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According to common doctrine, the chief pain is the
delay of the beatific vision. This delay is sometimes
called temporary pain of loss. But, in the proper
sense, the pain of loss is eternal, and hence found
only in hell.
These two pains of loss differ immensely in rigor, in
duration, and in consequences. The damned have lost
hope and charity; they blaspheme without ceasing;
they have a will obstinate in evil; they never
repent; they desire universal damnation. The souls in
purgatory have assured hope and inamissible charity;
they love God; they adore divine justice; they are
confirmed in good; they repent profoundly; they love
all God's children.
This delay of the beatific vision differs notably
from that which existed in limbo before the death of
our Lord. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and
the prophets, saw in this delay a punishment
inflicted, not, properly speaking, on their person,
but on human nature not yet perfectly regenerated.
The time for deliverance by Christ the Redeemer had
not yet arrived. This time has now arrived. Hence the
delay in purgatory is truly a suffering, the chief of
purgatorial sufferings.
Suffering in Purgatory and
Suffering on Earth
Suffering in purgatory is greater than all suffering
on earth. Such is the doctrine of tradition,
supported by theological reasoning. [402]
Tradition is expressed by St. Augustine: "That fire
will be more painful than anything man can suffer in
the present life." [403] St. Isidore [404] speaks in
the same sense. According to these testimonies and
others similar to them, the least pain in purgatory
surpasses the greatest sufferings of the present
life.
St. Bonaventure speaks somewhat differently: "In the
next life, by reason of the state of the souls there
retained, the purifying purgatorial suffering will
be, in its kind, more severe than the greatest trials
on earth." [405] We must understand him thus: For one
and the same sin, the smallest suffering in purgatory
is greater than any corresponding suffering on earth.
But it does not follow that the least pain in
purgatory surpasses the greatest terrestrial
suffering. On this
point St. Bonaventure is followed by St. Robert
Bellarmine. [406] According to this last author, the
privation of God is without doubt a very great
suffering, but it is sweetened and consoled by the
assured hope of once possessing Him. From this hope
there arises an incredible joy, which grows in
measure as the soul approaches the end of its exile.
[407]
Many theologians, notably Suarez, [408] rightly
remark that the sufferings in purgatory, especially
the delay of the beatific vision, are of a higher
order than our terrestrial sufferings, and in this
sense we may say that the smallest suffering in
purgatory is more severe than the greatest suffering
on earth. The joy they have in the hope of
deliverance cannot diminish the suffering they feel
from deprivation of the beatific vision. We see this
truth in Jesus crucified: supreme beatitude, love of
God and of souls, far from diminishing His pains,
augmented them. St. Catherine of Genoa speaks thus:
"Souls in purgatory unite great joy with great
suffering. One does not diminish the other." [409]
She continues: "No peace is comparable to that of the
souls in purgatory, except that of the saints in
heaven. On the other hand, the souls in purgatory
endure torments which no tongue can describe and no
intelligence comprehend, without special revelation."
This saint, we recall, experienced on earth the pains
of purgatory.
This testimony of tradition is illustrated by the
character of great saints. While they are more severe
than ordinary preachers, they also have much greater
love of God and souls. They show forth, not only the
justice of God, but also His boundless love. A good
Christian illustrates the same truth. A Christian
mother, for instance, is severe in order to correct
her children, but the element that predominates is
sweetness and maternal goodness. Today, on the
contrary, it often happens that many parents lack
both severity and love. Those persons who do not
undergo purgatory on earth will have it later on. Nor
must we make too sharp a distinction between
sanctification and salvation. If we neglect
sanctification, we may miss salvation itself.
Privation of the beatific vision is painful in the
same degree as the desire of that vision is vivid.
Two reasons, one negative, the other positive, show
the vividness of this desire.
Negatively, its desire for God is no longer retarded
by the weight of the body, by the distractions and
occupations of this terrestrial life. Created goods
cannot distract it from the suffering it has in the
privation of God.
Positively, its desire of God is very intense,
because the hour has arrived when it would be in the
enjoyment of God if it had not placed thereunto an
obstacle by the faults which it must expiate.
