Purgatory. We as Christians are taught about purgatory. The majority of us will first enter into this state to be purged of all past sin. Not all will be taken by God and go directly to heaven. We don't really know the true depth and knowledge of what heaven, hell, or purgatory will be like, but we have an idea because we were taught by early Christians, who knew Christ first. And even as young students attending parochial school, the sisters were the first teachers who taught us about faith, and the holy sacraments. They went on to teach us music, art, history, science, and even how to write beautifully, in cursive. We as Catholics are indebted entirely to the nuns who were the first Christians whose honor and desire was to teach the next generation about the importance of having faith in Jesus. Being taught by Catholic Sisters blessed my journey then and now, as a woman. I am very fortunate to have grown up in an environment where the holiest seed of faith was planted inside of me that would later blossom to the degree of writing a catholic podcast meant to inspire the next generation of faith filled Christian men and women, to live a life rich in Christ Jesus and Holy Mother Mary. I am very strong in my faith walk today, in part, because of the great determination and great dedication these amazing teachers were given by God. They blessed me in the truth, taught me the importance of doing good works of charity everyday for others. I was well on my way in living out the Christian charism and was too young to even realize it. For I was given a most fruitful, useful, skill set, I became groomed, disciplined, educated, well rounded, by the faithful nuns who sacrificially taught each of us what it meant to be a Christian within the Catholic Church. We learned the importance of needing God in our daily lives, to help guide us through our entire life journey. Our very souls need purification and sanctification through reconciliation. We received the holy eucharist for this exact reason, to remain in Christ, was to remain in a state of grace (Without Sin), and to live out HIS daily will for our very lives. Otherwise, we will not come to the full realization of our own sinful nature, nor recognize that it is wrong for us to repeatedly desire to commit grievous sin without recourse. Therefore, the sacrament of confession, brings to light, the darkness of our sin, and through reconciliation with a Catholic priest, and we are absolved completely. Forgiven by Christ through the catholic priest, in "Persona Christe," knowing not to offend Christ again. Confession, greatly heals us. When we tell our Lord we are heartfully sorry for having offended thee, there is great meaning attached to that act of sorrow. We know in our spirit, we hurt God very deeply, we hurt ourself, and we have hurt others, in that process. And the desire to make amends is very genuine, and critical for the health of our heart, mind, and soul. And the desire to not repeat that sin ever again creates a strength within us to live holier lives, in place of sinful lives that causes us to fall back into the bad pattern of sin and consequence, all over again. But instead of incurring pain, we opt for incurring joy, in our Lord. We realize we are imperfect souls made perfect by Christ and our desire is, to become holy. This genuine and real desire comes alive in us when we choose to live daily in Christ, by living a sacramental life in Him, we become productive Christians and a real blessing to others in society. We become Christ like. If our deepest desire is true, we will be lead to Christ, and Christ will show us the way to be led to heaven, and in HIS perfection, we will see the face of God and live!
