Topic:  Purgatory and Mary

Source of this posting: Moderator response

Date originally posted: June 17, 2005

Moderator who originally posted this source: Kathy Martyn

Question: I have two main questions for you.#1. Where does the Catholic Church get the assumption of Mary and purgatory from? Neither are in the Bible, which is the written word of Jesus Christ, the one and only mediator between God and man--as Paul clearly states in his letters.#2. Who is the Vicor of Christ? The Holy Spirit? Or is it the purely human pope? Jesus clearly says in the gospels of Matthew and John that he would send someone to succeed him when he was gone. He clearly states that it is his own Spirit. For who else could be a successor to Christ but One who is God?

Answer: 

Thank you for writing!

On Purgatory: We have always believed in Purgatory. Purgatory is that reality in which the faithful departed complete any temporal punishments for sin before entering fully into the glory of heaven.

Purgatory is not some kind of last point-of-decision in which a Divine Arena Master points a thumb up or down to indicate a soul’s ultimate end. (I can’t help but think of Joaquin Phoenix in “Gladiator.”)

EVERYBODY in Purgatory goes to heaven.

I tend to talk about Purgatory as the “front porch” of heaven. On the front porch of a home, which – reached after running through the mud and muck of a storm – promises safe haven and respite from the elements, we clean ourselves of all that has stuck to us on the mad dash through the wind and rain. We’re not quite “in” the house, with all its lovely furniture, warmth, and glowing light, but the porch is a safe and welcome place compared to the scary lightning and gusts of the storm through which we have come.

So, in Purgatory, we are not yet in the glory of our heavenly Home. In fact, Purgatory, by comparison to Heaven, is a dull and difficult place. But the value of Purgatory is that it affords us a ‘place’ to prepare ourselves – to shake off that filth which may cling to us, to dry our clothes, and to put our hair in order, so to speak. When, after Purgatory, we go into the glory of God’s Divine and Eternal Glory we enter properly prepared.

During November we assist our loved ones and friends, all the faithful departed, with our prayers and liturgical participation. We aid them in that last bit of preparation before they enter God’s Presence – so that they will be “there” to welcome us when, at the end of our own pilgrimage, we, too, are called home to God.

On the Assumption of Mary: We firmly believe that from the first moment of her conception Mary was free of all sin, including Original Sin, by a special favor of almighty God. The Archangel Gabriel recognized her as "full of grace," "blessed among women" and "one with the Lord." Mary had been chosen to be the Mother of our savior. By the power of the Holy Spirit, she conceived our Lord Jesus Christ, and through her, true God became also man, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

Mary stood at the foot of the cross with her Son, supporting Him and sharing in His suffering through her love as only a mother could do. Finally, she was with the Apostles at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended and the Church was born. Therefore, each of us can step back and see Mary as the faithful servant of God who shared intimately in the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord.

For these reasons we believe that the promises our Lord has given to each of us of sharing eternal life, including a resurrection of the body, were fulfilled in Mary. Since Mary was free of Original Sin and its effects (one of which is corruption of the body at death), since she shared intimately in the life of the Lord and in His passion, death and resurrection, and since she was present at Pentecost, this model disciple appropriately shared in the bodily resurrection and glorification of the Lord at the end of her life. (Note that the solemn definition does not specify whether Mary physically died before being assumed or just was assumed; it simply states, "Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life...")

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, Finally the Immaculate Virgin preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life ws inished, ws taken up body and soul into heavenly glory and exalted by the Lor as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her son, the Lord of lord and conqueror of sina nd death. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians.
The belief in the Assumption of our Blessed Mother has been longstanding in our Church. We must remember that the early Church was preoccupied with resolving questions about Christ, particularly His incarnation and the hypostatic union (His divine and human natures). However, in addressing these questions, the Church gradually defined the titles of Mary as Mother of God and as New Eve, and the belief of the Immaculate Conception, all of which form the basis for the Assumption.

Pope Pius XII cited various Church Fathers to trace the longstanding tradition of the belief of the Assumption--St. John Damascene, St. Andrew of Crete, St. Modestus of Jerusalem and St. Gregory of Tours, to name a few. Bishop Theoteknos of Livias (c. 550- 650) delivered one of the most comprehensive early sermons concerning the Assumption: "For Christ took His immaculate flesh from the immaculate flesh of Mary, and if He had prepared a place in heaven for the Apostles, how much more for His mother; if Enoch had been translated and Elijah had gone to heaven, how much more Mary, who like the moon in the midst of the stars shines forth and excels among the prophets and Apostles? For even though her God-bearing body tasted death, it did not undergo corruption, but was preserved incorrupt and undefiled and taken up into heaven with its pure and spotless soul."

St. John Damascene (d. 749) also recorded an interesting story concerning the Assumption: "St. Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451), made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven." In all, the Patristic Fathers defended the Assumption on two counts: Since Mary was sinless and a perpetual virgin, she could not suffer bodily deterioration, the result of Original Sin, after her death. Also, if Mary bore Christ and played an intimate role as His mother in the redemption of man, then she must likewise share body and soul in His resurrection and glorification.

In 1973, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, in their letter Behold Your Mother," stated, "Christ has risen from the dead, we need no further assurance of our faith. Mary assumed into heaven serves rather as a gracious reminder to the Church that our Lord wishes all whom the Father has given Him to be raised with Him. In Mary taken to glory, to union with Christ, the Church sees herself answering the invitation of the heavenly Bridegroom."

The Pope is the Vicar for Christ.