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Purgatory is a Place of Mercy
"I am not afraid of Purgatory. I know that I am not
worthy to enter that place of expiation with those
holy souls. But I know, also, that the fire of Love
is more sanctifying than the fire of Purgatory."
(St. Therese, Little Flower of Jesus)
Purgatory is a place of mercy and of goodness.
Never would I have imagined that God is so infinitely good
to the sufferingsouls. It is His tender mercy toward them which is, and always was, the
greatest cause ofastonishment to me. Nowhere have I seen merciful
love pour itselfout so freely as there. In that cleansing fire, I
have found thegoodness and mercy of God, as my soul sought it.
It seems to me asif the soul asks God, "May I live once more? Can I
yet make amends?"Then God says, "Yes, you are now entering the
novitiate ofHeaven. You must suffer now and expiate all your sins.
Thereby you willbe made pure and worthy to enter My Kingdom."
Oh, with what gratitude does the soul accept its Purgatory!It
rejoices becauseGod is so good as to send it to such a place of
purification. Howmuch does the soul thank the Precious Blood,
through whichPurgatory has been merited! Truly it is a place of
redemption, wheresouls have gathered at the brink of the abyss; it
is the last placeof refuge - an invention of Merciful Love.
Purgatory is also a place of realization. There souls awakefrom
sleep and see, ina split second, how lovable and good and great God
is. They realizethen how very often they have spurned His
tremendous loveand infinite mercy, and how they have thereby
grieved theirSavior. They see the great benefits which have been
bestowed on themin life; they see all the squandered graces and
lostopportunities of merit; they see also the bitter sufferings of
Jesus for whomthey showed so little affection while on earth.
All the goodness of God is revealed to them, and they see the
injustice withwhich they have repaid Him and His merciful love.
There burns thefire which purifies the soul; there unutterable
sufferings andpain, united to the merits of the Most Precious
Blood, is theonly expiation for sin.
I always think this way: The Poor Souls suffer just becauseof the
goodness and loveof God. The greater this merciful love had been
toward them onearth, so much greater pain do they suffer in
Purgatory.
In eternity these souls are certainly no longer as obstinateas they
were in life. Thegoodness of God, the merciful love of God, and the
rays of Hissublimity soften them. God is not severe, not cruel
toward the PoorSouls, as many imagine Him to be. No, He is good,
full ofcompassion and love for them. And each soul in Purgatory
fully realizesthat He is so very good.
It seems as if I hear throughout the whole realm ofPurgatory, "Oh,
how good. Howvery good is God! Would that we had known Him! For if
we had, we wouldsurely have better understood Him, and would have
wished to loveHim more."
This knowledge of the Divine Love, and the realization of itsown
obduracy, affectsthe soul deeply, and constitutes its greatest
torment. Iexperience this even in my own heart, and it is just this
striking contrastwhich causes such great suffering.
But it is also a blessed suffering! It involves no despair,for the
Poor Souls knowfor certain that they are not lost. They know that
God is merciful,and that He will take them to Heaven, where all
their sinfulnessis entirely forgiven and forgotten; where He will
forever rewardthe least good they have done in this life. The power
of this love isso great that the Poor Souls can endure it only with
pangs of remorse.But no matter how much they may suffer from that
repentance, theyare still happy; they are free from all worry and
uncertainty; theyfully realize that they are about to enter into
everlastinglight.
Purgatory Purifies
In Purgatory I have also learned gratitude toward thePrecious
Blood; foreverything there is bedewed and vivified with It, and I
witness the greatbenefits derived through It. I truly believe that
the Poor Soulsare consoled only by this Most Precious Blood, and
they render Itthe most beautiful veneration imaginable.
It is there I experience so much the consolations of mySavior. I
see how Jesusonce more recovers from these souls what they have
wasted and lost.Many great and ugly gaps must be refilled by
suffering. Eachsoul appears to me like a beautiful mosaic made by
God, with amarvelous divine art, and consisting of many little
stones. All thegraces which we possess, God has worked into this
masterpiece.
