Judgement, Heaven, Hell and Purgatory

The Last Things: Judgment, Heaven, Hell and Purgatory
Fr. John Corapi, SOLT 2/9/2004
The church, unable and unwilling to change the essential teaching of Jesus Christ, has from the beginning taught about the "last things," or "eschatology" as the subject is termed in theology: judgment (both particular and last), heaven, hell, and purgatory. With respect to these essential elements of our Catholic Christian faith we might apply the old adage: "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has reiterated and confirmed the traditional teaching of the church regarding these matters. There is a judgment of every human being according to the state of our soul when we pass from time to eternity. There is heaven, hell and purgatory. To deny any of these essential teachings of the Catholic faith is for a Catholic tantamount to a denial of the faith itself. In an age when tolerance has often been confused with permissiveness it is most important to assert these truths of the faith with clarity and without nuancing them into utter ambiguity.
The Catechism (Nos. 1020-1060) gives the church's basic teaching concerning these "last things." Anyone who has learned their faith well will conclude that indeed there is nothing new contained herein. A review of the basics never hurts any of us, especially when they concern our eternal destiny.
The church reminds us that, "The Christian who unites his own death to that of Jesus views it as a step towards him and an entrance into everlasting life"(#1020).
Our Lord took the sting out of death. He met it head on, and the person who lives and dies in Christ has no need to fear death and dying. Jesus Christ won the victory for us through the Paschal Mystery. That does not, however, mean that we do nothing. We must accept the victory. How do we do it? Quite simply by living the life of Christ: a moral life lived in concert with the true and the good. How do we know what that is and how to do it? Quite simply, by accepting the church's teaching, all of it. For the church, like a good mother, teaches her children how to live and how to die in Christ.
The particular judgment is that judgment which comes immediately upon death. "Each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith" (#1021). As the Catechism reminds us, and it is defined teaching, not optional: Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven--through a purification (purgatory) or immediately--or immediate and everlasting damnation (Hell) (#1022).
This statement of our faith is clear and is not to be nuanced into oblivion. Every soul ultimately ends in heaven or hell. How we live here and now determines how we shall live forever. The possibility of sinning seriously (mortal sin) is a terrifying reality. If we die without repenting, hell is the result. We do not like to think of this, much less speak of it, but it is necessary to do so. Mercy is for now; judgment is for later. We must accept God's mercy now through repentance and the sacrament of reconciliation while there is still time.
According to the Catechism, "Those who die in God's grace and friendship and are perfectly purified (with no need of purgatory) live for ever with Christ"(Heaven) (#1023). Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness. Heaven is what we are made for. Anything less is a catastrophe, for the only definitive failure in a human life is the loss of eternal salvation. The only definitive success in a human life is sanctification and, ultimately, heaven. The way we live must reflect this most basic and compelling of truths.
Purgatory is the final purification of a person who is on their way to heaven. Only the truly pure and perfected in grace can see God face to face. If we don't achieve the perfection of charity on this earth the mercy of God provides for us a place of final purification. This is purgatory, and it is a doctrine of the faith. "The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent" (#1031). The church's teaching is based upon certain texts of Scripture such as 2 Maccabees 12:46, remembering that only the church's magisterium has the authority to authentically interpret Scripture, not any individual expressing what they think is "plausible."
Hell is a terrifying possibility. "We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him" (#1033). This means we accept the life of Christ. This means we freely choose to live the moral life which the church teaches us to live. This means we form our conscience to the objective truth which is the church's teaching. Then we can follow our conscience and be sure of choosing the good and rejecting evil. This is love. It is an act of the will informed by an intellect in conformity with objective truth--God himself. Christ and his teaching are one. This is what the Church teaches. This is what sets us free. This is what propels us on a course for heaven and away from hell.
"To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called 'hell'" (#1033). The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of Hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire." The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.
As Scripture teaches us, "God wills not the death of a sinner..." Rather, God wills that "all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). It is up to us to responsibly exercise our freedom in the light of truth--to choose the good and reject evil. This is love, for Jesus told us clearly: "If you live according to my teaching, you are truly my disciples" (John 8:31); and, "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments" (Matthew 19:17); and, yet again, "He who obeys the commandments he has from me is the man who loves me" (John 14:21).
Love is a decision, an act of the will. May God grant each of us the grace to freely and intelligently choose to love him by accepting his teaching: the teaching of Jesus Christ -- the teaching of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.