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Purgatory: The Purifying Fire of God’s Love

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is prudence.

– Proverbs 9:10

Today is All Souls’ Day. The Catholic Encyclopedia defines the feast as follows:

The commemoration of all the faithful departed is celebrated by the Church on 2 November … The theological basis for the feast is the doctrine that the souls which, on departing from the body, are not perfectly cleansed from venial sins, or have not fully atoned for past transgressions, are debarred from the Beatific Vision, and that the faithful on earth can help them by prayers, alms, deeds and especially by the Sacrifice of the Mass.

Commemoration of the souls of the departed at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass traces its inception back to the time of the apostles. The Council of Trent’s 25th session included a decree on Purgatory which formalized what the Church had long believed:

Whereas the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost, has, from the sacred writings and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, taught, in sacred councils, and very recently in this oecumenical Synod, that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls there detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but principally by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar; the holy Synod enjoins on bishops that they diligently endeavour that the sound doctrine concerning Purgatory, transmitted by the holy Fathers and sacred councils, be believed, maintained, taught, and everywhere proclaimed by the faithful of Christ. … But let the bishops take care, that the suffrages of the faithful who are living, to wit the sacrifices of masses, prayers, alms, and other works of piety, which have been wont to be performed by the faithful for the other faithful departed, be piously and devoutly performed, in accordance with the institutes of the church; and that whatsoever is due on their behalf, from the endowments of testators, or in other way, be discharged, not in a perfunctory manner, but diligently and accurately, by the priests and ministers of the church, and others who are bound to render this (service).

Belief in Purgatory is not optional for Catholics. It is a real place, and one with which many of us, if we are fortunate, will find ourselves familiar. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#1030) makes this simple assertion about the nature of 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.

We believe that the soul cannot attain heaven until every attachment to sin has been cleansed. It is impossible to be in perfect union with God while these vestiges of earthy corruption remain. Even a person who dies in a state of grace, having received the Last Rites of the Church may yet spend time in Purgatory before joining Our Lord in the Beatific Vision.

But there is much more worth knowing about this eschatological destination than we can glean from a technical understanding – particularly if we wish to live lives worthy of eternal felicity. It is not merely an ante-chamber to heaven, a sort of eternal waiting room whereupon we will await the healing touch of the Divine Physician. We know from the many saints who have had visions and experiences of Purgatory that it is a place of active and painful purification – an experience best avoided, if possible, despite the indescribable joy of the souls who find themselves there, assured of their salvation.

St. Catherine of Genoa, a 15th-century mystic who experienced Purgatory on earth, is considered the “theologian of purgatory.” Of the experience of Purgatory, she wrote:

When God sees the Soul pure as it was in its origins, He tugs at it with a glance, draws it and binds it to Himself with a fiery love that by itself could annihilate the immortal soul. In so acting, God so transforms the soul in Him that it knows nothing other than God; and He continues to draw it up into His fiery love until He restores it to that pure state from which it first issued. These rays purify and then annihilate. The soul becomes like gold that becomes purer as it is fired, all dross being cast out. Having come to the point of twenty-four carats, gold cannot be purified any further; and this is what happens to the soul in the fire of God’s love.

It isn’t difficult to imagine how this process of purgation would be at the same time be both rapturous and excruciating. As imperfections are literally burned away, the pain of the soul is balmed by an ever-increasing nearness to God and his all-consuming love. In fact, St. Catherine tells us:

“The greatest suffering of the souls in purgatory, it seems to me, is the awareness that something in them displeases God, that they have deliberately gone against His great goodness … I can also see … that the divine essence is so pure and light-filled — much more than we can imagine — that the soul that has but the slightest imperfection would rather throw itself into a thousand hells than appear thus before the divine presence.” Hence “the soul … aware that the impediment it faces cannot be removed in any other way, hurls itself into Purgatory …. That is why the soul seeks to cast off any and all impediments so it can be lifted up to God.”

(As cited in the book, Hungry Souls: Supernatural Visits, Messages, and Warnings from Purgatory, p. 41)

Armed with a knowledge of Purgatory, it is our job to bring an understanding of its rather stark reality to our modern world. We must do this in order to assist our fellow Catholics (and those we strive to convert) to live righteously, so as to attain this place whereof they are assured of salvation, and if possible shorten the time they may spend suffering there. After all, it is the task of the Church Militant on earth to free the Church Suffering from Purgatory, who in turn pray for our sanctification. They desire ardently to have our sacrifices and supplications, since they have no power, by their own prayer, to free themselves. As Our Lord said to St. Gertrude, “it would not be in opposition to my justice to release them [the souls]  immediately, if you would confidently pray for this purpose.”

