Guestbook Message Record #22 T0 Mark Henninger FROM: Pennsylvania USA Dated:12-09-1998 I will try to respond to your statement about PURGATORY and LATIN. I will attempt to do this with the help of the following Catholic Sources that I hope will give you a satisfactory reply to your statements on subjects about Latin and Purgatory that explains it this way. This page will cover these "two subjects" that this GUEST has mentioned. PURGATORY AND LATIN. I will respond to the Latin message first with the explaination from The Catholic Encylopedia
LATIN The Catholic Encylopedia says this about the Latin Lanuage in the Church. LANGUAGES OF THE CHURCH There are many liturgical languages of the Church, including Ge'ez, Syriac, Greek, Arabic and Old Slavonic among the Eastern Churches and Latin in the Roman Rite. Vatican II's Constitution on the Liturgy declared that the Latin language was to be preserved in the Latin Rites, although it allowed for the use of the vrnacular for the sake of the faithful.
The next subject is PURGATORY 
The Catholic Dictionary says this of Purgatory. The state or condition of cleansing for one who dies in God's friendship ("state of grace"), but who still has sins or temporal punishment for which to atone. Neither the nature nor the duration of purgatory is specified in Catholic doctrine; however, the existence of purgatory is a dogma of the Faith. The faithful are encouraged to assist the "poor souls" by their prayers and penances. The Catholic Encyclopedia says this of Purgatory. Based on the Judaeo-Christian concept of the efficacy of prayers for the dead (2 Mc 12:42-45, purgatory is the condition or state for those who have not wholly alienated themselves from God by their sins, but who are temporarily and partially alienated from God while their love is made perfect and they give satisfaction for their sins. Catholic belief also holds that the prayers of the faithful on earth for those who are in purgatory are efficacious (DS 854,1304,1820). The official teachings of he Church do not specify the nature of the punishment of purgatory nor the duration of punishment of those in purgatory. Catholic belief affirms that there are fires in purgatory, but these fires should be considered different from those of hell, as the consequence of the fires of purgatory is purification and ultimate union with God (DS 854). Those in purgatory are different from the damned because they are essentially in union with God, albeit an imperfect union and purgatory makes their union perfect. Purgatory cleanses venial sins, imperfections, faults and flaws, and remits the temporal punishment of mortal sins that have been forgiven in the sacrament of Penance. Also, purgatory is a temporally limited condition, existing only until the Last Judgment. The Reformers ultimately made a complete and total rejection of purgatory, and in so doing created significant problems in their accounts of the last things. Denying its existence forced them to hold that sins for which satisfaction had not been given were abolished without satisfaction. They were forced to hold either that sinners had their minor sins remitted with no satisfaction, or that this did not occur and that they were condemned for all eternity. The Greek Christians reject the idea of there being a fire of purgatory or of there being an immediate retribution for one's sins. They regard the last universal Judgment as the only consummation and individual judgments are either wholly rejected or are of minor importance for them. They believe that all (including the Virgin Mary and the Apostles) undergo the final fire, and they could only accept with reservation a particular judgment after death. The Catholic Catechism says this about Purgatory: The final purification or purgatory: 1030: 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. 1031: The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which entirely different from the punishment of the damned.604 The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire.605 As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in the age, but certain others in the age to come.606 1032: This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture; "Therefore {Judas Maccabeus} made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin."607 From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. 608 The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead. Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.609 |
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