THERE is another disorder in
the soul which God punishes severely in Purgatory, to wit, the abuse of grace.
By this is understood the neglect to correspond to the aids which God gives us,
and to the invitations which He presses upon us to the practice of virtue for
the sanctification of our souls. This grace which He offers us is a precious
gift, which we may not throw away; it is the seed of salvation and of merit,
which it is not permitted to leave unproductive. Now, this fault is committed
when we do not respond with generosity to the Divine invitation. I receive from
God the means of giving alms; an interior voice invites me to do so. I close my
heart, or I give with a miserly hand; this is an abuse of grace. I can hear
Mass, assist at the sermon, frequent the Sacraments; an interior voice urges me
to go, but I will not give myself the trouble.
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| St. Magdalen de Pazzi |
This, again, is an abuse of
grace. A young Religious must be obedient, humble, mortified, devoted to her
duties; God requires this, and gives her the grace in virtue of her vocation.
She does not apply herself thereto ; she does not labour to overcome herself,
in order to co-operate with the assistance which God gives her ; this is an
abuse of grace. Now this sin, as we have said, is severely punished in Purgatory.
St. Magdalen de Pazzi tells us that one of her sisters in religion had much to
suffer after death for not having on three occasions corresponded to grace. It
happened that on a certain feast-day she felt inclined to do some little work ;
it was only some simple piece of embroidery, but it was not at all necessary,
and could be conveniently postponed to some other time. The inspiration of
grace told her to abstain from it through respect for the solemnity of the day,
but she preferred to satisfy the natural inclination which she had for that
work, under pre text that it was but a trifle. Another time, noticing that the observance
of a certain point of the Rule had been omitted, and that by making it known to
her superiors some good would have resulted to the community, she omitted to speak
of it. The inspiration of grace told her to perform this act of charity, but
human respect withheld her. A third fault was an ill-regulated attachment to
her relatives in the world. As spouse of Jesus Christ, all her affections belonged
to the Divine Spouse but she divided her heart by being too much occupied with
the members of her family. Although she knew that her conduct in this respect was
defective, she did not obey the impulse of grace, nor did she labour strenuously
to correct it. This sister, otherwise most edifying, died some time after, and
Magdalen prayed for her with her usual fervour. Sixteen days passed, when she
appeared to the saint to announce her deliverance. Magdalen expressing her astonishment
that the sister had been so long in suffering, it was revealed to her that this
soul had to expiate her abuse of grace in the three cases of which we have just
spoken, and that these faults would have detained her longer in her torments
had not God taken into consideration the more satisfactory part of her conduct.
He had abridged her sufferings on account of her faithful observance of the
Rule, her purity of intention, and her charity towards her sisters.
Those who in this world have received more
grace, and more means of discharging their spiritual debts, will be treated
with less consideration than those who have handless opportunity of making
satisfaction during life. Blessed Margaret Mary having learned the death of three
persons who had died quite recently, two Religious and one Secular, began
immediately to pray for the repose of their souls. It was the first day of the
year. Our Lord, touched by her charity, and treating her with an ineffable familiarity,
deigned to appear to her ; and showing her the three souls in those fiery
prisons where they were languishing, said to her, “ My daughter, as New Year’s gift,
I give you the deliverance of one of these three souls, and I leave the choice
to you. Which shall I release ? “Who am I, Lord,” she replied, “to say who
deserves the preference? Deign yourself to make the choice. “Then our Lord
delivered the Secular, saying that He felt less in seeing Religious suffer,
because they had more means of expiating their sins during life.