If we destroy or lose these tiny mosaic stones, if we do not
continuallyendeavor to beautify this mosaic in our souls, we cause
such ugly gaps.In Purgatory this picture must be completed;
everything thathad been lost must be restored, so that nothing is
wanting to thesoul's original splendor.
God Himself - the wonderful God - would be outraged if allwere not
restored. Thesouls which enter Heaven must lack nothing. Otherwise
something wouldbe lacking to God, and His happiness would
consequently nolonger be perfect. We have all been called to that
vocation - tobecome the splendor of God. Since we belong entirely
to God, we areHis members. It is a wonderful mystery which I cannot
describe, butonly contemplate.
This is the very reason why there is a Purgatory, or, as Iwould
like to call it,a workshop of reparation. Yes, it is out of love
and mercy thatGod leaves the souls in Purgatory. If they did not
have to beradiantly pure in order to enter Heaven, they would
never, neverthrough all eternity, possess that plentitude of
happiness whichis theirs after such a purification.
They have then a deeper understanding of God, and enjoy Himmore
throughout alleternity. Oh, the longest Purgatory is as nothing
compared to thejoys which these poor, suffering souls justly expect
in Heaven. Nosoul in Purgatory is without consolation; no matter
how deeply theyare buried in fire, the souls in Purgatory are not
withoutconsolation. The certainty that they suffer only to be
everlastinglyhappy is their greatest consolation.
Surprises in Purgatory
But not all souls endure equal pain in Purgatory. Manybelieve that
those who havesinned most are kept for the longest time from the
Beatific Vision.This may indeed be true, in many cases, but it is
not always so.
In Purgatory I have learned not to pass judgment on suchmatters any
longer. God hasan infinite number of reasons for pardon, and it is
a wonderfulexperience to discover them in Purgatory. In eternity it
is often so verydifferent from what we think! Here we are not at
all capable offorming correct convictions, and we are not at all
worthy to passjudgment.
Oh, how different are the decisions of this Divine Judgecompared to
our own! Often wethink, "This soul is surely lost, or at least
deeply buried inPurgatory," - and for a long time this particular
soul already hasbeen in Heaven. Or again we think, "This soul is
surely in Heaven- it was so holy," - but is till in Purgatory.
Yes, God alone knows the hearts of His creatures. God alonejudges
correctly. Yet,God is wondrously gentle and kind in His judgments,
while we, on thecontrary, are so hard and blunt. The Lord is unjust
to no one. AsJudge He is so tender, so loving, so righteous!
Everyone who isof Good Will is dealt with most kindly.
The souls in Purgatory are enveloped, as it were, in a thickshroud
into which theyhave wound themselves, while living here on earth.
It is the garmentof their own egoism. Their main care in this life
was themselves,just as the world's highest ideal is
self-glorificationand honor. It is this which fashions that coarse
garment, throughwhich the Light of God can hardly penetrate.
Many souls on earth do not seriously ask themselves thequestion,
"Does my way ofliving please God?" Instead they think, without
anxiety, thattheir life is upright and most praiseworthy, but they
are mistaken.
Indeed, there are even people who gladly go to church, whopray and
perform works ofmercy - but a thin hard crust forms around their
souls. They thinkthat everything they undertake is very pleasing to
God. But theynever truly seek God's wishes. They perform all their
actions withoutlove, without a holy fear of God. They dull their
consciencethrough the fulfillment of external duties only. If
someone callstheir attention to a fault, immediately they endeavor
to pardon andjustify their actions. There are many such souls in
Purgatory; theseare even now not entirely susceptible to the truth.
It comes only gradually, so that only after a long while doesthe
grace of Godbreak through the shroud, and arouse the soul from
sleep.
True Wisdom and Piety
There are also souls in Purgatory who had great wisdom andlearning
in this life; whowere famous; who did much good for their fellow
men; who upheldall righteousness and justice. However, they
performed theseactions because of ambitious motives. They were
entirelypermeated with the spirit of the world, living a selfish
and independentlife, while completely ignoring their Lord and
Creator.
