Purgatory pondered at Catholic MP's memorial

DEATH, purgatory and heaven were the themes under consideration in the Homily given by Cardinal Hume at the Requiem Mass for Catholic MP Sir John Biggs-Davison this week.
Speaking in Westminster Cathedral, the cardinal took the opportunity provided by Sir John's passing to muse His own mortality: ". . .In those first moments that follow death I know that I shall not be quite ready to stand in His (God's) presence, His preparation of me not quite complete," said the Cardinal.
With this in mind the cardinal
went on to muse about the nature of purgatory, not as an "unsympathetic or frightening" place, but rather as a place "where excitement increases as we approach the full and perfect vision of God".
After praising Sir John for "his years of service and undoubted integrity and nobility of character", the cardinal speculated that "In those moments that follow death John was nearer than most of us to entering into that eternal now of ecstatic love which follows the vision of God and union with Him. He was a man of deep faith and good".