The souls lose the impurities and so become perfect and fit for Heaven.
These people are dead so their body is separated from the soul already and awaits the general resurrection of the body.
No one said it’s physical fire. This passage is allegorical. There is suffering involved, of some kind, but the passage is all written in allegorical key.
I appreciate your response, Annalex.
Try this question on, if you will: What could a person do in purgatory that would make up that person’s sin to God? How will burning them make their hearts pure? I can pretty much tell you what I say NOW when I burn my hand on the stove, so I don’t think that would work given our weak human tendencies. ;-)
Look at it this way. We don’t have anything NOW to do that other than what has been provided in Jesus on the cross.
Finally, do you think God is unreasonable? (If I believed in purgatory, I think I would run from Him and not TO Him. It would be pretty hard for me to love Him and want to serve Him knowing that He’s out to get me. No, I just couldn’t. I would find myself hoping to gain entry into Heaven strictly to avoid Hell, but hating the One I know I’d find there. I would serve out of fear rather than love, and hope to appease His wrath rather than having a loving relationship with Him. Does that make sense? Purgatory makes God out to be like the madman who tells his wife how much he loves her while he’s giving her a black eye to go with her broken nose.)