Mary and the Souls in Purgatory
What is Purgatory?
The Holy Church of God, considered in its totality, is composed of three parts: the Church militant, the Church triumphant, and the Church suffering, or purgatory. This triple Church constitutes the mystical body of Jesus Christ, and the souls in purgatory are no less her members than the faithful on earth and the elect in heaven. In the Gospel, the Church is ordinarily called the Kingdom of God; purgatory, just like heaven and the Church on earth, is a province of that vast Kingdom. The three sister-Churches have between them an incessant exchange, a continual communication, called the Communion of Saints. These relationships have no other object than to lead souls to glory, the final term toward which all the elect tend. The word purgatory means sometimes a place, sometimes a state half-way between hell and heaven. It is, properly speaking, the situation of the souls who, at the time of death, find themselves in a state of grace, but haven't completely expiated their faults or attained the degree of purity necessary to enjoy the vision of God. Purgatory is therefore a temporary state, which ends in the beatific life. The Church teaches two things about purgatory, truths that are clearly defined as dogmas of faith: first, that there is a purgatory; secondly, that the souls in purgatory can be helped by the petitions of the faithful, especially by the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
Rev. Fr. François-Xavier Schouppe, s.j.
The Holy Church of God, considered in its totality, is composed of three parts: the Church militant, the Church triumphant, and the Church suffering, or purgatory. This triple Church constitutes the mystical body of Jesus Christ, and the souls in purgatory are no less her members than the faithful on earth and the elect in heaven. In the Gospel, the Church is ordinarily called the Kingdom of God; purgatory, just like heaven and the Church on earth, is a province of that vast Kingdom. The three sister-Churches have between them an incessant exchange, a continual communication, called the Communion of Saints. These relationships have no other object than to lead souls to glory, the final term toward which all the elect tend. The word purgatory means sometimes a place, sometimes a state half-way between hell and heaven. It is, properly speaking, the situation of the souls who, at the time of death, find themselves in a state of grace, but haven't completely expiated their faults or attained the degree of purity necessary to enjoy the vision of God. Purgatory is therefore a temporary state, which ends in the beatific life. The Church teaches two things about purgatory, truths that are clearly defined as dogmas of faith: first, that there is a purgatory; secondly, that the souls in purgatory can be helped by the petitions of the faithful, especially by the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
Rev. Fr. François-Xavier Schouppe, s.j.
The Dogma of Purgatory Illustrated by Facts and Private Revelations
No Unholy Soul Can Be Happy in Heaven
I answer as follows: That, even supposing a man of unholy life were suffered to enter heaven, he would not be happy there; so that it would be no mercy to permit him to enter. (...) How forlorn would he wander through the courts of heaven! He would find no one like himself; he would see in every direction the marks of God's holiness, and these would make him shudder. He would feel himself always in His presence. He could no longer turn his thoughts another way, as he does now, when conscience reproaches him. He would know that the Eternal Eye was ever upon him; and that Eye of holiness, which is joy and life to holy creatures, would seem to him an Eye of wrath and punishment. God cannot change His nature. Holy He must ever be. But while He is holy, no unholy soul can be happy in heaven.
John Henry Cardinal Newman Sermon (1: 3 & 8, 1834 - 1869)
The Rust of Sin
I don't believe there can be found a comparable contentment to that of a soul in purgatory, if you except the saints that are in heaven. Each day this contentment increases through God's action in those souls, and this action keeps augmenting at the same time as all that impedes this divine action burns away. This impediment is the rust of sin. Fire slowly consumes this rust and thus the soul exposes itself more and more to the divine influx. Just like an object shrouded by something cannot respond to the radiance of the sun - not because the sun is insufficient since it keeps on shining but because of the impediment caused by what is wrapping the object. If the obstacle that acts as a screen is burnt away, the object will expose itself to the action of the sun; it will experience this action in proportion to the diminution of the obstacle. Thus the rust of sin is what shrouds the soul. In purgatory this rust is consumed by fire. The more it is consumed, the more the soul exposes itself to the true sun which is God. Its joy increases as the rust disappears and the soul is exposed to the divine ray of sun. Thus the one increases and the other diminishes until the time is accomplished. Suffering isn't what diminishes, only the time to spend in that pain becomes shorter. The souls that are in purgatory find themselves without the guilt of sin. Consequently, there is no obstacle between God and them besides this suffering that hinders them and consists in that their beatific instinct hasn't reached its full perfection.