These souls enter eternity with the least knowledge of God.On earth
they werewell-versed in everything; now they find themselves in the
greatestquandaries. Formerly they were so highly educated, and now
they knownothing, for God reveals the truly great things only to
the humble.
Such "wise" men often have shallow souls. They frequentlyremain a
long time inPurgatory - until they have been liberated from their
ego; until theyare aroused from their slumber; until they lose all
concern forthemselves. They lie dead and lifeless in their shroud,
until LightEverlasting finally penetrates through their windings to
the interior.These are the most helpless souls, for they have so
much of the worldand self in them.
There are in Purgatory wise men who stood in great reputeamong
worldlings, butnow they find themselves greatly perplexed. For
there, thesmallest and poorest child is often wiser than they.
Again this truthcomes to light, "God reveals great things to the
humble."
In His judgment, the Lord is infinitely merciful. He purifiesand
preservesimmaculate the truly good qualities which the soul
possesses, inorder to reward the soul everlastingly for them. And
when so many,many faults and failings still occur, God does not
allow the good tobe lost, for He esteems every act, even the
smallestoffering, very highly. Ah, yes, if only we could recognize,
as the Lord does,all the good which He has bestowed on us!
Souls who are pious and devout on earth, on account of theesteem
they therebyreceived from men, suffer the pains of Purgatory for a
long time. Ibehold many souls in Purgatory whose desire to become
Saints wasmotivated by self-will and self-love, or who devoted
themselvesassiduously to the interior life in order to please their
confessors andspiritual directors; whose only motive was not God,
but their ownglorification, their own egoism.
Yes, these were souls who practiced piety, but who were nothumble;
who wanted to seeno faults in themselves; who self-confidently
thought thattheir way of living was the best possible - souls who
performed deedsof penance in proud imitation of the Saints, not in
humility andrepentance. Such imitation appears real, but God cannot
be deceived.These are souls who had a proud desire to become holy;
who continuallylooked at the number of their mortifications and
sacrifices as ina mirror. They could do great things, but neglected
the small,important duties.
Such souls are indeed deep in the flames of Purgatory - theirwhole
life was oneprolonged deception. Oh, how much the eternal Truth now
burns andconsumes them! God is not pleased with them, and the souls
experience thisin great torment and anguish. But they still need
theseexcruciating pains before they can become repentant as God
wants them to be;before their proud self can be humbled. As soon as
the dispositionsof repentance and humility are aroused, these souls
will bethoroughly cleansed, until the time when God's grace will
lead them outinto the clear air of self-knowledge, where they will
no longer lovethemselves but Jesus.
Humility Important
No longer do I seek anything great in souls, but onlylittleness and
simplicity. Imyself have learned, more and more, to be very small
and simple. Oh,there are even more souls in Purgatory who have
deceived others.Alas, no one prays for them because they were
considered to bepious here on earth. Oh, these miserable ones!
Jesus has whispered to me that I am to pray for these, sinceothers
believe them tobe in Heaven. These souls, who are so
self-satisfied,must inevitably sense the fire of humilitation.
Humble piety -this is so often lacking, and is so rare - a truly
sincere piety.What does it profit us if we know everything about
Heaven and earth,and do not know the most important thing: that we
are nothing andcan do nothing; that our actions are performed only
through God? Whatdoes a storehouse of knowledge profit us, if we do
not possess thewisdom of little children? Without this wisdom, we
are unable torecognize the Merciful Love; for is he not poor who
knows nothing ofmercy?
The building built entirely upon self collapses, because itwas not
constructed on afoundation of humility. Humility is the basis for
all graces, yes,for our entire life. If this wisdom is lacking,
then all otherknowledge and holiness amounts to nothing; then it
falls to piecesduring the first windstorm. Where there is humility,
there isweakness, and there is also the power of God. Where there
is contrition,there is mercy.
(Thefollowing article was originally written by a young woman
livingin the seclusion of the Alps and, then, was translated
from
German into English by Rev. Bernard Doyls, S.V.D. It was
firstpublished in 1955 with the Imprimatur of Cardinal Stritch.)
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