We make it very difficult, however, to convince people to pray for these poor souls when we grant our deceased loved ones the assumption of instant sainthood – a false consolation for ourselves, and an unjust deprivation of needed graces for the departed. How often have we attended Catholic funerals, only to hear the priest say that the departed is “now with Jesus in heaven,” or to be confronted with similar platitudes (despite the prohibition of the Church) from grieving loved ones given an opportunity to speak? It often seems that we have skipped our lessons from the Church on the Last Things — death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell — which offer us no guarantees that we will go straight to Heaven after the particular judgment. In fact, it would seem, according to the Church’s long-held understanding, that such a happy occurrence is enjoyed by a select few. The majority of us, if we live well, will yet find ourselves subjected to the refiner’s fire.

In a culture where we have turned victimhood into a status symbol, where hurt feelings are to be avoided at all costs, where we hear the incessant refrain, “Who am I  to judge?”, where the faithful who live by close adherence to the Church’s teachings are accused of being “Pharisaical”, and where the license to choose and engage in every conceivable form of vice is treated with the reverence due to a cardinal virtue, we are confronted with the urgent need to instill in ourselves and in our fellow men a sense of objective reality. St. Thomas Aquinas defines love as “to wish good to someone.” How can we will the good of another if we are afraid to tell them the truth?

If a child is fatally allergic to peanuts, but craves peanut butter, do we love them by handing them a jar and a spoon? If a friend is insistent that they can drive home, despite being obviously drunk, do we love them by giving them the keys and sending them on their way? If a coworker is speaking in glowing terms about moving in with a boyfriend or girlfriend, do we love them by smiling and telling them how happy we are are for them?

Just before this article was published, a young woman committed suicide rather than enduring with courage the suffering imposed by her cancer. The reaction to her death echoed that surrounding the suicide of the famed comedian and actor, Robin Williams. We were admonished not to criticize, not to presume to understand what they were going through, and most importantly, not to judge.

And truthfully, it is not our place to judge. But this should not be taken to mean that these individuals will face no judgment. They will be judged by the Supreme Judge, the Author of Truth, who will unquestionably show His mercy, but will just as undoubtedly accuse them of their unrepented sins, according to His justice. The Judgment Seat of Christ is something we will all face, and it will be a terrible thing to behold. There will be nothing left hidden; there will be no place to escape from our shame. Seeing ourselves through God’s eyes means understanding, in a way more profound than mere nakedness can explain, why Adam and Eve felt compelled to cover themselves in the Garden after the Fall.

This is why the task does fall to us to call others to conversion. We may not judge souls — a task which belongs to God alone — but we may, and should, judge actions. We have been given the teachings of the law in order that we may properly form our conscience, and by the light of its guidance keep our feet on the narrow path that leads to heaven. When we see a man who has fallen from this path, how can it be considered cruel to pour oil and wine into his wounds, and to bind them, and to see to his convalescence? Is it mercy to allow a man to die in his sins? We know the answer! Christ Himself made it plain when he told the parable of the Good Samaritan:

Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Go and do likewise. This is the command of love – and of true mercy. We are called not just to kindness, but to correction. We are called to try to get as many people to heaven as possible. We should yet rejoice if, falling short, any of these souls must spend some time in Purgatory first along the way.

And for those souls languishing there, we must remember the same charity we hope will be offered by the living on our behalf if we find ourselves in that place. Prayer, fasting, penance, masses said for their souls. Plenary indulgences can also be gained for the faithful departed during the week of All Souls’ Day. Do not forget them! Do not assume that after a few years of prayer, your loved ones must have surely paid their debts! Our Lady told Sister Lucia at Fatima that one of the girls from her town who had died would be in Purgatory “until the end of the world.” Do we assume that we, or those we love, are so holy that we will escape this same fate?

When we arrive at our judgment, the truth of our lives will be made clear. Let us pray for each other, that we may suffer no worse fate than the purifying fire of God’s love, so that, confronted by our just Judge, we will with both rejoicing and sadness cry out like the psalmist:

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.

You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

 

Originally published on November 4, 2014. 

