Limbo is a subject that the Catholic Church has wrestled with for centuries. There is so much dissension. Why not stir up the pot? My musings have the structure of some points of information which are grouped under Declarations, Heaven as a kingdom, Truths. Then I muse a bit and then I leave the reader with a group of Questions to meditate on and muse about themselves.

Declarations:

D1 – Aquinas etal, at Univ. of Paris in 15^th century, declared that pagan babies went to limbo, not to heaven. Souls ended up in heaven, limbo or hell.

D2 – Augustine etal, in 418, declared that pagan babies went to hell, because there was no other place to go. Baptized babies would go to heaven. Souls ended up in heaven or hell.

Heaven as a kingdom:

H1 – Jerusalem Temple had areas for Jews and Gentiles

H2 – In the parable about the virgins in courtyard awaiting the Bridegroom to open the gate to the mansion. 10 wise virgins with lit lanterns entered after the bridegroom; but 10 virgins with unlit lanterns were refused entry.

H3 – When invited to dine by the master of a house, on entry into the courtyard the guest was cleaned up and arrayed before being greeted by his host.

H4 - Jesus said My dominion has many mansions and rooms.

Truths:

T1 – Man is created in His image and likeness, to know, love and serve God in this life, and to be happy with Him in the next.

T2 – God’s punishment of souls resulted in eternal punishment in hell or temporary punishment in purgatory before meeting God.

T3 – God created 2 torture pits for punishment of unforgiven sins: hell which is eternal & purgatory, which might be temporary.

Musings:

M1 – Starting with first truths [T1 –T3]

1. Hell is a separate entity of God’s creation. Its denizens are angels and humans.

Recent revelations from Christ in Oct. 1936 to His Secretary, St. Faustina, during her 8 day retreat follow:

“Today I was led by an angel to the chasms of Hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw: (1) the first torture that constitutes Hell is the loss of God; (2) the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; (3) the third is that one’s condition will never change; (4) the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it --- a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God’s anger; (5) the fifth torture is continual darkness, and a terrible suffocating smell, and, despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; (6) the sixth torture is the constant company of Satan; (7) the seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies. These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. These are special tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned. There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me. Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no Hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like.” [Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 2000; para. 0741; Marian Press, Stockbridge, MA 01262]

This happened 1900 years after our Redemption. This scares the ‘hell’ out of me. How about you?

2. Purgatory is a separate entity of God’s creation. Its denizens are humans (maybe angels). It purges, through temporal punishment, a human’s soul in atonement of their sins. [“If you do the crime, you do the time!”]. Is it only a temporal place with no eternity?

Recent revelations from Christ in Aug. 1925 to His Secretary, St. Faustina, during her 8 day retreat follow:

“I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames which were burning them did not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory. The souls call her “The Star of the Sea.” She brings them refreshment. I wanted to talk with them some more, but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave. We went out of that prison of suffering. [God said to St. Faustina “My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it.”] ” [Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 2000; para. 0020; Marian Press, Stockbridge, MA 01262]

Purgatory allows visitors. It is a place of hope and a place of prayer. The Blessed Virgin Mary brings refreshments. It looks like a part of heaven to me. Would St. Augustine and St. Thomas change their declarations [D1 and D2 above]? I think so. Isn’t Purgatory similar to heavenly analogies [H1 and H3 above]? One could argue that purgatory is part of the estate of heaven. I think the “hell” that the crucified Christ descended into, from He rose, is analogous to H2 above.

M2 – Limbo, when discussed in light of Musing 1 (above), certainly appears to part of the estate of heaven. To all the people, who say baptized Catholics will see the Beatific Vision, I am convinced a more proper description, covering all who go to heaven, is that a soul will see God as He wants to be seen by that soul.

I’ll leave the reader with the following Questions. Maybe purgatory is eternal?

Questions:

Q1 – Is heaven a place of only bliss with no temporary punishment and “the skies are not cloudy all day”?

Q2 - Is there room for a discouraging word in heaven?

Q3 – Are the intellect and will inactive in heaven so that sinning is impossible?

Q4 – Did the angels rebel only once under Lucifer’s leadership or does it continue?

Q5 – Can angels sin in a minor way? Is purgatory their punishment?

Submitted by Paul D Kearns

cispkearns@aol.com

Dec. 15, 2006