Dear Father Pisut,
I came across your blog from blogger.com and have a few questions about the Roman Catholic faith. I come from a Evangelical Lutheran Church of America background, so I know a little about the connection between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. My questions primarily have to do with what we in the Protestant churches (I'm now part of the Free Evangelical Church of America, a small but mainline part of Protestantism) call Godly mercy, which I believe is closely related to your Divine Mercy. I'm doing some private research about Christian concepts of mercy and am very interested in what Catholicism teaches about the subject.
I was reading your blog on Divine Mercy Novena and came across something about alleviating the suffering of Christ's Passion. I don't understand how we as humans can alleviate the sufferings of Christ when we are human and therefore unholy or incomplete? Most Protestants believe that Christ's suffering for our sins were completed when He said "it is finished". After He descended into the land of the dead, He ascended into Heaven and that for most Protestant is proof positive that He no longer suffers, but is resting at the right hand of the Father. Does teach Roman Catholicism Christ's sufferings on the Cross are still be propitiated in Heaven?
In essence, could you please tell me what Catholics believe about mercy and Divine Mercy? From my research on the subject, it seems to me that there are basically two types of mercy; the mercy humans give to themselves and to others, which is incomplete and therefore not perfect, and the mercy God gives, which is holy and complete. God's mercy, from what I understand (I could be wrong) is holy and complete, it encompasses those who trust in Him as Savior and to a certain extent, those who haven't. God's judgment could wipe us all out because we have rebelled, but His merciful nature is expressed in His forbearance and eventually love will be complete on earth during His reign, and especially after the final judgment of the wicked unrepentant. Does the Roman Catholic Church have similar belief's, and what are the differences?
I'm sorry to ramble on, but genuinely, I'm curious about God's mercy. Thank you for your insights in this matter. God Bless you.
Elizabeth
Hi again Father,
I've got more questions for you. I'm not sure what this means: "Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay of their debt for My justice." What does "continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay of their debt for My justice" mean? Is this in reference to indulgences? How can mere mortals pay for the sins of those in purgatory, since we are imperfect, and cannot pay for our own sins? I don't mean to be disrespectful in my questions, it's just that I'm curious in what the Roman Catholic Church believes.
God Bless you.
Elizabeth
Elizabeth,
Thank you for your questions and your search to deepen your faith. I see by your reference to purgatory and indulgences that you are somewhat informed in regard to the Catholic faith. While I am a priest and, therefore, trained in theology, I am not a professional theologian. I will try to answer your questions to the best of my ability but if my response is lacking in any way it is my shortcoming and not that of the deep riches of the Church which I seek to present here. Before we begin to discuss your questions it should be mentioned that when we speak of "Divine Mercy" we are referring to what we in the Catholic Church call a devotion. Devotions are approved aides to worship which, while adding nothing to the deposit of faith nor being necessary to an individual's faith life can, nevertheless, be helpful for one's faith. Perhaps devotions could best be compared to differences in styles of prayer. The devotion of the "Divine Mercy" focuses on and draws one deeper into an understanding of God's Mercy. The term divine is merely an adjective which refers to God and so Godly Mercy and Divine Mercy are the same thing. The particular devotion of the "Divine Mercy" is in reference to revelations of our Lord in the 1930's to a Polish nun, St. Faustina Kowalska.
True, God's mercy is complete and perfect just as he is complete and perfect. Likewise, our mercy is incomplete and imperfect just as we are incomplete and imperfect. Yet, we as Christians believe that we can be perfected in Christ, not in this world but in the next, and so we strive for that. One way that we can do this is to participate in Christ's suffering on the cross, the perfect sacrifice for our redemption. Just as Christ was made perfect in weakness, we too, as Christians, follow his example so that we can be made perfect in weakness. This is where the long and strong tradition of "offering it up" comes from. This is called participating in Christ's suffering by connecting our suffering with his. Another way to refer to this is to make up for what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. While Christ's suffering is sufficient for our redemption and, therefore, lacks nothing, we make up for what is lacking because he allows us to participate in that suffering. So when you ask how can we alleviate the suffering of Christ's Passion this is one way that we can, so to speak, alleviate his suffering much like Simon the Cyrene who helped Jesus to carry his cross.
There are other ways that we can alleviate Christ's suffering but first let us address the nature of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. It is true that Jesus the Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Logos (Word) took flesh in time and died on the cross in a very real historical sense. This is something that he did for our redemption for the forgiveness of sins. We could not have done this. Both Protestants and Catholics believe that this is a one time event and that Christ then descended into Hell, ascended into Heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. However, God also exists outside of time (for time is part of creation) and so he is not bound by the same sort of chronology that we know in this world.
