Catholic Replies
Q. How many Catholic versions of the Bible are there? What is the easiest one to understand? Is there a version that has an accompanying explanation or commentary? — J.C., California.
A. The most popular Catholic versions are the New American Bible, from which are taken the readings for daily and weekly Mass, the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (New Testament), the Jerusalem Bible, and the Douay Rheims Bible. All of them contain footnotes which explain Bible passages, and there are extensive commentaries on individual books. None of them is easy to understand in its entirety, however, since there are passages that scholars have puzzled over for centuries.
But the Ignatius Study Bible, with notes provided by Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, would be a good place for you to start. The New Testament is contained in one volume, and they have completed work on several Old Testament books, including Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Wisdom, Sirach, Isaiah, and Daniel.
Q. I have heard people describe transgenderism as “demonic.” How would they reach such a conclusion? — S.N., via e-mail.
A. One way might be acknowledging the biological fact that men cannot become women, and women cannot become men. To say otherwise is a lie, and Satan is the “father of lies” (John 8:44), said Jesus. Shortly after God created Adam and Eve as male and female, He told them to “be fertile and multiply” (Gen. 1:28), something that is only possible with the union of a man and a woman, and so God invented marriage by saying, “That is why a man leaves his mother and father and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body” (Gen. 2:24).
Along came Satan, who told Adam and Eve that they could be “like gods” (Gen. 3:5) by disobeying God and eating the forbidden fruit. That was a lie and it set the stage for those today who say that men and women can be like gods and change their biological sex. Not so, says Pope Francis, asserting that “gender ideology, today, is one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations. Why is it dangerous? Because it blurs the difference and the value of men and women.”
Efforts to confuse people about their sexuality and to turn them against the plan of the Creator serve only the diabolical agenda of Satan and his fellow demons, so transgenderism can accurately be described as demonic. Or if you’re still in doubt, watch the frightening hatred on the faces of Trans activists, or listen to them spew a torrent of obscenities at someone who disagrees with them, and try to imagine such behavior originating anywhere but the pits of Hell.
Q. A man who works with me calls himself a “born-again Christian” and told me that Catholics shouldn’t believe in Purgatory because it’s not in the Bible. How can I answer him? — D.D., Massachusetts.
A. It is true that the word “Purgatory” is not in the Bible (and neither is the word “Trinity,” for that matter), but the doctrine of prayers for the dead is taught in Holy Scripture. In 2nd Maccabees 12:45, for example, prayers for the dead are called a “holy and pious” thing. In the Book of Wisdom, there is a passage that we often hear at funeral Masses about the souls of the just being “in the hand of God / and no torment shall touch them….Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, / because God tried them / and found them worthy of himself” (Wisdom 3:1, 5). Purgatory is where we will be “chastised a little” for not doing enough in this life to make up for our sins.
Now, your co-worker might say that 2nd Maccabees and Wisdom are not in his Bible. That is true if he uses a Bible from which certain books were removed by the Protestant reformers because they taught such things as prayers for the dead. But the truth is that those two books were part of the Old Testament at the time of Jesus. And when the Catholic Church compiled the official canon of the Bible late in the fourth century, 2nd Maccabees and Wisdom were included. If it weren’t for the Catholic Church, there would be no Bible.
But let’s look at the New Testament. We see Jesus warning that those who do not make peace with their neighbor will be thrown in prison and “will not be released until you have paid the last penny” (Matt. 5:26 and Luke 12:59). The Church has seen these words of Christ as referring to the need for complete purification from all attachment to sin before we can enter Heaven.
Then there is Jesus’ statement that “whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matt. 12:32). This implies that some sins, or the effects of sins that have already been forgiven, will be forgiven in the age to come. This can’t mean Hell, where there is no possibility of forgiveness, or Heaven, where there is no need of forgiveness, so it must mean Purgatory, where we will not be released until we have paid the last penny.
And there is the passage where St. Paul talks about fire purifying gold and silver (our good works), while it burns away wood, hay, and straw (our imperfect works). When our lives are tested on the day of judgment, says Paul, each person “will receive a wage. But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:14-15). The purgatorial fire will burn away all the impurities and imperfections that we have accumulated in this life and will prepare us for entry into the new and heavenly Jerusalem, where nothing unclean can enter (cf. Rev. 21:27).
Purgatory is similar to removing nails from a board, with the nails representing our sins. The removal of the nails means that our sins have been forgiven, but the holes in the board still have to be filled in. We fill in those holes and make up for our sins by prayer, fasting, penance, and good deeds, but if we don’t do enough in this life to make up for our sins, then we will have to make up for them in Purgatory.
That is why we should have Masses said for departed loved ones. We see in parish bulletins every week the names of people whose family or friends loved them enough to want to help them get to Heaven, if they are not already there. Our parents or grandparents may have died many years ago, and we hope they are in Heaven. But we don’t know that, so we pray for them every day. If they are in Heaven, then God will apply our prayers and the Masses we have said for them to someone else who needs those prayers.
Make it part of your daily routine to say this prayer: “May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”
Q. At the end of the world, the Church teaches that everyone will be judged and go to Heaven or Hell. What happens to Purgatory? What happens to the souls who are there? — C.D., Idaho.
A. Actually, everyone will be judged individually at the particular judgment when each of our lives on Earth comes to an end. That judgment will send us to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. At the end of the world will come the General Judgment, as described in chapter 25 of Matthew’s Gospel. The General Judgment will not change what happened to us at the Particular Judgment; it will signal, in the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “God’s triumph over the revolt of evil, after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world. Preceded by the resurrection of the dead, it will coincide with the Second Coming of Christ in glory at the end of time, disclose good and evil, and reveal the meaning of salvation history and the providence of God by which justice has triumphed over evil” (Glossary).
At that judgment, says Jesus in Matthew 25, the good will be separated from the bad and sent to their respective destinations forever, Purgatory will cease to exist, and those still in Purgatory will gain an early release and attain eternal happiness in Heaven.