31 thoughts on “Purgatory: The Purifying Fire of God’s Love”

  1. Interesting article… Can you cite for me Scripture that supports the assumption of Purgatory? Regardless of what Canon states or the findings of the Council of Trent if it isn’t in Scripture, its not true. There is nothing in the Council of Trent’s minutes of the 25th Session that cites anywhere Scripture. Jesus made it very clear that the A) we all fall short of the sight of God; B) that the “Wages of Sin is Death”. There was never anything in His statements anywhere that alludes to a conditional place describing Purgatory.

    Reply
    • I’ll get right on that – just as soon as you find me the Scripture that says that anything that’s not contained in Scripture is not true.

      And while you’re at it, can you explain the origin of the New Testament, and how that came to be? And by what authority the apocryphal books were excluded?

      Reply
      • I’d say the reason the Apocryphal books were excluded is because they contradicted the Biblical Scripture. However, certain Church doctrines depend on it because the New Testament doesn’t support it.

        Catechism I attended NEVER taught this… probably because the disagreed with the Council of Trent’s adoption of it and the notion of Purgatory.

        http://www.bible.ca/catholic-apocrypha.htm

        Reply
        • Purgatory is so intrinsic to human nature that it surpasses this temporal existence. Remorse is so natural in humans that even when forgiven here on earth we not only rejoice, but look to make up for our transgression. Guilt is not a quality of Heaven, nor is it a quality in Hell for those that find themselves there are NOT remorseful, but continue to blame others, including God for not understanding or setting them up! Purging the sin is purging the guilt that accompanies it in the remorseful. It is so natural that it is supernatural. Once purged, the Heaven awaits.

          Reply
          • Nothing in either the New or Old Testaments supports purgatory… only the Apocrypha which was rejected by the early Church fathers. The Old Testament supports the New, and the New references the Old repeatedly… and neither every cite the Apocryphal texts (Macc, etc.)There is NOTHING in these heretical books(Apocrypha) that is supported by either. Even King James himself said they were blasphemy.

            The Lord is exceptionally adept at maintaining His own Word and the reason its not widely adopted is because it is widely rejected and NOT the Word of God.

            Gents, I implore you to explore why these texts are rejected and not blindly accept the word of Man over that of God. The Pope and the Church are now calling the prophet of Islam a man of God and holding Islamic prayers at the Vatican… Really?!! If this is accepted as canon which obviously flies in the face of history would you go along with that as well? (Come to think of it the Lumen Gentium pretty much does this in Ch 2.)

            I was quite curious why Purgatory continues to sporadically turn up and your citations have given me pause on its origin. Now after researching this topic, I can see why the Church has gone off the rails. Matthew 24:15 seems to have long legs in this context.

            Thanks for the insight.

          • And who complied the Bible? The Catholic Church. The word Bible isn’t even in the Bible. Does that mean that it is not the Bible because it is not mentioned in scripture?

          • You are a worker of evil and there is not one man here who is interested in employing you.

            http://www.scripturecatholic.com/purgatory.html

            1
            Tim 3
            If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to the sound words of our
            Lord Jesus Christ, and to that doctrine which is according to piety: He is proud, knowing nothing, but sick about questions and strifes of
            words: from which arise envies, contentions, blasphemies, evil
            suspicions,

            2 Tim 3

            1
            Know also this, that, *in the last days, shall come dangerous times:
            Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud,
            blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked,
            Without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent,
            unmerciful, without kindness,
            Traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of
            God: Having an appearance indeed of piety, but denying the power thereof.
            Now these avoid: For of this sort are they who creep into houses, and lead captive silly women loaded with sins, who are led away with divers desires:
            Always learning, and never attaining to the knowledge of the truth.

            Titus 3
            A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition,
            avoid: Knowing that he that is such an one, is subverted, and sinneth, being
            condemned by his own judgment.

            Romans
            16:17
            Now I beseech you, brethren, to mark them who cause dissensions and
            offences, contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid
            thee.
            For they that are such, serve not Christ, our Lord, but their own
            belly: and by pleasing speeches, and good words, seduce the hearts of
            the innocent.

            2 john 9 Every one who recedeth, and continueth not in the doctrine of
            Christ, hath not God: he that continueth in the doctrine, he hath
            both the Father and the Son.
            If any man come to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not
            into the house, nor say to him, Hail. For he that saith unto him, Hail, communicateth with his wicked works

            phil 3 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.

