Lent as Purgatory

Another Lent has begun. This is Guilt Season for many of us Roman Catholics, a time to cleanse our souls, which implies that our souls are dirty. Mine is, I suppose, most evident when I dredge up the sins of my past life, which I’m not supposed to do. Oh, the guilt about guilt.

The origins of Lent are, to my simple mind, confusing. Buried at the bottom of its intro to the topic, the Catholic Encyclopedia says that in 331 A.D., St. Athanasius (luckily my parents had never heard of this saint. It was bad enough being called “Fat Pat” most of my youth) enjoined upon his flock a period of forty days of fasting preliminary to, but not inclusive of, the stricter fast of Holy Week, and secondly that in 339 the same saintly fella, after having traveled to Rome and over the greater part of Europe, wrote in the strongest terms to urge this observance upon the people of Alexandria as one that was universally practiced, "to the end that while all the world is fasting, we who are in Egypt should not become a laughing-stock as the only people who do not fast but take our pleasure in those days". Who knew that the term “laughing stock” was that old?

Okay, so that’s why we Catholics give up such treats as cotton candy, cheap Polish vodka, and lima beans for Lent. These sacrifices are meant to cleanse us here on Earth. But what of being cleansed after we travel to the great beyond? Enter Purgatory.

The same Catholic Encyclopedia informs us that Purgatory (from the Latin, "purgare", to make clean, to purify) is “a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God's grace, are, not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions.”

Typical of Lutherans who convert to Catholicism, my wife, Susan, did not believe in Purgatory. Imagine her surprise when she got there! I believe God took Susan into heaven the moment she breathed her last breath because she did so much good for people and suffered so much the final year of her life. If He didn’t, then heaven is not a place I want to spend Eternity.

A final thought about Purgatory: What if we’re in Purgatory now, being cleansed for the sins of our past life? Think about it as you contemplate my eternal damnation. Oh, the guilt!