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We must now recall briefly, first what we have said
above on the nature of knowledge in the separated
soul; secondly, on particular judgment. [443]
These souls, since they have their bodies no longer,
cannot exercise the operations of sense-life. But
they do retain and can exercise the superior
faculties of intellect and will. They carry with them
all their knowledge and all their virtues,
theological and moral, but they must exercise these
possessions without the support of the imagination.
This preternatural mode of being is accompanied by a
preternatural mode of acting. Infused ideas enable
them to know the singular in the universal, in
particular to know persons remaining on earth with
whom they have a special relation.
Further, they see themselves intuitively, as the
angels do. Hence they know very clearly their own
spirituality, immortality, liberty. In themselves, as
in a mirror, they have perfect natural knowledge of
God, the author of their nature. And they know one
another.
The particular judgment, we have said, comes at the
very instant of separation from the body. This
instant terminates merit and demerit. The sentence of
judgment, in the form of an intellectual
illumination, covers their entire terrestrial life,
and is therefore definitive. The state of the souls
in purgatory follows from these principles.
Certitude of Salvation and
Confirmation in Grace
Particular judgment gives to the souls in purgatory
assurance of salvation. Their hope is no longer, like
ours, the certitude of tendency. [444] It is the
certitude of arrival, a certitude which can be had on
earth only by a special revelation. [445] The
particular judgment contains this special revelation.
The soul is certain of its predestination. Further,
it knows that it is not in heaven, where one sees
God, nor in hell, where one blasphemes God. It lives
in a transitory state of purification, where it loves
God above all things.
Further, these souls are confirmed in grace. This,
too, is a consequence of the particular judgment.
Theologians teach this truth generally, recalling
that the Church has condemned the following
proposition of Luther: "The souls in purgatory sin
continually and endeavor to escape their sufferings."
[446] Confirmation in grace is our reason for calling
them the holy souls.
But how can they be confirmed in grace before they
have received the beatific vision, which has as a
consequence impeccability? Suarez explains this by a
special protection of God, which preserves the souls
from sin, mortal or venial, in order that their
entrance into heaven shall not be delayed longer than
necessary. Thomists add an intrinsic reason. These
souls, being pure spirits, judge in immovable fashion
concerning their last end, and adhere to that last
end immovably. They are fixed in good. This is the
teaching of St. Thomas. [447] This immutable
adherence to the last end, we must repeat, is in a
higher order than our solar time. It is measured by
eviternity, though, in regions of thought less
elevated, separated souls have a succession of
thoughts and sentiments which are measured by
discontinuous time, by spiritual instants. [448] We
find something similar on earth in saints who are
confirmed in grace. Their turning toward God is
immutable, but below this they have a succession of
thoughts and sentiments, subordinated to God loved
above all things.
All that we are now saying follows clearly from
principles enunciated above. But difficulties still
face us. First, these souls, confirmed in grace, may
still have died in venial sins. When are these venial
sins forgiven? Further, those converted just before
death, after a life of grave disorder, have carried
with them very defective dispositions. Are these
dispositions taken away at once upon entrance into
purgatory, or only gradually? Theology explains.
The Remission of Venial Sins
Just souls surprised by death, for example, during
sleep, or at a moment when they do not have
sufficient control of reason, were not able at the
last moment to make an act of contrition, a
meritorious act which would have obtained the
remission of venial sins. Such sins are remitted to
them by the act of charity and contrition which they
make immediately
after death, at the moment of the particular
judgment. This act indeed is no longer meritorious.
But it is an act of charity and contrition which
suffices to remit venial sins, though the soul must
still endure the suffering due to these faults. Such
is the teaching of St. Thomas, [449] admitted also by
Suarez, [450] and by the generality of theologians.
[451]
This doctrine is very probable. Nothing prevents the
separated soul from making at once an act of
repentance. It is no longer hindered by the passions.
General contrition would suffice for the remission of
these sins. But, under the light of the particular
judgment, the soul sees all its sins singly and
consequently repents of each singly. This is a
wonderful complement of the act of contrition made on
earth, although that complement is not meritorious.
Certainly it is better to make this act of contrition
before death. To sacrifice life in union with the
Masses celebrated at the moment of death would have
been meritorious. But, while it is not now
meritorious, it obtains the remission of venial sins.
Such a soul is a saint, because all its venial sins
are at once remitted, and it can no longer sin. This
is truly a beautiful doctrine.
