In her wisdom, the Church turns our minds and hearts toward the reality of death each November. We begin with the Solemnity of All Saints, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, and continue with prayers and sacrifices for the Holy Souls in Purgatory throughout the month.
Go to the grave, there contemplate dust, ashes, worms, and sigh! (St. John Chrysostom)
In the secular world, October is the time for looking into the grave. We Catholics wait for the feasts of November to begin our contemplation, our sighing. St. John’s words are mild compared to others in our Catholic tradition, such as those of St. Alphonsus Liguori, who deepens our contemplation with visions of mold, slime, and rats.
We tend to ignore and even fear our own certain demise, but why? Fr. Bernard Confer, O.P., offers, “Because (death) is so final, so disruptive, so inescapable. All that we have ever known we must leave behind, and face—what, we ask? Who knows?”
Between the worms and the unknowing, our hearts must fly to Jesus, our Savior and our Hope. Fr. Confer continues, “[but] our very natural and understandable apprehension in the face of death is tempered by our faith in Christ.” Preparing our hearts and minds for that final swan dive of surrender into God’s loving hands is the background story of our November liturgical life.
Leaving All We Know for Something Infinitely Better
When we were in utero, we were comfortable and happy until we were expelled from the only home we ever knew in a rather violent and traumatic manner. We would never consider trading the richness of this life of love, friendship, work, worship, creation, and challenge to return to the womb. Similarly, we will one day leave this world. For those of us striving to live in a state of grace through a sacramental life, we will face the similarly traumatic transition of death into Heaven, or into Heaven’s antechamber, Purgatory.
As the old saying goes, we should aim for Heaven instead of Purgatory, because if we miss Heaven, we hit Purgatory, whereas if we miss Purgatory, we wind up in Hell. This is good advice, but we know that many souls do pass through Purgatory. Given this truth, November is a good time to ponder its purpose.
The Beatific Vision
In Catholic theology the term Beatific Vision refers to the direct, unmediated, face-to-face contemplation of God in His divine essence by the blessed in Heaven. It is a spiritual reality where we see God as He truly is. Beholding God’s essence will fulfill the deepest longing of our souls while giving us eternal and supreme happiness. This vision is an experience of the soul rather than a literal physical sight with human eyes. The soul’s capacities are elevated by divine grace through the process of purgation.
In 1336 Pope Benedict XII defined this doctrine with his apostolic constitution, Benedictus Deus. This brief document confirmed the long-held belief that the souls of the righteous see the divine essence face-to-face immediately after death, or after the purification of Purgatory, without needing to wait until the final resurrection. Purgatory, for many if not most souls, will be the way we enter our ultimate end, beholding God face-to-face and for all time.
Lasik for Our Heavenly Eyesight
But you cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live. (Ex. 33:20)
Because the Church explains the incomprehensible reality of Heavenly bliss with an analogy for “vision,” a helpful analogy of Purgatory could be Lasik surgery for our earthly glaucoma. Throughout a life of sins and attachments, our ability to see God as He is becomes clouded and distorted. Purgatory offers us a way to replace our cloudy spiritual lenses with better-than-ever versions.
Son of David, have pity on me. What do you want me to do for you? Lord, restore my sight. (Antiphon for the Canticle of Zechariah, the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B)
During Lasik surgery, patients must keep their eyes open. In the spiritual equivalent, we will not be able to look away from our sins, faults, failings, and earthly attachments. It will be uncomfortable and even painful. But the glorious result is clear vision. Our entire being will be transformed, and our eyesight, our “beatific vision,” will become permanently 20/20. We will see ourselves as we truly are and, with true penitence and deep confidence, throw ourselves on Jesus’ mercy. With our transformed vision, we will become capable of seeing God as He truly is, capable of beholding the Beatific Vision.
Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God. (Mt. 5:8)
In Purgatory, as we look at and acknowledge all our failings, our hearts are purified and readied for the union with God which the Beatific Vision describes. When November comes around each year, we are offered the opportunity to renew our efforts to continually see as God sees. The world tempts us to spend ourselves and our lives on things that ultimately have no eternal consequence. God’s Holy Will, on the other hand, constantly draws us toward Him through serving Him and His people. The process of living a prayerful, sacramental life will not only serve us well in this life, but in the next.
The practice of a Daily Examen trains our spiritual eyes away from all that clouds them and trains them toward God’s vision. This, or a similar daily practice, will yield purity of heart in the here-and-now. It will also prepare us for that moment when we must let go of this life and beg Our Lord for the mercy He longs to give. In November we can recommit to this practice, which is like a daily purgation of earthly grunge, restoring our Heavenly vision.
All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory… (2 Cor. 3:18)
Purgatory Is Mercy
Yes, we aim for Heaven, not Purgatory. Yes, we strive to cooperate with God’s will as best we can in this life for His glory, for the salvation of souls, and for our own good. But in the end, we assent to the truth that God has given us the gift of Purgatory, much like the difficult gift of earthly suffering, for our eternal good. Should we end up in Purgatory, praise God for His mercy. Every last stray thought and impulse that is not holy will be purged from our minds and hearts. The transition from this life to the next will yield the ultimate, eternal gift: the Beatific Vision.
Purgatory basically means that God can put the pieces back together again. That He can cleanse us in such a way that we are able to be with Him and can stand there in the fullness of life. Purgatory strips off from one person what is unbearable and from another the inability to bear certain things, so that in each of them a pure heart is revealed, and we can see that we all belong together in one enormous symphony of being. (Pope Benedict XVI)
Image from Wikimedia Commons