    • Christ’s blood redeems us and vouchsafes us. Without Christ we would surely go to Hell. But, as it is written in Revelation. nothing unclean can enter Heaven. You confuse Mortal Sin with an attachment to Sin, Vice, and things of this world. Our soul is wiped clean from the blot of Sin; but for most of us, our Souls remain attached to those “unclean” vices and sins. So, a soul is saved from Hell, but it still cannot enter Heaven. It must still be purified of those carnal attachments. This was the belief of the Church well before there was a Canon (i.e. a Bible).

      Now for the all important Biblical references:

      2 Maccabees 12:46; Matthew 5:26, Luke 12:59; Revelation 21:27; James 2:26 ; Matthew 12:32; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15; Matt. 3:12; 2 Thess. 1:7-8;

      Those are just a few. The Church Fathers also mention Purgatory, and we know that some of the earliest Christians prayed for the Dead. Finally, the Jews during the time of Christ also prayed for their Dead.

      Reply
    • 1 thess 4;3
      For the rest therefore, brethren, we pray and beseech you in the Lord
      Jesus, that as you have received from us, how you ought to walk, and
      to please God, so also you would walk, that you may abound the more.
      For you know what commandments I have given to you by the Lord Jesus.
      For this is the will of God, your sanctification:

      john 6:54
      Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you: Unless you eat the
      flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life
      in you

      Yankee. Unless you are become a Catholic and participate in the Sacramental System established by Jesus then sanctification will be impossible for you and you will never have life in you and so even Purgatory will be out of reach for you – say nothing about Heaven.

      Reply
      • I was raised a Catholic… The problem I have is doctrine that is pushed that flies in the face of Gospel….

        2 Mac 12:43-46 — ??? Not a book of the Bible.

        1 Cor 3:15 says nothing about a place outside the presence of God (Nor does the context of the chapter lead you to that conclusion).

        Luke 12:59 – Again, though a parable, the context does not get there to identify a place separate from God that is described by the Church as Purgatory.

        1 Peter 1:7 – Again… not the context. Faith will be tested here, not in the next. All will face trial of faith. Again not the context that describes Purgatory.

        Matthew 5:25-26 – A parallel of Luke 12:59… Still doesn’t get there to ‘Purgatory’

        Hebrews 12:23 – This does not speak to the doctrine of Purgatory. In fact, it appears as the exact opposite.

        Matthew 12:32 – Really? The context here is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit is eternal damnation. There is no forgiveness of this sin. How does one pay a time in a place separate from God then enter into His presence? I don’t see it there.

        Rev 21:27 – What I see here and the context of its previous passages is a description of the City and Jesus as King. Again… nothing related to ‘Purgatory.

        Col: 1:24 — Again… nothing here that speaks to the doctrine of Purgatory

        The concept of Purgatory flies in the face of what Jesus had said regarding the “Wages of sin is death”. The Blood of Christ washes away our sins. We are either forgiven or we are not… if we still retain sin despite that forgiveness after our death then the Price that Christ paid on the Cross, and His death and resurrection was meaningless.

        Reply
        • Yankee. You do appear have a weakness in reading comprehension and M.J. would have been wise to have followed the example of Mr. Skojec when he aptly responded to you.

          That aside, as a former Catholic, these words apply to you: 2 John 9: Whoever recedeth, and continueth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God;…

          It is quite clear that your understanding of the Bible is anchored in the polemical eisegesis of the 16th century revolutionaries and it is an anchor that is dragging you down into hell.

          Repent while you still have time.

          Reply
        • “The Blood of Christ washes away our sins. We are either forgiven or we
          are not… if we still retain sin despite that forgiveness after our
          death then the Price that Christ paid on the Cross, and His death and
          resurrection was meaningless.”

          You’re offering up a straw man. Catholics do believe that Christ died for our Sins. Nothing you wrote goes against Catholic teaching. For Catholics do believe that Christ is the Redeemer, whose sacrifice delivers us from Hell. However, that doesn’t mean our Souls are in fact totally, perfectly clean. Unless a person dies in a state of Perfect Contrition, whose soul is purged of all desires, attachments, and imperfections caused by sin, that person cannot enter Heaven. He is not destined for Hell; but God cannot allow him to enter into Heaven.

          What you argue is that Christ will annihilate the individual’s soul upon death and transform that Soul into something different. You, Mr YankeeThinker, are probably no different than the rest of us; your love for Christ is imperfect; you still retain some vestiges of pride. Your love for God is deficient in some way. You may have attachments to sin (large or small, Mortal or Venial). But, you are you imperfections and all. Unless Christ destroys your soul and transforms it into something perfect you cannot enter into Heaven. But, Christ loves you as you and not some manufactured you. Purgatory cleanses or purges the attachments to sin away until your soul is in a state God intended it to be before the Fall. Your soul remains intact and perfected.

