Isaiah's Trip to Purgatory

We will continue our little adventures in Biblical interpretation with a look at the oft-unpopular teaching of the Church regarding purgatory. Purgatory, says the high school history teacher, was an invention of the Medieval Church used to control people's access to the afterlife by preying on their fears and superstitions. Blah de blah de blah de blah. Of course, reality often runs contrary to the blithering of well-intentioned - but misinformed - high school teachers. So, in order to get ourselves back on course, we shall begin with a few relevant excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church - straight from the horse's mouth (a very large, two thousand year old, splotchy horse). Emphases mine.

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.

Let us focus especially on the last sentence of that paragraph. Heaven is defined as the soul's eternal life in the presence of God. God is all-holy and all-perfect. In order to be in the presence of God, we too must be all-holy and all-perfect. Let us look at the scriptures for some evidence:

"Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy." - Leviticus 19:2

"Strive for peace with everyone, and that holiness without which no one will see the Lord." - Hebrews 12:14

Clearly, as these passages point out, we are called to holiness in this life. Of course, we often miss the mark and fall into sin. Christ is the way out of sin and back on track (through the graces of confession), but we sometimes still have to suffer the effects of a sin that has been confessed (in a case of adultery for instance). We are often still far away from God and his holiness, even when God's mercy has restored our relationship to him. This is where the doctrine of purgatory has its roots: we need to be completely purified, of both the spiritual and temporal consequences of our sin before we can stand in the presence of a God who is perfection.

The title of this post refers to an episode that occurs early in the book of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah is being called by God and has a vision:

"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifter up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; and the whole earth is full of his glory." And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven."" - Isaiah 6:1-7

In this passage we see the entire notion of purgatory played out, as it were, before the fact of Isaiah's death. Isaiah's vision is of God in glory in heaven (the temple), surrounded by the seraphim who are shouting to one another about God's triune holiness. Isaiah senses his unworthiness to be in the presence of God both for having unclean lips and for even living among those with unclean lips. God, in his mercy, sends a seraphim with a hot coal that purifies - or purges - Isaiah's tongue and takes away both his sins and the guilt of his sins. Isaiah is then allowed to stand in the presence of God.

We can hope for a similar outcome at the time of our deaths. We know Isaiah was not in mortal sin, for he was favored by God with the gift of revelation of prophecy. However, even a prophet, a holy man of God, was not worthy to stand in the presence of God without being cleansed by fire from the temple. Even if we receive God's mercy through confession and are reconciled to him through the power of the Cross, we still have guilt and sadness and suffering because of our sins. How happy for us that all of this will be taken away by the cleansing fires of purgatory so that we may stand before God unblemished and holy as he is holy.

Eliakim and St. Peter walk into a bar

Ok, so that never happened, but I'm feeling in a particularly swell mood today, so I thought I'd do an attention-grabbing title. However, if Eliakim and St. Peter were to walk into a bar at some point, I'm sure they'd have lots to talk about. Most importantly, they would probably talk about keys. Exciting, right? Well, read on, patient reader. The key is an interesting symbol that has very ancient meanings. We catch glimpses of the meaning in modern times when we speak of a mayor conferring on some important citizen a 'key to the city' for example. Giving over of keys is a way of conferring authority on another person. Consider: you leave town and give a key to your house to a trusted friend; that friend has a form of authority over your house. They can open and close your house, and take care of it while you are away.

Both Eliakim and St. Peter were conferred keys during the readings yesterday at mass. Though they lived hundreds of years apart, their stories point to the same truths about God, Jesus, and the nature of the Church. We will look at both of these stories, one from the Old Testament, one from the New. For, as the ancient Church Fathers loved to say: "The Old Testament is revealed in the New, and the New Testament is hidden in the Old." The way God dealt with the Israelites in the Old Testament prefigures the way he establishes the Church in the New Testament.

Fist, Peter and Jesus. This should be a passage familiar to most Catholics (and to many Protestants who dispute its meaning). Again, this was the Gospel reading for this past weekend:

"Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that the Son of man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them. "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bat-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." - Matthew 16:13-19

In this passage, Christ asks his Apostles who the world thinks that he is. The world is a confused place. People have lots of crazy ideas about Jesus. This is especially true in our modern times as well. Jesus was a peace-loving hippie. Jesus was a communist. Jesus was a feminist. Jesus was a socialist. Jesus was just a guy. Jesus was just a spirit. Jesus was a figment of Paul's imagination. Et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum...

But Peter - the commonest of the Apostles, the Everyman, the sinner in need of repentance - replies that Jesus is none of that. Jesus is nothing more and nothing less than the Messiah, the son of God, the salvation of men. And for that, Jesus blesses Peter for his faith and entrusts him with the keys of the kingdom of heaven, giving him the power to bind and loose on earth. These keys symbolize Jesus handing over to Peter earthly authority to exercise power in His name. This power is used to steward the people of God on earth, the Church, which is founded on the sinful, common back of Peter. The Catholic Church believes that this authority was handed on from Peter all the way down to the present day through a series of sinful, common men called popes.