The souls in purgatory grasp much more clearly than
we do, by reason of their infused ideas, the
measureless value of the immediate vision of God, of
His inamissible possession. Further, they have
intuition of themselves. Sure of their own salvation,
they know with absolute certainty that they are
predestined to see God, face to face. Without this
delay for expiation, the moment of separation from
the body would coincide with that of entrance into
heaven.
In the radical order of spiritual life, then, the
separated soul ought already to enjoy the beatific
vision. Hence it has a hunger for God which it cannot
experience here on earth. It has failed to prepare
for its rendezvous with God. Since it failed to
search for Him, He now hides Himself.
Analogies may be helpful. We are awaiting, with great
anxiety, a friend with whom to discuss an important
matter at a determined hour. If our friend is
delayed, inquietude supervenes. The longer the delay,
the more does inquietude grow. In the physical order,
if our meal is retarded, say six hours or more,
hunger grows ever more painful. If we have not eaten
for three days, hunger becomes very severe.
Thus, in the spiritual domain, the separated soul has
an insatiable hunger for God. It understands much
better than
it did on earth that its will has a depth without
measure, that only God seen face to face can fill
this will and draw it irresistibly. This immense void
renders it more avid to see the sovereign good. [410]
This desire surpasses by far the natural desire,
conditional and inefficacious, to see God. [411] The
desire of which we speak now is a supernatural
desire, which proceeds from infused hope and infused
charity. It is an efficacious desire, which will be
infallibly fulfilled, but later. For the moment God
refuses to fulfill this desire. The soul, having
sought itself instead of God, cannot now find Him.
Joy follows perfect activity. The greatest joy, then,
follows the act of seeing God. The absence of this
vision, when its hour has arrived, causes the
greatest pain. Souls in purgatory feel most vividly
their impotence and poverty. A parallel on earth
appears in the saints. Like St. Paul, [412] saints
desire to die and to be with Christ.
We often hear it said that in the souls in purgatory
there is an ebb and flood. Strongly drawn toward God,
they are held back by the "remains of sin," which
they have to expiate. They cannot rush to the goal
which they so ardently desire. Love of God does not
diminish their pain, but increases it. And this love
is no longer meritorious. How eloquent is their
title: the suffering Church!
St. Catherine of Genoa speaks as follows: "Let us
suppose in the entire world only one loaf of bread.
Further, even the sight of this one loaf would
satisfy the hunger of every creature. Now man, in
good health, has by nature the instinct of
nourishment and hence the pain of hunger. If he could
abstain from eating without losing health and life,
his hunger would cause an ever more intolerable pain.
If therefore man were certain he would never see this
unique loaf of which we have spoken, his hell would
be something like that of the damned. Now the souls
in purgatory have the certain hope of seeing this
unique loaf and of being entirely sated by it. But
they endure an ever increasing pain of hunger until
they enter into the eternal possession of this bread
of life, which is Jesus Christ, our Lord." [413]
This analogy of hunger is developed by Father Faber.
[414]
Scripture is eloquent on this. "I will send forth
famine into the land, not a famine of bread . . . but
of hearing the word of the Lord, . . . they shall go
about seeking the word of the Lord and shall not find
it." [415] "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst
after justice." [416] "If any man thirst, let him
come to Me and drink . . . out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water." [417] "My soul hath
thirsted after the strong living God. When shall I
come and appear before the face of the Lord?" [418]
"O God, my God, to Thee do I watch at break of day;
for Thee my soul hath thirsted, for Thee my flesh,
Oh, how many ways, in a desert land, and where there
is no way and no water." [419]
If purgatory is less severe for souls who have sinned
only by feebleness, it must be more rigorous for
those who have for a long time failed in confession
and Communion. "Child of nothing, what hast thou to
lament? Sinner covered with ignominy, what canst thou
reply?
What reproaches must one address to thee, who hast so
often offended God and so often merited hell ? My
goodness has spared thee, that thou mightest know My
love." [420]
Two Difficulties
Many souls are in purgatory who have sinned only
venially. Can punishment so severe be proportioned to
venial sins? St. Thomas replies: "Pain corresponds
less to the gravity of the sin than to the
disposition of the suffering soul. One and the same
sin is punished more severely in purgatory than it is
on earth. To illustrate. A man of delicate
constitution suffers more than does another from a
legal scourging.
