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Thanks FTW,

I must admit, I rarely read anything from the NCCB unless it's posted at FR.

The painful loss which even the righteous will experience in the afterlife is brought forward with especial clarity in 1 Corinthians, where Paul tells us:

"Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become manifest; for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire" (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

This clearly applies to the saved, for Paul says so ("he himself will be saved"), but it does not indicates that this life-review will be fun, for Paul also says, the person in question's work "is burned up" and "he will suffer loss" and though he will be saved, it will be "only as through fire." Needless to say, seeing ones life's work go up in flames, suffering loss when one was expecting to "receive a reward" and escaping through the flames is not fun.
Thus the day on which we receive our particular judgment at the end of life will not be fun to the extent our works are not good. This clearly shows the reality of pain and discomfort after death but before the inauguration of the eternal order.
Now some Protestants try a dodge to get around this passage by saying that it is our works which are tested. It is true that on the surface of this passage. Paul does say our works will be tested by fire. However, this changes nothing since we will existentially feel it as our works are tested and consumed. That is why Paul says one whose works survive will "receive a reward" -- something he will feel -- and one whose works are consumed will suffer loss -- again, something he will feel.
Thus Paul caps the passage by saying that the saved one who suffers loss will be saved "only as through fire" -- the image being that of a man escaping from a burning building, which is precisely what Paul was talking about -- the local church as a building built by men either with fire-proof materials or materials which will be consumed (read the prior context). Thus the picture is of a man having built up his local church improperly, then seeing his work -- the building he has built -- consumed by fire, so he has to flee from it amid the flames to escape.
Thus while Paul says our works (the building we do) will be tested by fire, he envisions the flames touching us ourselves if our building ignites and we are forced to flee from it. So while under this metaphor in Paul our works are tested, we ourselves feel the consequences of this testing in the most painful way possible, for it is no fun to have to escape from a burning building as the work of your life comes crashing down around you.

Purgatory by James Akin

Your explanation of 1 Cor 3:15 is a possible interpretation. However my reply to your post was meant to highlight that the Catholic NAB bible in its footnote on the passage surprisingly does not support your view that it refers to Purgatory. I think that in this case the footnote view is correct and probably based on a line of thinking as follows:

"so as through fire" ( Zec 3:2 Amo 4:11 Jud 1:23 ). As a builder whose building, not the foundation, is consumed by fire, escapes, but with the loss of his work [ALFORD];

as the shipwrecked merchant, though he has lost his merchandise, is saved, though having to pass through the waves [BENGEL]; Mal 3:1, 2 4:1 , give the key to explain the imagery. The "Lord suddenly coming to His temple" in flaming "fire," all the parts of the building which will not stand that fire will be consumed; the builders will escape with personal salvation, but with the loss of their work, through the midst of the conflagration [ALFORD]. Again, a distinction is recognized between minor and fundamental doctrines (if we regard the superstructure as representing the doctrines superadded to the elementary essentials);

a man may err as to the former, and yet be saved, but not so as to the latter (compare Phl 3:15 ).saved; yet so as by fire--rather, "so as through fire" ( Zec 3:2 Amo 4:11 Jud 1:23 ). "Saved, yet not without fire" ( Rom 2:27 ) [BENGEL].

As a builder whose building, not the foundation, is consumed by fire, escapes, but with the loss of his work [ALFORD];

as the shipwrecked merchant, though he has lost his merchandise, is saved, though having to pass through the waves [BENGEL]; Mal 3:1, 2 4:1 , give the key to explain the imagery. The "Lord suddenly coming to His temple" in flaming "fire," all the parts of the building which will not stand that fire will be consumed; the builders will escape with personal salvation, but with the loss of their work, through the midst of the conflagration [ALFORD].

Again, a distinction is recognized between minor and fundamental doctrines (if we regard the superstructure as representing the doctrines superadded to the elementary essentials); a man may err as to the former, and yet be saved, but not so as to the latter (compare Phl 3:15 ).