April 14, 2010 – Catechism 210-213

“God is the fullness of Being and of every perfection”.  I was thinking about how it is hard for some to reconcile perfect mercy and perfect justice.  We often see mercy as letting someone get away with something they have done wrong, but perfect justice would make you think you would never get away with anything.  A God of perfect mercy would let everything slide and everyone would be in heaven, which I think some people falsely believe.  A God of perfect justice would not allow anyone in heaven because we are all sinners and unclean.  So where does that leave us. 

The belief of Purgatory is where this fits in.  It is the belief that God’s perfect mercy will allow those that die in a state that they are not ready for heaven.  But God’s perfect justice makes it a purification of those things that make them unclean for heaven.  I think all that sounded better in my head.  I see Purgatory as a perfect and logical outcome of a God of both perfect mercy and perfect justice.  I think people tend to ignore the justice in light of the mercy a lot of the times.  But as we read, God is the fullness of every perfection, not just the ones we want.