Why is one and the same sin punished more rigorously
in purgatory than on earth? Because in the absence of
merit, reparation becomes satispassion. Further, the
separated soul knows much better than it did before
that God is the one thing necessary.
These souls can no longer do anything for themselves.
They can only suffer. Hence we, who can still merit
and satisfy, should offer our merits and
satisfactions for them. Such offerings will never be
lost. These souls incapable of sin can lose nothing
of what we obtain for them.
A second difficulty appears. The more saintly a soul
is, the more it desires to see God. And pain
corresponds to desire. Is this just?
Our reply follows Suarez and St. Catherine of Genoa.
Souls in purgatory, desiring the beatific vision,
suffer from its delay, just as on earth the saints
desire to die and to be with God. This normal
consequence of intense love is a very noble
suffering, pleasing to God who tries us. But this
great pain is compensated by their greater
abandonment to Providence and their greater love of
divine justice. And less perfect souls suffer more
from another point of view. They have lost for
eternity a higher degree of glory, which would have
been theirs had they been more perfect.
Think of the sufferings of Jesus and of His Mother.
These sufferings were undoubtedly proportioned to
reparation for our sins, but also to the intensity of
their love. Suffering for sin grows with love of God.
[421]
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| 402. |
IV Sent., dist. 21, q 1, a. 3;
also Appendix of the Supplement, a. 3. |
| 403. |
Comment on Ps. 37:3. Journel, no.
1476. |
| 404. |
De ordine creatur., chap 14, no.
12. |
| 405. |
IV Sent., dist. 21, q. 4; also
dist. 20, a. 2, q. 2. |
| 406. |
Dict. theol. cathol., cols. 1240,
1292. |
| 407. |
De purgatorio, chap 14, p. 121. |
| 408. |
Disputatio 46, section 1, nos. 2, 5, 6. |
| 409. |
Treatise on Purgatory, chap. 14; chaps. 2 and 3. |
| 410. |
Contra Gentes, Bk. IV, chap. 91, no. 2. "By the
very fact that the soul is separated from the body it
becomes capable of the divine vision for which it was
unable while united to the corruptible body. Hence
immediately after death souls gain either punishment
or
reward, if there be no impediment." |
| 411. |
Ia, q. 12, a.1. |
| 412. |
Phil. 1:23. |
| 413. |
413 St. Catherine of Genoa received very early great
graces of consolation during five years, but during
the
next five years she suffered great aridity, became
discouraged and during five further years neglected
her
religious duties. One day her sister said to her:
"Tomorrow is a great feast. I hope you will go to
confession." She did go and in the confessional
received a very great grace of contrition. She
commenced from that hour a life of heroic penance,
until the Lord let her understand that she had
satisfied divine justice. Then she said: "If now I
would turn back I would wish someone to tear out my
eyes in punishment. Even this I feel were not
enough." |
| 414. |
All for Jesus, p. 388. See Dict. theol. cath.,
"Dam" (the Pain of Loss in Purgatory), cols. 17 ff.;
also Monsabre, Conferences at Notre Dame, 97th
Conference, Purgatory; and Monsignor Gay, Life and
Christian Virtues, chap. 17, On the Suffering Church. |
| 415. |
Amos 8:11. |
| 416. |
Matt. 5:6. |
| 417. |
John 7:37. |
| 418. |
Ps. 41:3. |
| 419. |
Ibid., 62:1. |
| 420. |
Imitation of Christ, Bk. III, chap. 13, no. 3. |
| 421. |
What a world separates the true idea of heaven
from
heaven as conceived by naturalism, by pantheism, a
heaven which would be married to hell beyond good and
bad, a heaven where without renouncing anything men
would find supreme beatitude. This is the heaven
defended by the secret doctrines of the counter-Church
which begins with the Gnostics of old and continues
in
present day occult doctrines that produce universal
confusion. In the second part of Faust, Goethe is
inspired by this naturalism, so distant from
Christian
faith. |
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