THE SILVERSMITH
There was a group of women in a Bible study on the book of Malachi. As they were studying chapter three, they came across verse three which says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver" Malachi 3:3. This verse puzzled the women and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study. That week this woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot--then she thought again about the verse, that he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.
She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"
He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy--when I see my image in it."
I always think of this story when I'm going through a difficult time in my life. But it also makes me think of purgatory. Purgatory, the place where God will refine us over the fire to burn away all our impurities. And we will need to stay there until God can see His image reflected in our souls.
After doing all the research, reading and thinking about purgatory, I still had a lot of unanswered questions. So I decided to send an e-mail to Father Guillermo "Willie" Garcia-Tuñon who taught Philosophy at Belen for various years. One of the questions I had was whether we spend part of Purgatory here on earth. I wanted to believe that the suffering that we endure here on earth would somehow give us brownie points for purgatory, thus either eliminating our need to spend time in purgatory or it would reduce the amount of time we had to be there. After all, while we are here on earth, we endure a lot of suffering. Isn't God purifying us through our suffering? I have certainly felt that I've been in the furnace many times.
Father Willie clarified this very eloquently:
"No chance that purgatory is an earthly thing. This is not purgatory even though people have said it because of the suffering that we are undergoing. The Church understands purgatory as something other-worldly, not this-worldly. There is no doubt that the struggles and the suffering that we undergo here on earth are opportunities to grow close to Jesus and challenges that make us stronger, but they are not part of the experience that is purgatory."
He also confirmed what I shared yesterday from St. John Paul II's teaching:
"One of the biggest challenges in speaking about heaven, purgatory and hell is that we often times use common earthly language to explain uncommon divine things. Words and phrases that refer to space (e.g. "going to,” “place” or “in") and time (length spent in purgatory) give the impression that it is like a holding cell or a cage where one is held until the right moment. The fact is that purgatory is more like a state of being or experience of purification because we can only come face to face with God (heaven) when we are pure and clean. Who is in that state at the moment of death? Well, we can never say exactly because we don’t know, but you can bet that the state of purity we need to be in to see the face of God has to be like that of the Blessed Mother. There are two analogies I often times use to understand. First, it is like the experience of washing your hands before you sit at the table to have a meal. If your hands are very dirty you got to scrub up pretty well and spend more time at the sink than if your hands are not as dirty. Second analogy is like the experience of being in a dark room for a period of time and then someone turns on the light. The adjustment your eyes have to make to the light is like the purification that we need to endure in order to see the source of Light that is Jesus Christ. The good news is that one way or another, purgatory means we are saved. Another point, the need for purgatory does not mean that Jesus doesn’t or can’t save. It only means that we have a hard time embracing salvation."
"No chance that purgatory is an earthly thing. This is not purgatory even though people have said it because of the suffering that we are undergoing. The Church understands purgatory as something other-worldly, not this-worldly. There is no doubt that the struggles and the suffering that we undergo here on earth are opportunities to grow close to Jesus and challenges that make us stronger, but they are not part of the experience that is purgatory."
He also confirmed what I shared yesterday from St. John Paul II's teaching:
"One of the biggest challenges in speaking about heaven, purgatory and hell is that we often times use common earthly language to explain uncommon divine things. Words and phrases that refer to space (e.g. "going to,” “place” or “in") and time (length spent in purgatory) give the impression that it is like a holding cell or a cage where one is held until the right moment. The fact is that purgatory is more like a state of being or experience of purification because we can only come face to face with God (heaven) when we are pure and clean. Who is in that state at the moment of death? Well, we can never say exactly because we don’t know, but you can bet that the state of purity we need to be in to see the face of God has to be like that of the Blessed Mother. There are two analogies I often times use to understand. First, it is like the experience of washing your hands before you sit at the table to have a meal. If your hands are very dirty you got to scrub up pretty well and spend more time at the sink than if your hands are not as dirty. Second analogy is like the experience of being in a dark room for a period of time and then someone turns on the light. The adjustment your eyes have to make to the light is like the purification that we need to endure in order to see the source of Light that is Jesus Christ. The good news is that one way or another, purgatory means we are saved. Another point, the need for purgatory does not mean that Jesus doesn’t or can’t save. It only means that we have a hard time embracing salvation."
I like Father Willie's analogies, especially the one about the hands. Even though I was a bit disappointed in finding out that our earthly suffering does not take away from purgatory, I was happy to hear that if our hands are clean, God won't need to scrub us too hard.
I also asked him whether he believed that the souls in purgatory could hear us and pray for us. Here is what Father Willie had to say:
"I would imagine that the souls in purgatory can hear us and that the same way we can pray for them, they can pray for us. As for praying for the souls in purgatory, read 2 Maccabees 12:39-46. The story shows that even the Jews prayed for the deceased and their 'cleansing.'”
I further confirmed this from a 1923 book by Right Rev. PW Keppler D.D. called "The Poor Souls in Purgatory, A Homiletic Treatise with Some Specimen Sermons." This is what it says regarding the souls in purgatory and whether they can pray for us: "Charity towards others can not have ceased in these souls at their entrance into Purgatory, nor can it have been condemned to complete impotence and silence. Their own penal state does not necessarily prevent from lending assistance to others. The Poor Souls enjoy divine grace and are God's friends, and hence their intercession is pleasing to Him and certain to be heard, because and in as far as they correspond with the divine plan of salvation."
"I would imagine that the souls in purgatory can hear us and that the same way we can pray for them, they can pray for us. As for praying for the souls in purgatory, read 2 Maccabees 12:39-46. The story shows that even the Jews prayed for the deceased and their 'cleansing.'”
I further confirmed this from a 1923 book by Right Rev. PW Keppler D.D. called "The Poor Souls in Purgatory, A Homiletic Treatise with Some Specimen Sermons." This is what it says regarding the souls in purgatory and whether they can pray for us: "Charity towards others can not have ceased in these souls at their entrance into Purgatory, nor can it have been condemned to complete impotence and silence. Their own penal state does not necessarily prevent from lending assistance to others. The Poor Souls enjoy divine grace and are God's friends, and hence their intercession is pleasing to Him and certain to be heard, because and in as far as they correspond with the divine plan of salvation."
In conclusion, after all this research, my personal opinion is that purgatory makes a lot of sense. However, it is not a place like we usually imagine. It is a state of being where we will undergo purification. We do not need to worry about length of time because in this state, time as we know it does not exist. I believe that some humans, for example babies, will not need to undergo this purification process because they are sinless, but the rest of us will need to undergo some purification in order to prepare ourselves to see the face of God. But I am no longer afraid because if I reach purgatory, I will know without a doubt that I am saved and that I am in the threshold of heaven. Those that reject God and die in mortal sin, will live eternally in a state of damnation that we call hell but those that accept the father's mercy even at the moment of death, will undergo a purification process known as purgatory which will get us ready to encounter the Father face to face and live eternally in a state of love where we will forever be in communion with God.
Purgatory should not scare us. As long as we live our life here on earth in communion with God, spreading His love to everyone we meet and doing the best we can to live a holy life, we will reach heaven even if we first need to undergo a purification process. And whether our loved ones are in purgatory or they have already reached heaven, they can still hear us and they can unite our prayers to ours. Just like we pray for the souls in purgatory, we can ask the souls in purgatory to pray for us.
And the good news is that if we reach purgatory, we are safe. We are at heaven's threshold. In the blink of an eye, we will find ourselves face to face with God. How awesome is that.
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