Death, Hell & Purgatory.

Please discuss what stood out to you the most.

Hell
Hell is the abode or destination of souls who have rejected, of their own free will, God’s
love and will suffer eternal punishment. The Church affirms that the main punishment
in hell is separation from God, but it is also depicted as an “unquenchable fire” and
as a furnace of fire (CCC; 1034). Beyond this description, representations of hell
have changed through time. Scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church, Thomas
Aquinas, described hell as having four abodes of suffering with a lower level devoted
entirely to the punishment of souls (Aquinas, Supplement: Question 69). The other levels consist of two limbos, or borders of hell, one for unbaptized infants and another for
the saints of the Old Testament, and another level reserved for purifying sinners who
are destined for heaven (purgatory) (Ansgar Kelly 2010: 121). Not long after Aquinas
wrote about hell, Dante Alighieri, in his famous poem the Divine Comedy, portrayed
hell in the first part, called Infemo.
Few texts have had more influence on Western conceptions iThell than the Infemo.
Dante describes nine rings, or circles, of hell beginning with a version of limbo, reserved
for unbaptized infants and for non-Christians who were good but did not hear the Gospel and were therefore also unbaptized. This circle is garden-like and, although it is a
DIANA WALSH PASULKA
part of hell, the punishment is benign – its inhabitants cannot enjoy the beatific ision
of God that is reserved for those in heaven. In a sense, Dante’s limbo is a less perfect
version of heaven. This is not the case for the other eight circles of hell, ln)weer. Each
sin is punished in a way suited to its nature. For example, gluttons must walling in a
rainy slush that represents the putrefied food and drink that they consumed in abundance in life. They are so focused on their own pain that they cannot realize that
they are suffering alongside others who suffer the same fate.
After the nineteenth century, hell and the idea of eternal punishment diminished
in theological speculations regarding the afterlife. Although the Catholic faith still
maintains that the final destination of unrepentant sinners is hell, emphasis on its
tortures and punishments has waned. Popular representations of hell continue to
dominate mass culture, however, and it is interesting that several of the most popular
horror films feature hell and themes of hell, such as The Exorcist (1973). But, what of
the reality of hell? On this topic. Pope Benedict XVI was very clear: hell exists. In 2007
he told a gathering of Catholics and bishops that hell “really exists and is eternal”
(The Times: 14).
Purgatory
In addition to hell, purgatory is a destination for souls that are marked by sin and therefore are not pure enough to enter heaven upon their separation from the body at the
time of death. Purgatory is a precursor to heaven, reserved for souls who are ultimately
destined for heaven. It is a place of purification, where souls are purified of their sins
so that they may enter heaven. Purgatory was not defined as an afterlife destination
until the thirteenth century, yet its existence was supported by practices of praying for
the dead, stories and anecdotes, and theological speculation. The official recognition
of purgatory would seem to come late in Catholic history, yet, as Isabel Moreira notes,
“before these conciliar pronouncements, purgatory’s existence was hardly doubted. For
centuries purgatory’s features and purpose were fleshed out by religious groups, political players, writers, poets, visionaries, and by clerics and ordinary people telling ghost
stories” (Moreira 2011: 5).
What, exactly, is purgatory? It has been defined in various ways. Until the
nineteenth century, it was defined as a place of purification distinguished by physical fire.
Moreira writes that purgatory was “a place for the purification of the elect; the fire
cleanses (spiritual) pollution from the soul; additionally, the fire chastises so that purification is accomplished through the punishment of Christian bodies” (Moreira 2011:
17). Moreover, the punishment can continue until the last judgment “unless the sinner is absolved from punishment through the intercession of friends” (Moreira 2011:
17). Therefore, living persons are able to ameliorate or even lessen the pains of those
suffering in purgatory through various means – by praying, through alms-giving, and
by attending a Catholic mass or service dedicated to a particular soul, or for souls in
general.

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