Let's start today's insight into our Catholic faith by thanking God for purgatory---our second chance to get into heaven.

Sound pretty good, doesn't it? If we didn't live a faithful and charitable life on earth, after we die purgatory gives us a second chance.

I have a question for you, "True or false: purgatory is a second chance to get into heaven?"

If you answered true, then get a couple of sheets of paper and write 100 times, "Purgatory is NOT a second shot at heaven."

Most non-Catholics, and all too many Catholics, have the misconception that Catholics believe that purgatory is a second chance to avoid hell. It's not. When we die our final destination is either heaven or hell. Hell if we die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love. Heaven if we die in God's grace and friendship and are perfectly purified.

The New Testament (NT) clearly affirms two events that will occur after we die. First, our souls will be awarded heaven or hell in accordance with our earthly faith and works. Then, at the Second Coming of Christ, our bodies will be reunited with our souls that reside in heaven or hell. There are no other options. Each man, woman, and child will spend eternity in heaven or hell. Heb 9:27-28 speaks of these two events when it says, "And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him."

Let's turn to the Bible and to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) to bring purgatory into the picture. Rev 21:27 states, "But nothing unclean shall enter it (heaven)." Heb 12:14 states, "Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord." And Mt 5:48 states, "So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." The CCC defines purgatory as "a final cleansing of human imperfection before one is able to enter the joy of heaven."

Here's the good news: those of us who die in a state of grace, that is, no mortal sin on our souls, but with venial sin or the stain of forgiven mortal sin, are assured of eternal salvation; but we will undergo purification in purgatory, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

The word "purgatory" is not found in the Bible, but neither are the words "Trinity" or "Incarnation." Yet, all Christians believe in the Trinity and the Incarnation. Why, because it's supported by the Bible and Tradition. Likewise, purgatory is supported by the Bible and Tradition. Let's visit some key Bible verses that support purgatory.

1 Jn 5:16-17 distinguishes between venial and mortal sin when it says, "If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal."

Mt 12:32 tells us that there is a time after death when some sins can be forgiven, "And whoever says a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."

In 1 Cor 3:10-15, Saint Paul talks of a cleansing through fire, when he says, "If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only through fire." This cannot be the fire of hell, for no sin is forgiven in hell. And it cannot be heaven, for no one in heaven has sin. Therefore, the Church teaches that Paul is speaking of the cleansing that occurs in purgatory.

Jesus, the Apostles, and NT writers used the Greek Septuagint, Old Testament (OT) scriptures. It contains 2 Maccabees, which offers the clearest affirmation that purgatory exists. In 2 Mac 12:44-46, we read, "For if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin." Souls in heaven don't need help. Souls in hell can't be helped. Prayers for the dead help those in purgatory.

This belief in purgatory is why Catholics pray for their departed love ones. Pray for yours.

For more insight read CCC paragraphs 1023, 1030-1033, 1054, 1472, 1854-1864. Also, read the following Bible passages: 2 Mac 12:39-46, Mt 5:25-26, Lk 12:58-59, Lk 16:19-31, Lk 23:42-43, 2 Tim 1:16-18, Jam 1:14-15, 1 Pet 3:19-21, 1 Pet 4:6.