Can my suffering help those who are in purgatory, right? If we’re talking about fasting and praying and so forth. And the answer is yes, they can. And the theological explanation of that, the reason why our sufferings can assist those undergoing their postmortem final purification, which we call purgatory, is because they are, as you said, saved members of the mystical Body of Christ.
And so they have charity within the soul. As I have charity in the soul, as a member of the Mystical Body of Christ, and in virtue of that principle of charity and the union that we have with each other via grace, my acts of love, in this case, sacrifice, which takes on the form of intercessory prayer, can directly affect the departed soul undergoing their final purification.
Such that it’s a supplication, not a direct effect, but a supplication of God through the intercession of the Church that God would apply the value of my suffering to a particular soul that I request or a soul in general that their purification come to an end.
And so our suffering here on Earth can indeed help those in purgatory. And I think there’s a beautiful point here too. I was talking about being yoked with Christ, but we’re members of the body of Christ in that sense. We’re all yoked together. This is why our prayer and sacrifice can help the clergy as we’re doing this week through the Exodus app.
We can also help those who are in purgatory. Why? Because we’re part of the same communion within the body of Christ. And as you said, our charity can overflow, to those within the body.
