Growing up in a blue-collar Italian-American family in the
late ’50s and early ’60s, major household purchases were family affairs. That
was the case when Dad brought home a brand-new television – 17-inch
black-and-white set with built-in rabbit ears. It was a second TV and would go
in the kitchen.
We all gathered around the living room as my dad hoisted our
new treasure onto its portable stand to test it. We were all so excited! I was probably
7 or 8 years old at the time, just old enough to know everything. I was anxious
to wheel the rig toward its assigned spot in the kitchen. Dad unplugged the
cord and I dashed forward, grabbed the stand’s handle and gave it a tug.
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To this day, no one in our family could ever understand how
our new television still worked after crashing to the floor. |
Time warped into an eternity as I watched our new, prized
possession begin its slow-motion descent. My entire, all-to-short life flashed
before me by the time the TV hit the floor.
Decades later, my mother still calls it a miracle. The
screen didn’t shatter. The reception was still clear as a bell. It may have
been a reprieve for the TV set, but it wasn’t for me.
“You know you’re going to have to be punished,” my father
intoned. I breathed a sigh of semi-relief, knowing the punishment would likely
be something less than lifetime death.
Later that evening, Dad looked over at me and said simply,
“Just be careful.” It was his way of telling me he forgave me. But he said
nothing about punishment. After a week or so, I realized Dad had either
forgotten or silently commuted my sentence. I was grateful for the rare
occasion of escaping the well-deserved consequence of a brainless action.
It’s often easy to forget our actions come with consequences.
Parents watch as children throw tantrums and become entitled adults. Students
aren’t prepared for life or job because, to avoid bureaucracy and boost
graduation rates schools, give diplomas to uneducated students. Slightly more than 50 percent of adult US
citizens vote – Japan, Chile and Switzerland are the only countries that are worse – then complain about rotten politicians.
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“The Madonna Of Carmel and the Souls of the Purgatory”
by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1730) hangs in Milan’s Palazzo Brera. |
It’s not just the secular world. We Catholics do the same
thing with our faith. God forgives us through the sacrament of reconciliation,
but we tend to forget the consequences. The Church reminds us that there’s a
detour on our way to heaven called Purgatory. The Catechism of the Catholic
Church teaches “All who
die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed
assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification,
so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven” (1030).
But God loves us completely and unconditionally. He prefers
not to punish us. That’s why, in his infinite mercy, he gives us opportunities
to shorten or even eliminate our time in Purgatory through indulgences. An
indulgence “removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin” (1471).
In other words, it’s a “suspended sentence” granted by the Church. Pope Francis
has emphasized God’s infinite mercy, declaring an Extraordinary Jubilee of
Mercy from December 2015 to November 2016, followed almost immediately by the Jubilee
Year of Fatima.
Lent is a time to step back, take a breath, and assess our
relationship with God. Our bodies may eventually return to ashes and dust, but
our souls will live forever – somewhere. The sooner we are able to pay our
debts in Purgatory – or erase them altogether – the sooner we will share in God’s
eternal glory.
