THERE is in Purgatory, as in
Hell, a double pain the pain of loss and the pain of sense.
The pain of loss consists in
being deprived for a time of the sight of God, who is the Supreme Good, the
beatific end for which our souls are made, as our eyes are for the light. It is
a moral thirst which torments the soul. The pain of sense, or sensible
suffering, is the same as that which we experience in our flesh. Its nature is
not defined by faith, but it is the common opinion of the Doctors that it
consists in fire and other species of suffering. The fire of Purgatory, say the
Fathers, is that of Hell, of which the rich glutton speaks, Quia cruder in hac
flamma,”I suffer, “he says, “cruelly in these flames.” As regards the severity
of these pains, since they are inflicted by Infinite Justice, they are
proportioned to the nature, gravity, and number of sins committed. Each one receives
according to his works; each one must acquit him self of the debts with which
he sees himself charged before God. Now these debts differ greatly in quality.
Some, which have accumulated during a long life, have reached the ten thousand
talents of the Gospel, that is to say, millions and ten of millions; whilst
others are reduced to a few farthings, the trifling remainder of that which has
not been expiated on earth. It
follows from this that the souls undergo various kinds of sufferings, that
there are innumerable degrees of expiation
in Purgatory, and that some are incomparably more severe than others. How ever,
speaking in general, the doctors agree in saying that the pains are most excruciating.
The same fire, says St. Gregory, torments the damned and purifies the elect. Almost
all theologians, “says Bellarmine, teach that the reprobate and the souls in
Purgatory suffer the action of the same fire. It must be held as certain,
writes the same Bellarmine, that there is no proportion between the sufferings
of this life and those of Purgatory. St. Augustine declares precisely the same
in his commentary on Psalm xxxi. : Lord, he says, chastise me not in Thy wrath,
and reject me not with those to whom Thou hast said, Go into eternal fire ; but
chastise me not in Thine anger : purify me rather in such manner in this life
that I need not to be purified by fire in the next. Yes, I fear that fire which
has been en kindled for those who will be saved, it is true, but yet so as by
fire. They will be saved, no doubt, after the trial of fire, but that trial
will be terrible, that torment will be more intolerable than all the most
excruciating sufferings in this world. Behold what St. Augustine says, and what
St.Gregory, Venerable Bede, St. Anselm, and St. Bernard have said after him.
St. Thomas goes even further; he main tains that the least pain of Purgatory
surpasses all the sufferings of this life, whatsoever they may be. Pain, says B.
Peter Lefevre, is deeper and more acute when it directly attacks the soul and
the mind than when it reaches them only through the medium of the body. The
mortal body, and the senses themselves, absorb and intercept a part of the physical,
and even of moral pain.
The author of the “Imitation “explains
this doctrine by a practical and striking sentence. Speaking in general of the sufferings of the other
life : There, he says, one hour of torment will be more terrible than a hundred
years of rigorous penance done here. To prove this doctrine, it is affirmed
that all the souls in Purgatory suffer the pain of loss. Now this pain
surpasses the keenest suffering. But to speak of the pain of sense alone, we
know what a terrible thing fire is, how feeble so ever the flame which we enkindle
in our houses, and what pain is caused by the slightest burn ; how much more terrible
must be that fire which is fed neither with wood nor oil, and which can never
be extinguished ! Enkindled by the breath of God to be the instrument of His
Justice, it seizes upon souls and torments them with incomparable activity.
That which we have already said, and what we have still to say, is well
qualified to inspire us with that salutary fear recommended to us by Jesus
Christ, But, lest certain readers, forgetful of the Christian confidence which
must temper our fears, should give themselves up to excessive fear, let us
modify the preceding doctrine by that of another Doctor of the Church, St.
Francis of Sales, who presents the sufferings of Purgatory soothed by the
consolations which accompany them. We may, “says this holy and amiable director
of souls, draw from the thought of Purgatory more consolation than apprehension.
The greater part of those who dread Purgatory so much think more of their own
interests than of the interests of God s glory ; this proceeds from the fact that
they think only of the sufferings without considering the peace and happiness which
are there enjoyed by the holy souls. It is true that the torments are so great that
the most acute sufferings of this life bear no comparison to them; but the
interior satisfaction which is there enjoyed is such that no prosperity nor
contentment upon earth can equal it.
The souls are in a continual
union with God. They are perfectly resigned to His will, or rather their will
is so transformed into that of God that they cannot will but what God wills; so
that if Paradise were to be opened to them, they would precipitate themselves
into Hell rather than appear before God with the stains with which they see themselves
disfigured. They purify themselves willingly and lovingly, because such is the
Divine good pleasure.
They wish to be there in the
state wherein God pleases, and as long as it shall please Him. They cannot sin,
nor can they experience the least movement of impatience, nor commit the
slightest imperfection. They love God more than they love themselves, and more
than all things else; they love Him with a perfect, pure, and disinterested
love. They are consoled by angels. They are assured of their eternal salvation,
and filled with a hope that can never be disappointed in its expectations.
Their bitterest anguish is
soothed by a certain profound peace. It is a species of Hell as regards the suffering; It is a Paradise as regards
the delight infused into their hearts by charity Charity, stronger than death
and more powerful than Hell; Charity, whose lamps are all fire and flame
(Cantic. viii.). “Happy state! “continues the holy Bishop, more desirable than
appalling, since its flames are flames of love and charity. Such are the
teachings of the doctors, from which it follows that if the pains of Purgatory
are rigorous, they are not without consolation. WHen imposing His cross upon us
in this life, God pours upon it the unction of His grace, and in purifying the
souls in Purgatory like gold in the crucible, He tempers their flames by
ineffable consolations. We must not lose sight of this consoling element, this
bright side of the often gloomy picture which we are going to examine.
