The Path of the Heart

  A Catholic-Anglican reflection on the purifying meaning of God’s love By Fr. Miguel A. Bruchmann There are truths of the faith that can only be understood when seen through the tenderness of God, rather than through human fear. One of these is purgatory—a word that for centuries has evoked images of fire, punishment, or waiting, yet in its deepest meaning speaks of mercy, hope, and transformation. Scripture does not give us a detailed map of the afterlife, but it does offer glimpses that point toward a greater mystery. Saint Paul writes that each person’s work “will be revealed with fire,” and that some “will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:13–15). The Second Book of Maccabees shows a people praying for the dead, convinced that their prayer may help free them from their sins (2 Macc. 12:44–46). And in the Gospel of Matthew, we hear of sins that “will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matt. 12:32). These are flashes of light that ill...