          Purgatory in this sense is an extension of Christ’s Mercy. For it is Christ’s purging fires that perfect us. By the way, one doesn’t have to go through Purgatory. One can live ones Purgatory here on earth. One must die in a state of perfection, of perfect contrition.

          By the way, the Bible in no way mentions the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The belief in Purgatory preceded the Canon by 300 years. The practice of prayers for the Dead can be traced to the earliest of Christian times. Jewish people believed in it and practiced prayers for the Dead. Orthodox Jews continue this practice to this very day.

          Reply
        • You’ve been listening to too many tent preachers. Consult some solid Catholic apologists (many of them currently are former Protestants who came to realize they’d been had) for straight information.

          Reply
        • Just one point… (of very many possible points.)

          Are you saying that when Jesus typed the bible and it fell from Heaven onto Luther’s lap, that Maccabees wasnt in it?

          In all seriousness, though, the scripture Luther received did have two books of Maccabees that HE, INDEPENDENTLY decided did not belong there and together with other books, cut them from his bible.

          Do you know why?

          Reply
      • So…”Mighty Joe Young”,is it? Hmm…You know, at 60 years old,there is not a lot that surprises me anymore, but the umitigated gall, the sheer hubris of some catholics…I want to be charitable here and just put your comments down as Scriptural ignorance, Joe, but I’m struggling here, help me out.Can you show us in Scripture were it says only Catholics will go to Heaven? Where will Christians go? Where did Jesus say a “sacramental system”is our Saviour? When did Our Lord submit Himself, limit Himself to any particular religious system that is a necessity for our salvation? Because when all is said and done, roman catholicism has developed over the centuries into a bogus, contrived, man-centered, pseudo – theological construct, a sort of bizarre, millennia-long, pseudo-spiritual ” Stockholm Syndrome ” that has millions of peoples’ souls in quasi-religious bondage.The great Apostle Paul said in Galatians 5 : 1that…”Christ has liberated us into freedom. Therefore stand firm and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery”…I’m not trying to offend here, Joe, but I have studied the roman catholic religious system (and am still studying it, obviously.) for the past 25 years, and I am firmly convinced that it is indeed a yoke of bondage and slavery. I could say more, but I will leave you with this: divest yourself of the arrogance and judging,Joe; it makes you look silly, O.K? Neither you, your church, or your pope, Boniface VIII’s”Unam Sanctum”notwithstanding, are my Saviour,my God, my King, or my Judge.I have been a born-again,blood-bought, Spirit-filled, Spirit-led child of Almighty God for 38 years,and as long as JESUS IS LORD, I shall remind so, and I need not consult ANY human being, living or dead, for that to be 1,000% true. I’ll take Jesus’ Word for it:”MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE, AND I KNOW THEM AND THEY FOLLOW ME.I GIVE UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE, AND THEY WILL NEVER PERISH ” (John 10 : 27, 28)—PEACE IN HIM!

        Reply
        • L. C. Ringo. All those passages from the New Testament (every single word of which was written by a Catholic to other Catholics in an already existing Catholic Church; that is, the Church preceded the New Testament) that you find so wounding?

          Put some once on it.

          Reply
          • Yeah…You’re obviously living in your own fantasy world, Joe, so I’ll end the charade and wish you a blessed day, O.K?[ WOW…The New Testament, written by Catholics.I bet the great Apostle Paul would be tickled to hear THAT one, LOL! Seek professional help, dude . Seriously.]—-Yours in Christ, and peace.

          • No, you managed to twist Mr. Young’s words in true Protestant fashion; that’s the reason you have been ”getting it wrong consistently since 1517.” The NT of course was written by Catholics, but more telling, the entire Bible was put in its present form by the Church; she and not Luther or any of his cohort of Johnny-come-latelies decided which books were canonical and which not. Luther and company merely decided what books they needed to suppress in order to foist their irrational heresy on an unsuspecting public.

          • You claim to have been studying the Catholic Church for 25 years, and all you can demonstrate is that you still know and understand absolutely nothing about Her.

          • Well,that’s easily remedied,Phil…I’ll give you just one.Prove to me that the great Apostle Paul ever referred to,or considered himself”catholic” in the sense most catholics think of that particular term,and you’ll have made your point.Sure,one can assume that he perhaps considered himself enfolded within the growing Body of Christ,whatever it called itself at the time of his (Paul’s) conversion,but “catholic” is NOT how Paul described himself in Philippians 3: 4-10.

