I was raised a Catholic and attended Catholic schools through college and now in my 6th decade have come to question purgatory.......also limbo. Sounds rather strange to me now.
That is because purgatory is an invention of man and borrowed from pagaon religions. For example, prior to Jesus, the Buddists were offering prayers for the dead. A close study of Jesus’s teaching and that of the Apostles will show that they did not teach the concept of purgatory.
In fact, the concept was not even noted in Christian practice until the 2nd Century AD. It has been argued that in the Council of Carthage in 394 the practice of prayers for the dead was upheld. Thus, it did not became a significant part of Catholic theology until the 3rd Century as celebration of the Eucharist for the dead.
Further, purgatory as part of Catholic dogma only was officially adopted in the 16th Centry as part of the outcome of the Councils of Trent. Though one could reasonably argue that the acceptance into doctrine had long occured prior to the official affirmation of the concept of Purgatory.
However purgation :- the passage of souls through a form of purification to enter the full presence of God - is well-attested and supported by Scripture. It's best not to think of it as a place, but as a process outside of time and space.
If it's helpful: I would submit that purgation is entering the presence of God while not being fully ready for the presence of God.
Some are fully ready to enjoy: I might say withstand - the presence of God: because they are filled with Christ. We call those people Saints.
Others are completely devoid of Christ, and refuse him at the last. They cannot bear, they cannot withstand the presence of God. These souls stones cannot love but only hate. Their fate is piteous - if they knew what pity was.
And then there are the majority of the dead. They are willing to accept Christ, to be changed into beings wholly fit for God's presence - but they are to some extent unprepared.
Their change from preoccupied, somewhat selfish soul to transfigured Saint is the most tremendous transition of their existence - it is joyful, it is cathartic in the truest sense of that word - and it is painful.
That, I submit, is purgatory. It is a place/process of great joy because one beholds God - but it is mixed with the keenest sorrow and pain.
We who are saved by Christ will rush to Him: but many of us will come before him stained, mutated or twisted by selfishness, greed, wrath and so on.
These things makes us unable to be with God, and they will be removed from us - but the process isn't like taking your coat off or picking a scab. It's probably more like having a malignant cancer burnt out by touching the surface of the Sun. Ouch.
Hope this is helpful.
It’s not just strange, it’s out and out blasphemy. It denies the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice.
Just know that you are a Catholic and will always be a Catholic.
Why don’t you sit down with a priest you can talk with and get your questions answered?
2. purgatory or the final sanctification, is not a time, not a place, not a period of time but the final stage in our sanctification by the grace of God, by the power of the Holy SPirit through the blood of Christ