Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Limbo or Purgatory

Am I in limbo or purgatory? I always get confused. Are they the same thing or different.

For the past few months I have been between jobs. One fixed term contract finished and the next one had yet to materialise. On April 1 I had an interview and received a phone call to say I had the job.

Huzzah!

Coming up to three weeks later it's still with Personnel (or Human Resources or the people who deal with people issues). So some time soon I should have a start date. Slow are the ways of the world of local government.

Thanks to wikipedia I now know I am in Limbo. Limbo is defined as
popularly understood to be a "place where souls go", the term also describes and reflects theological uncertainty. As such, limbo is not part of the Church's official doctrine (compare purgatory, which is). Official Church teaching remains that the status of these souls (who don't seem to deserve hell, yet cannot follow the divinely-revealed path to heaven) is in limbo – in other words, their fate cannot be determined.
And
Purgatory is a process of purification after the particular judgment and before entry into Heaven.
So now I know. Actually reviewing those definitions I now know that I don't know. I'm saying I am in purgatory, the process ... after the particular judgment and before entry into my new job. But I could well be someone whose fate cannot be determined.

I feel ready to start limbo dancing.

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