        • You know, at 60 years old,there is not a lot that surprises me anymore, but the umitigated gall, the sheer hubris of some catholics..

          One unmistakable sign of inane modernity is when a man clearly corrupted by cacodoxy accuses Catholics of hubris and error when all a Catholic does is hear the Church Jesus established (Matt 16:18) and a Catholic, in hearing the Church Jesus established, hears Jesus Himself (Luke 10:16) whereas a prot like your own self rejects Jesus because you rejects His Church (Luke 10:16 ).

          Ignorant men like you are their own worst enemies and men like you are reading the Bible wearing ideological blinders which keep the clear truth from you and men like you barely know the bible at all even though you have memorised the polemical eisegesis of the 16th century enemies of Jesus.

          When it comes to purgatory, we Catholics have Church, Tradition, and Scripture (not to mention orthodox geniuses like Augustine, Athanasius, Aquinas, and Ambrose -and those are just the As) whereas y’all have aught but the anti Christ claims of the 16th century revolutionaries which automatically gainsaid all that went before the 16th century destroyers.

          Look, you are welcome to your lies and heresies for, contrary to what your fat vulgar vow-breaking gnostic drunk Luther claimed, you do have free will but this is a Blog for knowledgeable faithful Christians not errorl-peddling proddies who preen about how they know the truth but the Church Jesus established does not.

          O, and M.Jl is just writing for his own self and certainly not Mr. Skojec who is much kinder and far more polite but M.J. is fed-up with men ignorant of the truth who presume to correct the one true Catholic Church.

          There are all manner of Catholic Apologetical Blogs and Sites which have all manner of biblical links sourcing every single Catholic Doctrine but y’all are not interested in the truth.

          Besides, the New Testament tells us to ignore and shun heretics like you

          Adios to you and your ilk

          Reply
          • Kinda slow today, aren’t we “Mighty Joe”? Obviously I touched a nerve, since you didn’t really answer any of my questions. You’ve drank so deeply of the catholic Kool-aid, I’m not sure that you are capable of independent thought any longer; you are, after all, required to…”willfully submit your will and intellect”…to your presumed ecclesiastical masters, I.e., the so-called magisterium, right? Naturally that would preclude any right to actually question whether what you’ve had drilled into your head is in fact true; you find yourself the victim of what I’ve referred to as a sort of quasi-theological”Stockholm Syndrome ” (although at this point you can’t recognize it as such.),so in pseudo – theological lock-step with your presumed betters (said ” magisterium”) that you would literally be lost if they didn’t tell you what to believe, think, or say.How sadly pathetic, Joe. Be blessed, my friend. I’M DONE, O.K?

        • “… a bogus, contrived, man-centered, pseudo – theological construct, a sort of bizarre, millennia-long, pseudo-spiritual ” Stockholm Syndrome ” that has millions of peoples’ souls in quasi-religious bondage….” This, mon ami, is about as succinct a description of the Protestant disaster as could be penned. Once “free” from Rome, Protestantism has continued dizzily on the road to perdition ever since, the hazardous trail mapped out for them by the heretic Luther and monstrous Calvin of Geneva.

          Reply
    • There’s always 1 Cor 3:15. Surely that is strengthened by maccabees. But by the right you ascribe to Luther to cut out scripture you dislike, surely you can cut out Corinthians as well.

      Reply
  2. YES, I KNOW NOVEMBER

    Yes, I know November

    The tolling of the bell,

    The whispers of the suf’ring souls

    From mountain top to dell.

    The chilly, gray, damp mornings

    The rusting of the leaves,

    The whispers of the suf’ring souls

    Like moans from one who grieves.

    And in the windy noon-time

    When clouds fight ‘gainst sun’s might,

    The whispers of the suf’ring souls

    Cry, “Sanctuary light!”

    So ‘fore the red-glassed candle,

    Compelled I go to pray,

    The whispers of the suf’ring souls

    Plead, “Sacrifice today!”

    Now deep, dark sanctuary

    Is lit by candle bold,

    The whispers of the suf’ring souls…

    “Your prayers are autumn gold!”

    So like the leaves of autumn

    I fall to kneeling posture

    The whispers of the suf’ring souls

    Beg, “Say a Pater Noster!”

    The flicker in the red glass

    Burns hotter now with Creed.

    Oh, yes, I know November!

    The month of Hope…souls freed!

    Reply

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