The Defective Dispositions
When sin is remitted by grace, the soul is no longer
turned away from God, [452] but it can retain a
defective disposition which carries it toward created
good. These defective dispositions, while they no
longer have predominance, remain as the fuel of
concupiscence. The drunkard or the backbiter, even
after absolution, retains a disposition to fall back
into his old sin.
Do these dispositions remain in the separated soul?
Yes. They are like rust, penetrating at times to the
depths of the intelligence and the will. Does this
rust disappear suddenly upon entrance into purgatory?
Some theologians thinks so, because an intense act of
charity can immediately take away these evil
dispositions. [453]
Now we do not find this answer in St. Thomas, but
rather its contrary. He says, as we have seen. "The
rigor of suffering corresponds properly speaking to
the gravity of the fault, and the duration of the
suffering corresponds to the rootedness which the sin
has in the subject." [454] Now uprooting is generally
a long process, demanding a long affliction or a long
penance.
St. Catherine of Genoa [455] speaks as follows: "No
peace is comparable to that of the souls in purgatory
except that of the saints in heaven. This peace grows
as hindrances disappear. As the rust disappears, the
soul reflects more and more perfectly the true sun,
which is God. And its happiness grows in the same
measure." [456]
Hence we are inclined to think that, although venial
sins are immediately remitted on entrance into
purgatory, evil dispositions, as a rule, disappear
progressively. We say, as a rule. Exceptions may
occur, as on earth, so in purgatory. [457]
Voluntary Satispassion
We are here in the heart of our subject. Sin merits
suffering. The divine order, like the social order,
must be re-established by a penal compensation. If
the soul accepts this penalty, it re-enters the order
which it has violated.
This thought, adumbrated by Plato, is developed by
St. Thomas. [458] Voluntary acceptance of the pains
of purgatory obtains for the poor souls the remission
of their debt to divine justice. But, whereas on
earth the satisfaction is meritorious, the
satispassion in purgatory is no longer meritorious.
[459]
Purgatorial satispassion is not only accepted by the
will, but it is offered, with ardent charity, as an
act of adoration. Here we have one of the most
beautiful views of purgatory. The soul clearly
recognizes the imprescriptible rights of God, author
of nature and grace. It now sees the infinite value
of redemption, of the sacrifice of the cross, of
Mass, of the sacraments, which on earth it treated
with negligence. It also sees much more profoundly,
without possible distraction, the value of eternal
life, of the possession of God. What joy in purgatory
when Mass is celebrated on anniversary days !
These souls love their suffering. On earth they were
not generous enough to impose on themselves a condign
punishment. Now that punishment becomes an expiatory
sacrifice. And the more this suffering penetrates the
depth of their will, the more lovingly they accept
it. Egoism, selfishness, the rust of sin, is burned
away, and charity reigns without rival in the depths,
rooted there forever.
We on earth see events along the horizontal line,
where it is hard to distinguish good from evil, since
great criminals often have statues in public places.
The souls in purgatory, on the contrary, have rather
the vertical view, where God's infinite holiness
penetrates the most profound depths of perversity.
Adoration of this holiness constitutes the
purgatorial liturgy.
"Joy from pain, how can it come?" Purgatorial pain is
accepted and offered, not only with peace, but with
the joy which comes from the certitude of grace and
salvation. Joy does not diminish pain, because both
proceed from thirst for God.
Of this ebb and flow, the ebb and flow of the sea is
a feeble image. On the one side, attraction toward
God; on the other, a soul held back by the vestiges
of sin. [460]
Purgatorial love of God, far from diminishing pain,
rather augments it. Purgatorial purification makes us
think of the dark night described by St. John of the
Cross. The poor souls are spiritually crucified. They
may say: "I am crucified in this flame." But the
sense of the word is contrary to the sense it has for
the damned. Here it means the living flame of love,
which ceases not to mount up to God. [461]
Mutual love governs purgatory. All have perfect
peace, perfect abandonment into the hands of the
Lord. They find sweetness in their sufferings. In the
book called De paenitentia, attributed to St.
Augustine, we read: "Let the penitent always feel
pain for-his sin, and always feel joy for his pain."
[462] In the words of the Psalmist: "Justice and
peace have kissed." [463] Such is the liturgy of the
Church suffering.
