It has been said that we are all here to render service to God, and return at the end to give account to Him on how we have served. God measures our services to Him by the way we are able to love Him, and love our neighbour (Matt 22:37-40). He charges us to love him, our God, with all our minds, with all our strength and with all our heart, and to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. Our whole life should therefore be a life of service since that is why we are here. Whatever we do, we must bear in mind that we are but unworthy servants; serving  God through the service we render to people, the state, or any constituted Authority under which we are placed. Jesus made this clear in Matthew 25:40, when he said: “whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers that you do unto me”. Whatsoever we are doing, therefore, we must endeavour to do it for the glory of God. We should make sure that our attitude towards all should be that of love and humble service.

God’s justice demands that every offense committed must be atoned for, and every good deed must be rewarded. God’s reward for every good deed is usually many times more than – the value of such good deed (2 Cor. ‘5:10), (Matt. 19:29)., Similarly what we suffer-for every bad deed or sin we commit is usually more than whatever we might think we gained by engaging in such bad deeds. Simply put, what a robber suffers for stealing one thousand dollars, for example, is expected to be such that if he had an option, he would gladly choose to pay one hundred thousand dollars or more in order to avoid or escape from it. If only we knew how much we must suffer for every little sin we commit, we would do everything possible to avoid sin. (See David’s case: 2 Samuel 12).

Mortal sin attracts two kinds of punishment: eternal punishment and temporal punishment. The eternal punishment is the punishment which takes place in hell. It not only lasts for ever, it is also very severe. /

Because Jesus has already paid for our sins through his suffering and death, we easily obtain pardon or freedom from this punishment through repentance and confession. Once we feel very sorry for having offended God and resolve never to sin again, and confess our sins, God forgives us and waives this eternal punishment for us.

The temporal punishment is that punishment which has a limited time, and which, though may last a long time, yet must . eventually come to an end. Every sin, whether mortal or venial attracts temporal punishment. We suffer the temporal punishment accumulated by our sins here on earth, and finish up whatever is left of it in purgatory after death. Rev. F. X. Schouppe in his book PURGATORY’ explains that the punishment that takes place in purgatory is so severe compared with the suffering of this earth that a soul that suffers for one minute in purgatory feels as if the punishment has been going on for a very long time. ( Mortal or deadly sin -1 John 5: 16-17).

Since there is so much to suffer for every sin we commit, it follows that it is indeed a great act of folly for us to indulge in any form of sin. Even if a particular sin brings pleasure or.” wealth, what we suffer eventually by far out-weighs such pleasure or wealth. This is why the bible describes the pleasures of sinners as being so short-lived that no one should envy them, because great sorrow and pain await them. (Psalm
37: 1-2)

Since every mortal sin carries with it both eternal and temporal punishment, it follows that even after repenting of, and confessing such sins,we still have the temporal punishment attached to them awaiting us, except if it pleases God to erase’ both the temporal and eternal punishment at one and the same time. The good thief crucified with Jesus enjoyed this special favour when Jesus promised him heaven with the words: “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23: 43) It could be that God decided to use the humiliation and pain of a death on the cross to erase all the temporal punishment incurred by that holy thief. It could also be that he would spend less than one day in purgatory to qualify for that wonderful promise of Jesus. The emphasis here is on the word ‘today’. Surely that thief arrived heaven that same day.

In the interest of some of us, it is very wrong for one to regard confession as a license to sin all the time as long as the priest is always available to hear confessions. We are not always completely free of punishment once we have gone to confession. Besides, a person who commits a sin with the mind of going to confession later (in order to enable him receive communion on Sunday, only to return to the same sin after Sunday) cannot possess a true heart of repentance to merit forgiveness. Sometimes some of us keep our date with the devil’s house of sin uncancelled and still go to confess the sin committed during the last date, while still intending to go back to that house of sin after receiving holy communion on Sunday. A person who goes to confession without a strong determination never to return to that house of sin in future has not obtained God’s forgiveness for his sins even after confessing them. This is because such a person is not yet sorry for his sins. If he were really sorry, he would not hesitate to cancel any future appointments in that same house.

Christ assured His priests that ‘whatever sins you forgive are forgiven, and. whatever sins you retain are retained’ (John 20:22-23) This is on the expectation that the sinner must have felt very sorry and repentant of such sins before going to confession to receive the sacrament of Penance. Contrition for sin and confession are very necessary to obtain freedom from the eternal punishment incurred by our mortal sins. This then leaves us with only the temporal punishment to contend with.

If, for example, a person commits the sin of murder, he is at once a candidate for hell. If he later repents and asks for forgiveness during confession, God, who is full of mercy, forgives him. He is no longer a candidate for hell.

The first punishment attached to his sin, which is that of burning eternally in hell is removed, but the second one, the temporal, remains. The sinner now remains to be punished for the sorrow and loss he has brought upon the members of the family of the person he killed. The cries and prayers of the bereaved for revenge cannot go unanswered by God. The difference between the first punishment and the second is that whereas the sinner would have suffered for ever in hell he now has to suffer for a while to pay up this second debt.

