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Why Does Purification in Purgatory Not Occur Instantaneously?

Question:

Why does purification in purgatory not occur instantaneously at point of death?

Answer:

Purgatory exists outside of time therefore we cannot apply our common notion of the passage of time to its realm. Compared to eternity a thousand years is as one day.

The purification of the soul after death may happen quickly but it might feel like a really long time. Remember as a child being asked to wait five minutes and it feeling like forever? The soul yearning for the Beatific Vision and having to wait even an instant might feel like a really long time.

The “time” of purification may be relatively short but extremely painful. Such an experience makes the short time feel much longer.

Exactly how purification takes place and how the soul undergoing it experiences it are questions we cannot definitively answer.

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