Fires

In the Catholic tradition, a person who dies but is not yet transformed into their best possible self, goes to “Purgatory.”  This is a place that has fire which burns.  It signifies that the person is suffering, paying dues, for a not so good life before death.  I take issue with this idea and will give one of the reasons.  For me, God is Love, a verb.  God is always loving.  People having their souls fried is not Love in action.  So what is the fire about?  First, it does not burn anyone.  The fire is the very God I believe in.  God is on fire with Love.  The purgatorial person is surrounded, and breathing in Love.  So what is the suffering?  The suffering is that you realize that you spent your whole life missing out on all this love, because you had other priorities, or else no one told you about such a Love in a way that attracted you.  What good is a teaching that says God loves you, but if you don’t shape up or get enough indulgences, you will burn?  So this might make me a bad Catholic for not holding to the party line.  If I am wrong about my theology then I guess I will burn. Ouch!