| The word Purgatory comes from the Latin word, purgare, which means: to cleanse. Purgatory is the state or place of temporary punishment for each soul which died in the state of grace but which, at the time of death, was not totally free from venial sins or which had not yet fully paid for the temporal punishment due to sin, sometimes called satisfaction due for sin. Purgatory is not a state of positive growth in goodness and in merit. It is the state of purification effected by suffering. The Council of Florence and the Council of Trent teach: (1) that there is a Purgatory; (2) that the souls suffering there can be helped by the prayers of the faithful, especially by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 
I am not afraid of Purgatory. I know that I am not worthy to enter that place of expiation with those holy souls. But I know, also, that the fire of Love is more sanctifying than the fire of Purgatory." (St. Therese, Little Flower of Jesus) Despite the fact that the Bible does not explictly use the word Purgatory, the Bible presupposes the existence of Purgatory because it clearly refers to it. Examples include: "It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins" (2 Machabees 12:46). Here is an evident and undeniable proof of the practice of praying for the dead under the old law, which was then strictly observed by the Jews, and consequently could not be introduced at that time by Judas, their chief and high priest, if it had not been always their custom. "Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing" (Matthew 5:26). Here, under the form of a parable, Christ warns everyone who does not fulfill the commandment of Christian brotherly love (in reality the 4th to the 10th Commandments) that they shall receive a just punishment from the Judge. Tertullian understands the "last farthing" to be those petty transgressions which must be expiated in the prison of the underworld in the next world by the postponement of the resurrection to the millennial kingdom (Tertullian, De Anima 58; Saint Cyprian, Epistle 55, 20). "And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come" (Matthew 12:32). This leaves open the possibility that sins are forgiven not only in this world, but also in the world to come. "In this sentence it is given to understand that many sins can be remitted in this world, but also many in the world to come" (St. Gregory the Great, Dialogue IV, 39; also, Saint Augustine, City of God, XXI, 24, 2). " If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire" (I Corinthians 3:15). The Latin Fathers of the Church understand this passage to mean a transient purification punishment in the next world (Cf. Saint Augustine, Enarr. in Psalm 37:3 and Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 179). Now there is no need to pray for the dead who are in heaven,for they are in no need; nor again for those who are in hell, because they cannot be loosed from sins. Therefore after this life, there are some not yet loosed from sins, who can be loosed therefrom; and the like have charity, without which sins cannot be loosed, for 'charity covereth all sins' [Prov. 10:12]. Hence they will not be consigned to everlasting death, since 'he that liveth and believeth in Me, shall not die for ever' [Jn. 11:26]: nor will they obtain glory without being cleansed, because nothing unclean shall obtain it, as stated in the last chapter of the Apocalypse (verse 14). Therefore some kind of cleansing remains after this life. From the conclusions we have drawn above it is sufficiently clear that there is a Purgatory after this life. For if the debt of punishment is not paid in full after the stain of sin has been washed away by contrition, nor again are venial sins always removed when mortal sins are remitted, and if justice demands that sin be set in order by due punishment, it follows that one who after contrition for his fault and after being absolved, dies before making due satisfaction, is punished after this life. This cannot be understood except as referring to Purgatory: and whosoever resists the authority of the Church, incurs the note of heresy." - St. Thomas Aquinas ("Summa Theologica" 13th century A.D.) Purgatory is firmly established by tradition and confirmed by the constant belief of the Church in the suffrages for the dead. The chief punishment of Purgatory consists in being deprived of the Beatific Vision, which is the Vision of God in Heaven. This punishment is called poena damni [pain of the damned] by theologians. Besides this, there is an additional punishment, called poena sensus [pain of the senses], which, according to the common belief of the Western Church, consists in a real fire. The souls in Purgatory are certain of their salvation, and are also confirmed in good. This means that they can not commit any sin. Because of their perfect love of God, whatever their sufferings are, they bear them with patient resignation. According to many theologians, their love of God and their patient resignation to His Holy Will, help to lessen and mitigate the severest sufferings of Purgatory. But, except for gaining and applying a plenary indulgence for a particular soul in Purgatory, the most powerful way in which you can help a Poor, Suffering Soul in Purgatory is by having a Holy Requiem Mass offered for the happy repose of his or her immortal soul!  In greatful acknowledgment to the Cordi-Marian Fathers for use of the above material about Purgatory
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