Journey to Purgatory: What is Purgatory Really?

[Part 1 de 15]

I, Jesé Retoño, wish to take you by the hand as we journey to Purgatory. I want you to know what it feels like after death if one has died in sin, though not in mortal sin, but rather, as someone who led a lukewarm or mediocre life.
But before proceeding with my experience, which was granted to me by the Virgin Mary, the Ever-Virgin of Guadalupe, let’s do an analysis of what we know up until now about Purgatory and everything that the Church has taught us about it.

In the New Testament, Christ clearly illustrates the fate of those who are good and those who are evil: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;” or “Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt. 25, 34-41).

In the New Testament, Christ was perhaps not very interested in Purgatory but more so in the punishment of those who despise God. Christ’s priority in his gospel is the salvation of all those who want to follow him. Purgatory is not and was not Christ’s mission, so we don’t have much information about it.

In number 1030 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the following is stated, “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.”

In number 1031 it says: “The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.”

It wasn’t until 1439, in the Council of Florence, that the doctrine of Purgatory was defined, and we have to note, first of all, that both in the current Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Council of Florence, Purgatory is spoken of as a “state of purification” and not as a place of torment. Therefore, it’s not accurate to say that someone is “in” Purgatory as if it were really a place in space and time.

To be continued…