. That “something” is what the Church calls purgatory, from the Latin word “purgare,” which means “to purify.”
Purgatory is defined in the Catechism as “the final purification of the elect” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1031). “All who die in God’s grace and friendship,” the Catechism teaches, “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” (CCC 1030).
What would it mean if there were no purgatory? Either we would enter heaven while still impure (which would make heaven less heavenly), or we’d need to become completely pure during this life (which would make heaven pretty empty). The existence of purgatory is a testimony to God’s mercy.
That’s why my two favorite Bible verses to cite in support of purgatory aren’t the ones most apologists use, but to me they speak to the heart of what purgatory is all about. The first is St. Peter’s reminder that God’s patience is for our salvation (2 Pt 3:15) and the second is St. Paul’s assurance that God will bring to completion the good work He has begun in us (Phil 1:6). If that good work is not completed by the end of this life, God will bring it to completion in the life to come.
Deacon Matthew Newsome is the Catholic campus minister at Western Carolina University and the regional faith formation coordinator for the Smoky Mountain Vicariate.