Karlo Broussard, Catholic Answers apologist, explains the Catholic Church’s understanding of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. He clarifies misconceptions and provides a clear definition of each concept. Learn about the beatific vision, the nature of eternal happiness, and the purification process before entering Heaven. Understand the ultimate destiny of the soul according to Catholic teaching.
Transcript:
What are these words though when we talk about heaven hell purgatory, what do these things mean? Yeah, well, I guess the easiest way to answer that is with regard to heaven what we mean by that is the immediate direct vision that’s a metaphor that’s used for intellectual knowledge of God’s being of what and who God is where we don’t know God through some mediatory concept, we actually have this direct immediate union between the mind and God and that’s a gift that God gives us to where in that intellectual knowledge of God flows from it be attitude hence what we call the beatific vision.
That’s the essence or the core of the heavenly experience of the blessed in heaven right now now, of course at the end of time added to this experience of heaven will be the glorified union of the body and the soul in the bodily resurrection, and that will contribute to Everyone’s happiness as well so heaven essentially however is what we call the beatific vision. It’s this definitive supreme fulfillment of the innate desires of man’s heart for God and thus a definitive state of happiness.
That’s how the catechism basically defines heaven a definitive and supreme state of happiness Hell is the opposite of that a definitive self exclusion from God that brings about forever everlasting right torment and punishment. And so that would be hell, and then purgatory is a after death what we would call a post-mortem final purification of the souls of those who have died in friendship with Jesus and thereby or guaranteed heaven but have to be purely have to be completely purified and achieve the state perfection of holiness necessary to enter into the beatific vision. So all souls is in purgatory or guaranteed heaven; they have absolute certitude of their heavenly destiny but are undergoing a final purification before entrance into that heavenly destiny. So that would be a simple way of defining those three terms.