Saint Catherine of Genoa
I don't believe there can be found a comparable contentment to that of a soul in purgatory, if you except the saints that are in heaven. Each day this contentment increases through God's action in those souls, and this action keeps augmenting at the same time as all that impedes this divine action burns away. This impediment is the rust of sin. Fire slowly consumes this rust and thus the soul exposes itself more and more to the divine influx. Just like an object shrouded by something cannot respond to the radiance of the sun - not because the sun is insufficient since it keeps on shining but because of the impediment caused by what is wrapping the object. If the obstacle that acts as a screen is burnt away, the object will expose itself to the action of the sun; it will experience this action in proportion to the diminution of the obstacle. Thus the rust of sin is what shrouds the soul. In purgatory this rust is consumed by fire. The more it is consumed, the more the soul exposes itself to the true sun which is God. Its joy increases as the rust disappears and the soul is exposed to the divine ray of sun. Thus the one increases and the other diminishes until the time is accomplished. Suffering isn't what diminishes, only the time to spend in that pain becomes shorter. The souls that are in purgatory find themselves without the guilt of sin. Consequently, there is no obstacle between God and them besides this suffering that hinders them and consists in that their beatific instinct hasn't reached its full perfection.
Saint Catherine of Genoa
Treatise on Purgatory
Joy and Suffering
We can draw from the thought of purgatory more consolation than apprehension. Most of those who greatly fear purgatory are more focused on their own interest than on the interests of God's glory; and this comes from their envisaging only the pains of that place, without considering at the same time the felicity and peace God lets them taste. It is true that the torments one experiences there are so great that the most extreme pains of this life cannot be compared to them; but at the same time the inner satisfactions are such, that no degree of prosperity or contentment on earth equals them.
Saint Francis De Sales
We can draw from the thought of purgatory more consolation than apprehension. Most of those who greatly fear purgatory are more focused on their own interest than on the interests of God's glory; and this comes from their envisaging only the pains of that place, without considering at the same time the felicity and peace God lets them taste. It is true that the torments one experiences there are so great that the most extreme pains of this life cannot be compared to them; but at the same time the inner satisfactions are such, that no degree of prosperity or contentment on earth equals them.
Saint Francis De Sales
Consoler of the Afflicted
The mystical body of Jesus belongs to Mary, i.e. to the Church militant, triumphant and suffering: or, to say it more eloquently, to Jesus fighting on earth against hell, Jesus triumphing in heaven, and Jesus suffering in his members in purgatory; this is because when that same Jesus gave himself to his divine Mother, he gave all things to her along with himself. And Mary belongs to the Church militant, triumphant and suffering, because her Son Jesus gave her to the Church militant to be the general of his armies. He gave her to the Church triumphant, like a dazzling sun that fills the hearts of all the citizens of heaven with an incredible joy, second only to the beatific vision of the adorable face of the almighty God. He gave her to the Church suffering in her quality as Mother of Mercy and Consoler of the Afflicted, who pours out continual consolations and refreshments amidst these very fiery flames of the divine Justice; since she herself assured Saint Bridget that no pain in purgatory was beyond her power to assuage.
Saint John Eudes
The Admirable Heart of the Most Sacred Mother of God, Book 6, Ch. I, Oracle X, 8th Explanation.
MULTIMEDIA : Filippo Lippi, Madonna col Bambino Bach, Magnificat, Esurientes
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death. Amen.
MULTIMEDIA : Filippo Lippi, Madonna col Bambino Bach, Magnificat, Esurientes
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death. Amen.
