What happens to people in Purgatory and how long do they stay there according to the Catholic Church?

Answer 1

Catholic Answer

There are no sins in purgatory, purgatory is just the purifying that God accomplishes in us after we die. All possibility for merit or sinning is gone after we have died, we have already been judged. The purifying is painful, and that pain is due to the removal of the effects left in us by sin - not by sin. To have reached purgatory one is guaranteed of heaven as one's sins have already been forgiven. An analogy might be helpful, if you hit a softball through a neighbor's window and break the window. You go over, knock on the door, and tell what you have done (confession), then you ask pardon and your neighbor forgives you (absolution). THEN you have to pay to fix the window, which is still broken (penance). The broken window is a result of your sin, not your sin per se. All sins affects the whole body of Christ, and some of this is obvious - stealing, adultery, murder, lying, slander, detraction: even if we are sorry, and forgiven, we still have to make restitution.

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In purgatory one suffers pain, remember that it is you who feel pain. When you hit your thumb with a hammer, it is you who feel the pain. In other words, your soul knows the pain of your thumb getting hit, this is why people have pain in limbs that are no longer there. You no longer have your body in purgatory, but you still feel the pain; more than physical pain, is the pain of being separated from God. With the earth (for you) and your body gone, you are that much closer to God, and yet the gulf seems infinite and thus you suffer the pain of loss and separation.

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As purgatory is not so much a place as a state, remember you have no body to be in a place. So time is not the same there. The only thing we know is that time is a measure of change, and through the mercy of God, you are being stripped of the residue of sin so that you may be perfect and enter heaven. Thus there is duration to it, but we don't know anything about it other than it is extremely painful and seems eternally long - remember you have no distractions, you can't watch television, eat something, go for a walk, talk to a friend or a brother, etc. All you can do is suffer through the privation of being cleansed. So our stay in purgatory is however long it needs to be for us to be cleansed to enter heaven.

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Finally, keep in mind, that even if it is to the end of the world and every minute there seems like an eternity; nevertheless, it will end, and we will attain heaven. The only souls in purgatory are those going to heaven. If we died with even one mortal sin on our soul, then we never see heaven or purgatory, we go straight to hell for eternity.

from

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994

1030

All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

1031

The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. (Cf. Council of Florence (1439): Denzinger-Schonmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, defniitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum (1965) 1304; Council of Trent (1563) DS 1820; (1547); 1580; see also Benedict XII, Benedictus Deus (1336): DS 1000: . The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire: (Cf. 1 Cor 3:15; 1 Pet 1:7.):

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy 'Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come. (St. Gregory the Great, Dail. 4, 39; J.P. Migne, ed, Patrologia Latrina (Paris: 1841-1855) 77, 396; cf. Mt 12:31)

1032

This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." (2 Macc 12:46) From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. (Cf. Council of Lyons II (1274): DS 856) the church also commend almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:

Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that the offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them. (St. John Chrysostom, Hom. In 1 Cor. 41, 5: PG 61, 361; cf Job1:5