At the Last Supper Christ instituted the memorial of his sacrifice for us. The term memorial here is not to be understood strictly in the sense of remembering an event but rather a participation in that event. Catholics believe that when we join in the celebration of Holy Mass we participate in that event, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Catholics believe, therefore, that the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross goes on throughout all eternity. In that sense Christ's suffering still goes on to atone for all our sins. Just as the reason Christ had to suffer for us was because of our sins each time we sin, therefore, it contributes to Christ's suffering. When we seek to live the Christian life and repent of our sin we help to alleviate his suffering. In addition, because Christ loves us it pains him to see us sin just as it pains a parent to see their children make mistakes. When a child straightens out their lives it alleviates a parent's suffering and so we too can alleviate Christ's suffering by not sinning.
When it comes to God's judgment and mercy they are both essential parts of who God is and the reality of the fullness of faith. It has not been uncommon for one aspect to be emphasized over the other, which itself is a distortion of the Faith. To emphasize God's judgment without the mercy that has been revealed to us would lead us to despair for, short of being perfect, we could have no hope of redemption. Nevertheless, God's judgment is the proper response to how we have lived our lives. Yet for God's judgment to have any role in the life of faith we need an appreciation of sin. Because of modernity's distaste of the concept (reality) of sin God's judgment is not emphasized much today. After all, how can God judge us if we have done no wrong? As a result many persons today have the attitude that they will go to heaven no matter what they may do. This is often expressed as God will love me no matter what I may do. However, this expression is misleading since God always loves us but that is a separate issue from our judgment. Many people may speak of God's mercy but if one does not believe in sin than there is nothing to be merciful for. By default even though many may speak of a loving God without the appreciation of sin, the reality of God's judgment and the hope of his mercy what we end up with is not a loving God but an apathetic God who doesn't care what we do.
God's judgment and mercy find their natural and logical complementarity and expression in the doctrine of purgatory. There is scriptural foundation for this in the Book of Maccabees (which Catholics accept as inspired) and by our Lord's own mouth. You can see a reference to this in the quote you ask about from what I think is St. Faustina's diary, "Oh if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay of their debt." While I'm not an expert on the devotion of the "Divine Mercy" I while try to answer your question in regards to the line. If there is no purgatory persons either go directly to heaven or to hell. Many persons have a hard time imaging that someone could be condemned to Hell though our Lord surely spoke of the reality. Even though many persons tend to operate on the premise that they will go to heaven they have a hard time believing that someone like Hitler or Stalin could go to heaven. Yet we know that God's mercy is infinite and it is possible that if one had repentance at the last minute that salvation is possible. Yet does it seem just that a Mother Theresa and a Hitler could both have the same reward. While we know from the parable of the workers in the vineyard that God can and will distribute generously as he wills the doctrine of purgatory allows one to balance God's judgment and mercy, judgment and punishment in proportion to how we have lived our lives but still ultimate mercy. Though we we are imperfect we can continually implore God and our Lord tells us that he will hear us.
In reference to the alms offered for the debts of those suffering this can only be a reference to purgatory since those in heaven are not suffering and those in hell have nothing that can be done for them. If we ask people to pray for us in this earthly life and believe that it can make a difference why can we not pray for those in purgatory who can do nothing for themselves since they have passed from this world but who are, nevertheless, not condemned. They are after all still living for our God is a God of the living and not the dead. Here we can also offer up our sufferings and connect this with the sufferings of Christ for the good of the souls in purgatory so that the punishment for their sins will be remitted for God is a merciful God. We can't presume that he will do what we want but we do have a well founded Christian hope in his mercy if we are faithful.
Lastly, in regards to your reference to indulgences first let us address what they are. Indulgences are a remission of the temporal punishments due to us as a result of our sins. In order to gain these we must meet certain requirements of personal spiritual disposition and acts of devotion and prayer. The Church has the power to grant indulgences by the powers given to her by Christ. The more indulgences one gains for themselves in this life will take away from their time in purgatory, provided they don't go directly to heaven or to hell. One usually hears of praying for the poor souls in purgatory and though one typically gains indulgences for themselves I suppose it is possible that they may petition God that the indulgence that they have gained be applied to a soul in purgatory.
Fr. Pisut
