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Hi, Pam —
Well, the issue of Purgatory and
unbaptized infants are entirely different
subjects.
Purgatory is a place or condition
for those who die in friendship with
God but who have not been fully perfected
or sanctified. Most people go to
Heaven through Purgatory. That is
not to say people somehow atone for
their own sins or earn their way
into Heaven. The purification which
happens is simply the Love of God
purifying us. It, like the entire
process of Salvation, is an act of
Grace.
While the Bible doesn't specifically
mention a place called Purgatory,
it does imply purification after
death in both the Old and New Testaments.
As Catholics, we are bound to believe
in purification after death and in
Purgatory, however, throughout the centuries
many models have been used to try
and describe what is a Mystery of
Faith: Purgatory. The models vary from a juridical
model which paints Purgatory as a
place of temporal punishment to a healing model, whereby Purgatory
is a Holy Ghost Hospital. The pain
suffered in the healing model is
not punishment, rather it is a healing
and growing pain.
Both models work yet both are
limited. The juridical
model, I find
most problematic and is a source
of confusion to many Protestants
and Catholics but again, it is only
a model; it is not the doctrine itself.
As for unbaptized infants, the
Church entrusts them to the Love
and Mercy of God, who desires all
men to be saved. We understand that we are limited to preaching the Gospel
and baptizing people in order to
bring about the New Birth necessary
to have Eternal Life. We also acknowledge
that there are exceptions to the
rule. For example, the thief on the
Cross, to whom Jesus said:
"Today
you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43),
was not baptized.
Therefore while we are limited to:
- preaching the Gospel
- baptizing, and
- administering the sacraments
as the normative means of salvation
God is not limited. He can save anyone,
at anytime, in any way, He chooses.
We also recognize that all salvation
comes to everyone in and through
Jesus Christ and by His atoning sacrifice. All of this applies to unbaptized
infants.
We certainly cannot dogmatically
say they are in Heaven, but relying
on God's Mercy and Justice,
we can certainly presume it.
John
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