A reader (who, for context, recently lost a beloved sibling) writes:
“Do you think people in purgatory can see us ? Are they sad if we sin?”
I think people in Purgatory are seeking the face of Jesus. If they see us, it is because our faces are reflected in His eyes and they are learning to see with His love. My guess is that it’s a bit like a retreat where the focus is on healing and getting rid of the things that bound them. So if it is helpful for their healing and the healing of relationships they harmed, then God lets them see us and if not, not. Eventually, in the Beatific Vision, we will come to see things perfectly. The main thing for us on earth (as in Purgatory) is to focus on love: loving God and our neighbor, whether living or dead, till we are restored to perfect love in Heaven. So if you think you’ve disappointed your sibling, then the best thing you can do to delight them is repent, confess, and move forward by forgiving yourself and doing some concrete act of love.
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3 Responses
Keep talking to them – the Communion of Saints means our connection to our loved ones is never broken – ask for their help, if they are able to give it, and keep praying for them as well.
What a beautiful question. My siblings wouldn’t ponder such a thing if I was dead–but then again they are more like the cast of Arrested Development and Knives Out.
What I wonder about is generational sin, and how it affects the DNA.
As if the family folklore wasn’t enough, my son, just handed me his cell phone a couple of nights ago and pointed to the information on his Ancestry account. “Slave Inventory” was casually listed with land and other items of economic importance in some of their death records. And I thought they were the most Catholic branch of the family.
I remember hearing a Paulist priest a few years ago say that Purgatory is like a “Bubble Bath”. Kind of makes sense. Instead of “flames”, it is like a child being put in that bath and “cleaned up”…