Purgatory is a purification,
a purification devoutly desired
by the believer
on the threshold of God’s glory.

It is a purification not to be feared
because it brings joy to the human heart,
just as knowledge frees from the pain of ignorance
or medication frees from the drag of disease.

The metaphor of fire
should not be taken literally,
but only in the sense
of the fire of God’s love
purifying the believer
to total charity.

It is not a dread experience
but one of sweet yearning
that brings full liberation,
and astonishing beauty.

Nor is the metaphor of days or weeks or years
literal time because eternity has started.
It is a matter of suddenness
as sudden as the flash of light
that purified Saul from persecutor,
to Paul, the zealous apostle of Christ’s love.
As sudden as Mary Magdalene’s sobs of sorrow
dissolving into gasps of ecstatic joy
at the sound of the Master’s voice, “Mary!”
and the sight of the risen Lord before her eyes.

Purgatory is a pearl of great price,
part of the package of paradise divine.

- Fr. Gerald Keefe