Chapter 91 — That the soul will receive its punishment or reward, as soon as it departs from the body

From what we have said, it may be gathered that immediately after death, the souls of men are punished or rewarded according to their merits.

The separated soul is susceptible to pain both spiritual and bodily, as we have proved. (Ch. 90.) It is also clear from what was said in the third book (Cc. 51, 57.) that it is capable of being glorified, because as soon as the soul departs from the body, it is capable of seeing God, which it could not do so long as it was united to a corruptible body, and man’s ultimate happiness, which is the reward of virtue, consists in seeing God. Now there is no reason for deferring a punishment or reward after the moment in which the soul is capable of receiving them. Therefore, as soon as the soul departs from the body, it receives its punishment or reward for those things which it did while yet in the body.

Again. This life is the time for merit or demerit; therefore, it is compared to military or domestic service. Thus it is said: Has not man a hard service upon earth, and are not his days like the days of a hireling? (Job 7:1). Now reward or punishment is due to those who have served well or ill, as soon as their service is ended. Therefore, it is said: The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning (Lev 19:13); and the Lord said: I will requite your deed upon your own head swiftly and speedily (Joel 3:4). Therefore, the soul will receive its reward or punishment immediately after death.

Again. The order in punishment and reward should correspond to the order in fault and merit. Now merit and fault are not ascribed to the body except through the soul, since nothing is deserving of praise or blame except insofar as it is voluntary. Consequently, both reward and punishment are awarded to the body through the soul, and not to the soul on account of the body. Hence there is no reason why the punishment or reward of the soul should await its reunion with the body. Indeed, it would seem more fitting that the soul, which was the first to be the subject of sin or merit, should be the first to be punished or rewarded.

Moreover. By the same divine providence as provides natural things with the perfections due to them, rewards and punishments are due to the rational creature. Now each natural thing receives at once the perfection of which it is capable, unless there be an obstacle either on the part of the recipient or on the part of the agent. Since, then, the soul is capable of receiving either glory or punishment as soon as it departs from the body, it follows that the reward of the good and the punishment of the wicked are not delayed until the reunion of soul and body.

We must observe, however, with regard to the good, that there may be something to prevent their souls from receiving their ultimate reward (consisting in the vision of God) as soon as they are separated from the body. The rational creature cannot be raised to that vision unless it be wholly purified, since that vision surpasses the entire natural faculty of the creature. Hence it is said of wisdom that nothing defiled gains entrance into her (Wis 7:25), and that the unclean shall not pass over it (Isa 35:8). Now the soul is defiled by sin, whereby it adheres inordinately to things beneath it. In this life it is cleansed from this defilement by penance and the other sacraments, as stated above. (Cc. 57. seqq.) Sometimes, however, it happens that this cleansing is not entirely completed in this life, but the soul still owes a debt of punishment either through neglect, or occupation, or because it has been surprised by death. Nevertheless, it does not for this reason deserve to be wholly deprived of its reward, since these things may happen without mortal sin, which alone takes away charity, to which the reward of eternal life is due, as we have stated in the third book. (Ch. 147.) Consequently, after this life, that soul will need to be cleansed before it can receive its final reward. Now this cleansing is effected by means of punishment, even as in this life the soul might have been cleansed by satisfactory punishment: otherwise the negligent would be better off than the prudent if in the next life they were not to suffer for their sins the punishment they failed to undergo in this life. Therefore, the souls of the just which have something that could have been cleansed in this world are debarred from receiving their reward until they have suffered a purgatorial punishment. This is why we hold that there is a purgatory.

We are justified in this statement by the words of the Apostle: If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire (1 Cor 3:15). This is confirmed by the universal custom of the Church in praying for the dead, since such prayers would be useless if there were no purgatory after death. For the Church prays not for those who are already in the final term of a good or evil life, but for those who have not yet reached it.

That the soul receives its pain or punishment immediately after death, provided there be no obstacle, is confirmed by the authority of Scripture. Of the wicked it is said: They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment they go down to hell (Job 21:13); and: The rich man also died and was buried in hell (Luke 16:22); for hell is the place where souls are punished. The same is clear with regard to the just. Thus our Lord, while hanging on the cross, said to the thief: Today you will be with me in Paradise (Luke 23:43); and by paradise is meant the reward that is promised to the just: To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God (Rev 2:7).

Some say, however, that paradise does not mean the final reward that will be in heaven, according to Matthew 5:12: Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, but an earthly reward. For paradise would seem to indicate a place on earth, on account of its being said that the Lord God planted a paradise of pleasure, and there he put the man whom he had formed (Gen 2:8). Nevertheless, if we consider the words of Sacred Scripture, we shall find that the final reward which is promised in heaven to the saints is bestowed immediately after this life. For the Apostle, after speaking of the final glory, says: This slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Cor 4:17–18); here he evidently is speaking of the final glory which is in heaven. Then, in order to show when and how this glory is to be bestowed, he adds: We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Cor 5:1). This evidently means that when the body is being delivered to corruption, the soul is taken into the eternal and heavenly mansion, which is no less than the enjoyment of the divinity together with the angels in heaven.

And if someone choose to contradict this by maintaining that the Apostle did not say that as soon as the body is given over to dissolution, we are to have an eternal dwelling in heaven in reality, but only in hope, and that at length we are to have it in reality, it is clear that this is contrary to the meaning of the Apostle. For even while we live here below, we are to have a heavenly habitation, according to divine predestination, so that we have it already in hope: For in this hope we are saved (Rom 8:24). Consequently, there would be no purpose in his adding: If the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, since it would have sufficed him to say, we know . . .we have a building from God. This is made clearer still by what he says further on: We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord (2 Cor 5:6–8). Now there would be no use in our desiring to be away, that is separated, from the body, unless we were to be at once at home with the Lord. But we are not present, unless he is present to our sight, since as long as we walk by faith and not by sight . . . we are away from the Lord. Therefore, as soon as the soul of the just man is separated from the body, it sees God; and this is final beatitude, as we have proved in the third book. (Ch. 37.) The same conclusion is proved by the words of the same Apostle: My desire is to dissolve and be with Christ (Phil 1:23). Now Christ is in heaven; therefore, the Apostle desired to go to heaven as soon as his body was dissolved.

This disposes of the error of certain Greeks, who deny purgatory and say that souls, before the resurrection of the bodies, neither ascend into heaven nor are cast into hell.