To tepidity is allied negligence
in the preparation for the Eucharistic Banquet. If the Church unceasingly calls
her children to the Holy Table, if she desires that they communicate
frequently, she always intends that they should do so with that fervour and
piety which so great a mystery demands. All voluntary neglect in so holy an
action is an offence to the Sanctity of Jesus Christ, an offence which must be
repaired by a just expiation. Venerable Louis of Blois, in his Miroir Spirituel, speaks of a great servant of God who learned
in a supernatural manner how severely these faults are punished in the other
life. He received a visit from a soul in Purgatory imploring his aid in name of
the friendship by which they had formerly been united. She endured, she said,
horrible torments, for the negligence with which she had prepared for Holy Communion
during the days of her earthly pilgrimage. She could not be delivered but by a
fervent Communion which would compensate for her former tepidity. Her friend
hastened to gratify her desire, received Holy Communion with great purity of
conscience, with all the faith and devotion possible ; and then she saw the
holy soul appear, brilliant with an incomparable splendour, and rise towards
heaven.
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| St. Magdalen de Pazzi |
In the year 1589, in the
monastery of St. Mary of the Angels, in Florence, died a Religious who was much
esteemed by her sisters in religion, but who soon appeared to St. Magdalen de
Pazzi to implore her assistance in the rigorous Purgatory to which she was
condemned. The saint was in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament when she perceived
the deceased kneeling in the middle of the church in an attitude of profound
adoration. She had around her a mantle of flames that seemed to
consume her, but a white robe that covered her body protected her in part from
the action of the fire. Greatly astonished, Magdalen desired to know what this
signified, and she was answered that this soul suffered thus for having had
little devotion toward the August Sacrament of the Altar. Not withstanding the
rules and holy customs of her Order, she had communicated but rarely, and then
with indifference. It was for this reason Divine Justice had condemned her to
come every day to adore the Blessed Sacrament, and to submit to the torture of
fire at the feet of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, in reward for her virginal
purity, represented by the white robe, her Divine Spouse had greatly mitigated
her sufferings. Such was the revelation which God made to His servant. She was
deeply touched, and made every effort to assist the poor soul by all the suffrages
in her power. She often related this apparition, and made use of it to exhort
her spiritual daughters to zeal for Holy Communion.
