North of the Shire

John Martignoni’s latest newsletter, taking on the vitriolic anti-Catholic Mike Gendron reminded me of something that struck me the last time I read his newsletter on the same topic.

Guilt and Temporal Punishment

A core element of the doctrine of purgatory and also of merit and indulgences is the distinction between punishment due to the guilt of sin, and the temporal punishment that may quite likely be a result of that sin.

The Broken Window

Here’s the classic example to illustrate the difference between the two. The young boy is careless with his baseball and breaks a window in his house. When his father comes home he goes to his father contritely and admits his guilt and his father forgives him.

This is where the Protestant usually will end the story.

The Rest of the Story

However, the Catholic understands that the window is still broken and that the father must repair it. He might even ask the boy to do something around the house, perhaps dishes, perhaps rake the lawn, whatever the father feels that the boy is able to do as a reminder that sin has effects, even after forgiveness. If the boy were older and earning some of his own money he might ask for some compensation for the window, perhaps not all of it, depending once more on the finances of the boy and his level of maturity. That is left to the wisdom and benevolence of the father.

Sin Has Consequences

It might be objected that God forgives sin totally and shouldn’t that be enough? With respect to guilt for sin, absolutely. But just think of the case of someone who has abused alcohol or drugs for years. They may well have some serious physical side-effects of their sin. (That’s why people don’t want to call it sin these days.) They may even have some measure of brain damage. Can God forgive them and give them eternal life? Of course. But he may not give them a miracle to repair the damage. That may be something they live with for the rest of their lives. Could we say that is a penance, a temporal punishment for their sin?

Likewise, we believe that every sin has some consequence, some more severe than others, but man that may not meet the eye. We know that every sin affects every other faithful Catholic because they are a part of the body, and when one part hurts, all parts are affected in some measure. Therefore, we do our little penances when we confess our sins, but we know that deeply engrained habits of mind and heart are hard to break sometimes. There is an “attachment” to that sin. All of this may be internal but it is just as real a temporal consequence as is the broken window.

Purgatory

Ultimately, for those remaining remnants of temporal consequences when we die, there is purgatory to burn off the dross. The guilt of the sin has been forgiven if we die reconciled with God, and we know we are destined for heaven. That is why St. Paul puts it in terms of a man’s works.

The Obvious Temporal Punishment

All of this explanation of purgatory to get around to the point of this post. There is one obvious temporal punishment that is with us so inevitably that we forget that it is actually a temporal punishment. What is that? Physical death itself.

For anyone that dies in the state of grace, in friendship with God, there is the assurance of everlasting life. But the point is, they still have to die. That has not been taken away. It is a punishment that came down to us from the sin of Adam, no less, and it is still upon us, even after we believe in Jesus and are baptized. Is God being cruel with us? Why can’t he just take that part away for anyone who believes in Jesus? Why can’t we just float on up to heaven when it is our time? Didn’t Jesus conquer death?

God is Just and Merciful

What we see from this is that God both just and merciful. He doesn’t change the temporal punishment for that horrendous original act of ingratitude on the part of Adam, but he takes away the guilt of all those who will believe and gives them eternal life after they have passed through the temporal punishment of physical death. The only ones who will be spared this will be the ones who are in a state of grace when Jesus returns in glory. They will not have that particular temporal punishment.