Celestial Medicine

After being confronted by the leading Jews on the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem, Jesus said, “Scripture cannot be broken,” or set aside. In speaking of heaven, John the evangelist wrote, “Nothing unclean shall enter it.” (Rev 21:27) In other words, nothing impure can directly enter heaven. What does this exactly mean? Remember, Scripture cannot be broken or set aside.

Are you completely clean? We are not talking about our bodies but our souls. I for one am not purified completely. I am working on this with the grace of God. Is there anyone who gets on your nerves, someone who you have not forgiven, someone you dislike and would rather not invite for coffee or tea? If so, these feelings of angst against your neighbor needs to be purged away prior to entering heaven.

Those who study the Bible know that things in the Old Testament are ‘types’ of things in the New Testament – they prefigure things in the New Testament. For example, when the Israelites were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, they crossed the waters of the Red Sea to the Promised Land. This prefigures Christians who were slaves to the devil and cross the waters of baptism to the Promised Land of Heaven.

When the Israelites were dying of thirst in the desert, God asked Moses to strike a rock so water would flow out. What did Moses do? He struck the rock twice (Numbers 20:8-12). The rock prefigured Christ Jesus on the cross who was struck once and water and blood, symbolizing the sacraments flowed forth. (1 Cor 10:4) God forgave Moses for not doing exactly as He commanded, but he was punished. He was not permitted to enter the Promised Land. However, he is now in the new Promised Land of Heaven. It is clear that in the Bible, forgiveness and punishment are two distinct things.

St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians wrote, “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor 3:15). Here is an example of suffering loss through fire in the next life. Even Jesus said, “Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” The age to come is after death in the next life. Here Jesus is alluding to reparation in the next life after death.

Hell is reserved for those who tragically have serious sin on their souls and are not sorry, have not repented. Certainly, there are those who after death are admitted directly into heaven. Then there are some who need some purification. If you have read the life of St. Padre Pio, many souls from Purgatory visited him asking for Masses. When I was 18, after my paternal grandfather John who lived in Omaha died in 1975, a priest in New York called me and said, “Your grandfather John appeared to me asking for Masses. After the third Mass he thanked me and disappeared joyous.”

What is the point of chemotherapy? To cleanse or purge the body of cancerous cells but not without cost. When there is a cure, the pain outweighs the benefits. For those who die in God’s graces but are not ready to see God face to face, Purgatory is celestial chemo or medicine. It purges from holy souls any spiritual cancer cells that are holding them back from the beatific vision in heaven. The suffering outweighs the benefits.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit in me” (Psalm 51:10). Eternal rest grant unto the holy souls O Lord!

The post Celestial Medicine appeared first on Catholic Medical Association.

Categorised in: Uncategorized