This question of temporal punishment serves as -a good, deterrent for us. If there were no such thing as temporal punishment still awaiting us even after repenting of our mortal sins, many of us would not hesitate to commit sins with the hope that once we are able to show contrition later on, all would be over, and heaven would automatically be opened or us. Realizing now that the journey to heaven is not all that smooth and easy, we now think twice before we commit any sinful act

This temporal punishment awaiting forgiven mortal sins, and unconfessed venial sins is sometimes brought upon the sinner while the sinner is still alive. Out of His great love and mercy, God allows us to suffer here on earth. Our sufferings here on earth are aimed at either paying the price of our own temporal punishment or we may be suffering to pay for the sins of others. Those others may be related to us or may be people we do not know, but for whom God has appointed us to suffer in order to save them; and to merit great rewards for our- selves too. We sometimes suffer for the sins of the whole world, for the conversion of sinners, and for the release of souls suffering in purgatory. So, every suffering or calamity we suffer is not as a result of our own sins. Jesus and Mary were sinless, but they suffered for the sins of others.

While sending us temporal punishment for our own mortal sins, God sometimes decides to extend this punishment to even our children, and in fact, up to the third or fourth generation, if such  children continue with sin, (Exodus 34: 7) . If however, the repentant sinner brings upon himself penance of various kinds to atone for his already forgiven sins, both intentionally or unintentionally committed, (Numbers 15:22-27) he suffers much less than if he waited for God to send the penance to him after death. Such self inflicted mortifications may possibly attract for us God’s mercy and reduction of the suffering He would have sent us, and may even make Him cut down on the number of generations of our children who would have suffered for such horrible sins. He may even decide to spare our children completely.

A person inflicting punishment on himself for his sins must be prepared to suffer substantially to see if he can completely make full satisfaction for those sins and qualify for direct entry into heaven. If enough is not suffered, the balance must be suffered the more painful way in Purgatory.

Such self-imposed punishment or acts by which we can pay for our temporal punishment include:

(1) Prayers

(2) Fasting

(3)Good works and acts of love of God and people,
(4) Mortifications.

Of all prayers, the most powerful and most effective is the holy mass; followed by the Holy Rosary. Other very good  prayers, include the “Stations of the Cross,” and the Psalms of David.

Fasting entails eating half meal in the morning and evening and full meal at midday on our days of fasting. On such days we should also try to abstain from meat and all meat products, such as milk, eggs, butter, and cheese, if we can. We can also fast by omitting one meal and eating the others fully.

‘Penance’ is a higher degree of fasting. On the days we wish to practice penance, we eat one slice of bread at noon with a glass of water (two deciliters) and repeat the same at night. (See Jesus Calls Us” – by Julia).

Good works can be practised by giving alms to the poor and the needy, visiting Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the sick and bereaved, teaching the young about God and their salvation, helping the weak and aged, etc. Other mortifications, apart from fasting and penance, include acts like voluntarily making oneself uncomfortable, like sleeping on hard floor, wearing hair-shirt on hot days, switching off the air conditioner on hot days, etc

While undergoing mortification to atone for our sins, it must be borne in mind that there are sins which call for reparation or restitution as well. Where this is not done much greater mortification must be practiced. An example of such sin is the sin against the seventh commandment of God: ‘Thou shall not steal.’

A person, who steals, must after repentance and confession return what has been stolen. It is even advisable to return such with some amount of interest, especially if a long time has passed between the time of the theft and time of restoration.

Similarly, a person who has told a lie against someone and damaged his good name, must make every amount of effort to correct the damage done. This can be done by going back to all those to whom the lie was told to say the truth. This is often a very difficult exercise, since stories often spread like wild fire, and it may not be possible to reach all those who have been fed with the wrong version of the story.

This is why this sin which is a sin against the eight commandment of God, is a very serious mortal sin. In one of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin to her chosen instruments for spreading messages from heaven, she revealed that very many souls have been going to hell because of the sins we commit with the tongue. It is hoped that God in His mercy will be willing to accept our repeated penance, fasting and mortifications as enough atonement to erase the terrible temporal punishment which such grave sins of omission attract. This is because of our inability to repair in full the damage-done by us.

In case of restoration of stolen goods or money, we do not have such problem. This is because where we are not able to locate the owner of such stolen goods we can pay in the equivalent amount of money to the church or give it out as charity to the poor and the needy without pride or showing off.

As mentioned earlier, where we do not on our own punish ourselves as atonement for our sins after confession, God punishes us for such sins either here on earth or later in Purgatory. The bible reveals that God has been doing this from of old.

After king David had arranged for the killing of Uriah in order to take his wife, he later repented after having him killed. At this the prophet Nathan assured him that the Lord had put away his sin, and that he would not die. However, because of his sin, God would still cause the death of his new born child. (2 Samuel 12: 13-18).

The sorrow from the death of this child despite David’s repentance and plea for forgiveness represents the temporal punishment which accompanies that grave sin of murder.

Since ‘nothing defiled can enter’ heaven’ (Apocalypse 21 :27),
whatever is left out of our accumulated temporal punishment is purged out of us in Purgatory to enable us become clean enough to-enter heaven. The length of time a soul suffers in purgatory depends on the weight of his remaining temporal debt of sin and the amount of prayers and good works and mortifications being offered up for him by those he left behind on earth, since he can no longer pray for himself. This is why the bible urges us to pray for the dead and make atonement on their behalf that they may be delivered from their sins-(2 Maccabees 12:45-46}.

The dead being referred to here are those held up in Purgatory, since we cannot be praying for the souls in heaven who are already delivered; nor for the souls in hell since they can never be delivered.