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Tuesday 4 November 2008

Superstition? Another thought on the All Souls Angelus Address...

http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=241924
In remarks before the Angelus prayer on the day the Church commemorates the faithful departed, Pope Benedict XVI called on Christians to "evangelize the reality of death and of eternal life, a reality particularly subject to superstitious beliefs and syncretism, so that Christian truth does not risk being blended with mythologies of various kinds."

Wouldn't that include the graphic descriptions of suffering souls in purgatory writhing in pain as the flames crackle?
I have always figured the "pain" of purgatory was a little more like your parents making you take a bath when you didn't want to, and maybe there wasn't as much hot water as you would have liked....
And now, as my faith matures, I see of course that the "pain" is of the prolongation of ones separation from the Beloved.
So, in my theologically profound analogy, I will say that not only are you being made to take the shower, but you can hear that the party has already stared downstairs.

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