The Three States

Everyone knows Christ defeated death on Easter. This is why Easter is the most significant season in the Church calendar. By doing this though, all the souls who have died before Him were divided into three states of being: Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell. With Christ's Resurrection, all the righteous people immediately went up with Him (e.g. St. Dismas the Good Thief who was crucified alongside Christ). Those who were good people, but still needing to repay their trespasses, are in the state of Purgatory, while those who denied the existence of God are in the state of Hell.

Now not to be confused, but these three states of being for the soul are considered places, but they are considered a condition (hence a state of being). It can be considered either.

Now before there were these three states, all the souls were in the 'location' of Sheol or Hades. All souls were put here when the physical body died (with one or two exceptions including Elijah). In this place, souls could be divided into two separate 'realms' so to speak. They were the 'Bosom of Abraham' (also called 'Paradise') and Gehenna. The 'Bosom of Abraham' was a reward to all the just and could be likened to the to an imperfect happiness since there was the absence of God yet people treat it as a synonym for Heaven. While on the other hand, all the evil souls were in Gehenna which could be considered the precedent to Hell. This concept is illustrated in Luke 16: 22-23 with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

Once Christ Resurrected though, all the holy people in the 'Bosom of Abraham' were brought into Heaven where an eternal state of happiness was met since they were in communion with God. Those in Gehenna are in Hell or in the state of eternal punishment. Hell is the state of being for the soul with eternal suffering because all souls seek to be in communion with God, and since they rejected God, they are forever suffering.  The last state is Purgatory where all the souls who have not freed themselves from their venial sins. They can however achieve the state of Heaven when their debt has been paid.

Now, all souls instead of being confined to the 'Bosom of Abraham' or Gehenna have a particular judgment which decrees where the soul in question will now go to whether it be Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory.



Sources:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01055a.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm
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