The Ultimate Place of Mercy

Posted On October 16, 2009

Purgatory should be viewed not as a form of punishment, but as the ultimate act of God’s mercy, purifying us so that we can enter his presence forever. Here’s what Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) wrote about it. in “God is Near Us”:

“Ultimately, the place of purification is Christ himself. When we encounter him without disguise, then as a matter of course everything that is wretched and guilty in our lives, which we have for the most part kept carefully hidden, in that moment of truth will stand before our souls in flames of fire. The effect of the presence of the Lord upon everything within us that is interwoven with injustice, with hate, and with lies will be as a burning flame. It will become a purifying pain, which will burn away from within us everything that cannot be reconciled with eternity, with the living cycle of Christ’s love.”