But now, let us go back and look at Isaiah, who - in a manner of speaking - prophesied this event centuries before.

"In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and I will bind your belt on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house." - Isaiah 22:20-23

In this passage, God is speaking to the current steward of the royal household, Shebna, who must've been doing just a really crappy job. So, basically, God says, "I'm going to find a better guy to give the keys of authority to and he will be an honor to his people and to his father." We find in this passage a nice corollary with Peter being given the keys of the kingdom and a summary of papal authority.

Reading this passage in light of the New Testament - through the lens of Christ, if you will - we see that Christ will give authority to someone trusted who will become a father to God's house (the Church). The house of David symbolizes Christ's royal authority and lineage. The keys, again, are a symbol of power and responsibility to be a steward of the house. Open and shut can be replaced with bind and loose and retain similar meaning. Fastening like a peg in a sure spot is just like founding a house on a rock - it is something immovable and permanent (and something Christ himself recommends in Matthew 7:24).

The Church is the immovable house on rock of which Christ gave the keys to Peter before he ascended into heaven. The Church exercises its authority in the name of the master of the house, Jesus, through men who are guided by the Holy Spirit, the spirit that continues to guide them into all truth (John 16:13). The house called the Church is a refuge for all of the sinners of the world, so that they might become saints. It is a refuge from the madness of the world. And, it is the only refuge that will survive until the end of the world, for, we have it on reliable authority that Hades will not prevail against it.

But, perhaps the biggest point of this post was not to establish a fool-proof way for proving papal authority or the providence of the institutional Church, but to show that the God of the Old Testament is the same God as that revealed in the New Testament. And, by reading the Old Testament in the light of Christ, we can come to a better understanding of passages which may appear to have little or no relevance otherwise. Next week: King Solomon and Mary walk into a bar. Mary ducks.

The Visitation

Today (May 31st) is the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. We hear it recorded by St. Luke in this way:

39 And Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. 40 And she entered into the house of Zachary and saluted Elizabeth.

41 And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. 42 And she cried out with a loud voice and said: Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed are you that have believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to you by the Lord. (Luke 1:39-45)

Compare this greeting and subsequent salutation with the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant in the hill-country of Obededom.

9 And David was afraid of the Lord that day, saying: How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? 10 And he would not have the ark of the Lord brought in to himself into the city of David: but he caused it to be carried into the house of Obededom the Gethite. 11 And the ark of the Lord abode in the house of Obededom the Gethite three months: and the Lord blessed Obededom, and all his household.

12 And it was told King David, that the Lord had blessed Obededom, and all that he had, because of the ark of God. So David went, and brought away the ark of God out of the house of Obededom into the city of David with joy. And there were with David seven choirs, and calves for victims. 13 And when they that carried the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed and ox and a ram: 14 And David danced with all his might before the Lord: and David was girded with a linen ephod. 15 And David and all the louse of Israel brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord with joyful shouting, and with sound of trumpet. (2 Samuel 6:9-15)

St. Luke, in his description of the Mother of God visiting her cousin Elizabeth, makes allusion to the Ark of the Covenant being brought to the city of David in the Old Testament. This connection reinforces the position of Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant - Jesus Christ himself. Consider the connections:

• The salutation: Elizabeth says, "And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" David says, "How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?"
• The setting: Mary goes to visit Elizabeth "In the hill country of Judah." The house of Obededom was located in the hills of Judah
• The duration of the visit: Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months (Luke 1:56). "And the ark of the Lord abode in the house of Obededom the Gethite three months."
• The reaction: "For behold, as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy." "And David danced with all his might before the Lord."

These connections reinforce the continuity and fulfillment exhibited by the New Testament in relation to the Old Testament. Mary bore Christ in a similar way that the Israelites bore the Ark of the Covenant. Both Christ and the contents of the Ark were manifestations of God's covenant with his people. The contents of the Ark prefigured Christ:

• The stone tablets of the Law, the written word of God - Jesus is the final Word of God made flesh (John 1)
• Manna from the wilderness - Jesus, the Eternal Bread from Heaven - the Eucharist (John 6)
• The Rod of Aaron, symbol of the priesthood - Jesus, the Eternal High Priest (Letter to the Hebrews)

The devotion and honor that the Israelites gave to the Ark of the Covenant is continued in the devotion and honor that Catholics give to Mary, the Mother of God. Both bore the means of God's relationship with humanity. Mary, of course, being the perfection and fulfillment of the ark, and Jesus being the perfection and fulfillment of the Law.