Marshall/Nelson, 1. You can drastically reduce your time in purgatory by following Pope Francis in Twitter. The Pope explains it well and I estimate I will spend 7 to 8 seconds there.
2. If the devil punishes people for their sins, how can the devil be a bad person? Why is hell thought of as a bad place when the evil are finally paying for their sins? 3. I like your idea of paying a priest to help *celebrate some occasion/event/ festival etc.)* 4. Amen. 5. If I have understood you correctly, you are saying that people who worship false gods - can be good people - and go to heaven? Mervyn On Tue, Apr 19, 2016 at 5:03 AM, Marshall Mendonza <mmendonz...@gmail.com> wrote: > After listening to me, this is what the parish priest said: > 1. no one knows how long a soul lies in purgatory. It depends on the life > that person lived on earth. > 2. heaven and hell are concepts meant to make people live good lives. > Basically reward and punishment. > 3. Priests do not earn any salary or income. They are at the service of the > community for their spiritual matters. Hence to provide them with a source > of income, masses were offered for which they received a small stipend. > Masses for the dead, masses out of gratitude for some wish fulfilled ( safe > pregnancy, passing exams, marriage, safe journey, good job, celebrate some > occasion/event/ festival etc.). > 4. Masses are offered for ALL souls at every mass, though mention is made > of the person for whom the mass is offered. > 5. It is wrong to assume that only Catholics will go to heaven. All those > who have led good lives, whether catholics or non-catholics go to heaven. > It is the life that we lead that will decide where we go. > 6. Purgatory is like a period of repentence. > > Trust I have been able to some extent been able to answer your query. > > Regards, > > Marshall > > >