Thinking About Purgatory

Pastor’s Column

All Souls’ Day 

November 2, 2025

Last year, I was sick with laryngitis no less than three times (8 weeks off) and so found myself needing to cancel every commitment involving speaking, which for a priest, is just about everything. Being sick is a kind of mini-death in a way. Losing one’s voice is not lethal nor terminal, yet to be otherwise healthy and yet unable to function was a kind of purgatory.   

What is purgatory? Is it biblical? Do Catholics still believe in this? While the word itself is not in the Bible (neither is the word “Trinity”), the reality is taught quite clearly by Christ. Those who are in the place after death that the Church calls “purgatory” are saved and are going to heaven, but they have died with issues they did not adequately deal with while on earth. The church did not begin to pray for the dead during the middle ages, but did so from its earliest days. Eucharistic prayers preserved from the early second century already include prayers for the dead, just as we do. If heaven and hell are the only two realities after death, there is no need for us to pray for the dead, but in fact, some of the dead do need our prayers.  

When we pray for the souls in purgatory, they will in turn pray for us. Our relatives and friends who have died see quite clearly what life is really all about and how much they were loved by Christ, but they are not permitted to speak to us from the next world. This would violate our own test of faith that we are still undergoing while in life on earth. They can, however, pray to God for us, that we might have insight and wisdom on our own life journey.

In Matthew 12:32, Christ makes it clear that some sins can be forgiven after death. Also, in Luke 12:59, Jesus advises us to settle our account with God while still on earth, because if we wait until we see him face to face, the cost is going to go up. This scripture points out that if we settle out of court with God now in this life, Christ is willing to pay the whole cost of our sins by his death on the cross. What a good deal! Jesus pays the price so that we don’t have to. But we must accept his offer: by being baptized (which washes away our sins) and by repenting of our ongoing sins, and by using the great Sacrament of Confession Christ has given us.

Again, in Luke 12:59 Christ points out that if we wait until after death, we are liable to be thrown into “jail” (this is not “hell” because those who go there eventually leave), where we will not get out until we have paid the last penny. Once we see Jesus and he explains everything to us, the price will go up. It’s a little like investing in the stock market. Anyone could be a good investor if they had a time machine and could see how things turned out, but life is not like that. We must invest in Christ with faith before he explains our whole life to us, before he reveals the full extent of his deep love for us. But if we wait until we see Christ to buy stock in him, he warns us that the price will be higher. The Church gives us so much help, if we can only have the eyes to see a good deal before the price goes up. 

Father Gary