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Can You Practice for Purgatory?
Purgatory – you’re in Heaven’s ante-chamber and there’s work to be done. But you can’t do it.
The days of your power to act in your own behalf, to cultivate the self, are over. You’re here to be acted upon, to be purified, to be loved. As C.S. Lewis has pointed out, the “weight of glory” is not going to be easy to bear. That’s why he considered purgatory “a hopeful doctrine”.
The particular suffering of purgatory is God working to prepare you for that weight. At this point, you’ll have no doubt about your eternal destiny, no doubt about His perfect love, but also none about how far you fall short of capacity to bear it. Perhaps your Sabbath practice has helped prepare you for the complete powerlessness to effect change – the utter surrender of self into God’s hands – that is Purgatory.
How capable are you of non-action, of allowing yourself to be acted upon, turned, stopped, stomped, kneaded, exposed, wounded? Have you practiced letting go of your own goals, progress, will – your acting upon the world to control, manage, manipulate, change, improve it? How passive can you be to Love in the midst of life’s active dimension? These are all things you can practice on your Eucharistic Sabbath. (During the week, get out there and practice acting in freedom to cultivate yourself and rock the world around you!)
Sabbath-keeping will certainly help with all of the ‘purgatories’ you experience during life on earth – suffering, interference with self-will, humiliation, and the like – and will permeate your active week with the sweetness of surrender and rest. So, I think, this practice will help you through the bittersweet pangs of Purgatory itself.
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