Freedom Regained
Can the poor souls suffer anxiety? No. It is excluded
by their certainty of salvation. Terror is excluded
by adoration of divine justice. And perfect union
with the divine will excludes impatience, and
includes
gratitude. Absence of sense faculties excludes all
emotional disturbance. And their spiritual sadness is
completely subject to God.
St. Francis de Sales [464] speaks thus: "The souls in
purgatory are most certainly there on account of
their sins, sins which they have detested and still
do detest above all things. Their pain arises from
delay, from deprivation for a time of the blessed
joys and love of paradise. But this pain they endure
with the loving song: 'Thou art just, O Lord, and Thy
judgment is right.' " [465]
St. Catherine of Genoa speaks in similar fashion:
"They choose to remain where they are, since God has
justly arranged it so. They have no envy. They do not
say, 'This soul will be delivered before me'; or 'I
will be delivered before it.' They are so satisfied
with the
divine dispositions that they love everything that
pleases God." [466]
Thus the soul, as many mystics have said, in
purgatory regains full personal liberty, full mastery
of self. It truly possesses itself, in the order
willed by God, in that peace which is the tranquility
of order.
This full liberty is incapable of evil, capable only
of good, and in this it is the image of the liberty
of God, who is simultaneously sovereignly free and
absolutely impeccable. Liberty harmonized with
immutability is the fruit of confirmation in grace.
From this point of view the life of the suffering
souls is very noble, very beautiful, although it is
not yet the life of heaven.
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| 443. |
See above, chaps. 10 and 12. |
| 444. |
IIa IIae, q.18, a.4. "Hope tends
with certainty toward its goal, with a certitude that
participates in the certitude of faith." |
| 445. |
Denz. nos. 805, 826, 806. |
| 446. |
Ibid., no. 779. |
| 447. |
Ia, q.64, a. 2. "The angel apprehends
unchangeably
by his intellect, just as we apprehend unchangeably
first principles, and the will of the angel adheres
fixed and unchangeably, after it has chosen." We have
here a reflex of the immutability of the free decrees
of God. Cf. also De veritate, q.24, a. II ad 4; also
Contra Gentes, Bk. IV, chap. 9. |
| 448. |
Ia, q. 10, a. 5 ad 1. |
| 449. |
IV Sent., dist. 21, q. 1, a.3;
Appendix of the Supplement, a.6; De malo, q.7, a. l1. |
| 450. |
Disputatio XI, sect. 4. |
| 451. |
Dict. theol. cath., "Purgatoire,"
col. 1294; Hugon, Tractatus dogmatici de novissimis, p. 825. |
| 452. |
IIIa. a.86, a. 5. |
| 453. |
Cf. Hugon, op. cit., p. 826, and Dict. theol.
cath., "Purgatoire," col. 1298. |
| 454. |
IV Sent., dist. 21, q. 1, a.3. |
| 455. |
Treatise on Purgatory, chap. 2. |
| 456. |
The saint is speaking from her own experience. |
| 457. |
IIIa, q.86, a. 5. |
| 458. |
Ia IIae, q.87, a.6. |
| 459. |
Appendix to the Supplement, De purgatorio,
articles
4, 7, 8. |
| 460. |
Monsignor Gay (De la vie et les vertus Chret.,
11,
570 ff.) speaks thus: "After death it is no longer
God
who keeps the creature at a distance. On the
contrary,
He waits for it, calls for it, draws it. The soul
knows
this although it does not see Him. It feels it. All
that is in the soul attempts to rush toward God with
a
necessity that remains unchangeable. Their
helplessness
is the source of this immobility. Like the paralytic
beside the pond, they are unable to help themselves.
They cannot do penance, cannot merit, cannot satisfy,
cannot gain indulgences. They are deprived of the
sacraments. In one sense the souls love these chains
which bind them to their present state. But their
love, although it is more ardent, finds itself the
more
unable to help itself.
How small on earth is the number of those who in
reality are seized by the idea of divine justice! In
purgatory the souls have an inexpressible devotion to
divine sanctity, and this is the most fundamental
characteristic of their state." |
| 461. |
Cf. La vie spirituelle, December 1, 1942. Father
Dehau, O.P.; Les deux flammes, pp. 434 ff. |
| 462. |
De paenitentia, chap. 13. |
| 463. |
Ps. 84:11. |
| 464. |
Love of God, Bk. IX, chap. 7. |
| 465. |
Ps. 118:137 |
| 466. |
Treatise on Purgatory, chap. 1. |
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