10/31/2019 0 Comments Nails In Our Souls This week, we learned about the three parts of the Communion of Saints. The first, and probably most obvious part is the Saints in Heaven. Second, is the “Church Militant” which is the church here on earth. And the third part is the “Church Suffering” in purgatory.
The concept of purgatory seemed pretty terrible to me as a teen. It sort of seemed like double jeopardy, in a way, because when you sin on earth you suffer the consequences of that sin. Even when we go to confession and are absolved of our sins and reconnected to God, there is still the natural consequence of those sins. Our sinfulness causes fissures in relationships with God, with one another, with creation, and with ourselves; in short, there are wounds caused by sinning that don’t just disappear by going to confession. Our relationship with God can be repaired, but relationships aren’t as easily mended with human beings; careless words, prideful actions, insensitivity, violence, and so many other ways we can sin against one another leave trauma behind that can’t be removed no matter how much we wish it could. Our sins against creation; our littering, our waste, our disregard for what can help creation thrive leaves a lasting impression that cannot be undone with the words ‘I’m sorry.’ And the sins we commit leave a mark on our own selves as well in a variety of ways that we don’t always even see. Then, after living with the natural consequence of our sin and our fallen ways, we go to purgatory where we are literally called the “Church Suffering” as we are purified from the sins we committed here on earth. It seemed to me that we’d already suffered for those sins, so why did we have to suffer again? Why couldn’t we just go into heaven where sin lived no more, every tear would be wiped from our eyes, and we could be with God in perfect love for eternity? It would be some years later before I heard a good explanation that didn’t make purgatory seem like punishment stacked on punishment and last year, Father Jack Long gave an exceptional homily about heaven and hell, coincidentally for all souls day that made a lot of sense as well. (You can read my blog in which I reflected on heaven and hell and Father Jack’s homily here.) But there was a metaphor presented in a video we watched at Edge on Wednesday that I think hit the nail right on the head. Imagine that your soul is a white wall. Every time you sin, there’s a nail driven into that wall. Now, the good news is that when you go to confession those nails are pulled out of the wall but as anyone who’s pulled nails out of something, there are holes left behind. Those holes are the result of sin, they are the wounds we carry with us. Purgatory is taking plaster to those holes, filling them in, and smoothing everything out so the wall is just as it was when it was new. As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, the part of the Communion of Saints that we are currently a part of is the Church Militant. Now, this terminology isn’t always everyone’s favorite depiction of the church, our former Director of Faith Formation used to tell stories to the Confirmandi about how, when she was Confirmed, the bishop used to hit you on the cheek and tell you that you were a soldier for Christ. Needless to say, it wasn’t her favorite metaphor for who we become as Confirmed Catholics. But I think this title makes more sense when we think about it in terms of where we are headed. We are not necessarily called to pick up arms and go out and fight physical battles but we are all called to fight spiritual battles. We are all called to fight against Satan, against temptation, against sin. And just like in any war, there are wounds and there is trauma; soldiers don’t come out of war unscathed. In purgatory, we are healed of those wounds, we are made perfect again for heaven. Just as the Saints in heaven help us to fight our war by role modeling what living a life for God is like and by interceding on our behalf, we as the Church Militant have the opportunity to intercede for those in purgatory. Our prayers and intercessions help those in purgatory to heal and be made perfect for heaven. So, as All Saints’ and All Souls’ day approach, I invite you to pray for your deceased loved ones and to intercede on their behalf and I encourage you to ask the Saints’ for their intercessions as you fight your own battles and as you strive toward heaven.
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