75. First Friday of Lent

Meditations no. 121 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Purgatory, a place for purification.

God our Father has promised us eternal glory. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? God has prepared a place in heaven where we will be able to contemplate him face to face in light, in total union with him. But the dwelling of the Most High is a holy place; nothing unclean shall enter it, nor anyone who practises abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. A soul stained by guilt cannot attain the full vision of God.

To enter heaven a soul has to be free from all trace of sin. Be holy, for I am holy, says the Lord. If someone dies in a state of grace, but still has temporal punishment due to them, and venial sins unatoned for, their soul needs to be cleansed from everything which makes it unsightly in the eyes of God. To this end, God made purgatory, showing a love which our Father compared to the love of a mother who takes her little child and puts him in the bath, soaps him all over, washes him and dresses him, so that the baby ends up looking like a perfect angel!

We should meditate on this truth of the Catholic faith, and see it as a sign of God’s love. Purgatory is a cleansing flame that spares human beings the shame of appearing before God’s Majesty all stained with sin. Purgatory does exist; it is a crucible where the soul is wholly purified, where suffering and joy mysteriously intermingle.

There is suffering, because the soul keenly desires to enjoy God but is deprived of the beatific vision for a time. This is called the punishment of privation: the soul is separated from God and yet at the same time yearns for his truth and love. There is also pain, for the soul is purified by the punishment of the senses, which consists of a flame more agonising than anything one can suffer in this life. Yet there is joy too, at the knowledge that the battle is won and the soul is destined to rejoice in God for ever.

For the souls in purgatory, even their punishments bring joy. They suffer in perfect submission to the will of God. They are enkindled with love, albeit imperfect love; but they gladly endure the fire that purifies them, for each moment of torment brings them a step closer to the full possession of God.

Purgatory is not a temporary hell, but the waiting-room for heaven. After the purifying torment, he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy.

God purifies us during our life on earth.

In this life, God purifies those who are docile to his action. He prepares them for eternal glory. Suffering freely accepted and sought for love of God; pain and penance: these are instruments of atonement: they are our purgatory on earth. You are afraid of penance?… Of penance, which helps you to obtain life everlasting? And yet, in order to preserve this poor present life, don’t you see how men will submit to all the cruel torture of a surgical operation? The sufferings which our Lord allows or sends us may be the very purification which we need in order to come before God without stain, filled with love.

There is much that we need to purify in ourselves. There are venial sins; there are omissions in love; and there is the inclination to sin which our nature inherited from the first fall. Furthermore, every sin, even after it has been forgiven, leaves a debt outstanding in the soul, which must be paid either in this life or in the next. So we should ask the Lord: Cleanse me in this life and make me such that I do not need to be chastened by fire.

But suffering must be accompanied by joy. If you realize that those sufferings - physical or spiritual - are purification and merit, bless them. We must be convinced that pain and suffering are part of God’s plan, and that they serve as atonement in this life and prepare us for our final union with God. Brethren, St Paul exhorts us, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us when we contemplate God face to face.

We can hasten that moment by fearlessly doing penance and expiation. If we are generous in voluntary atonement Jesus will fill us with grace to love the trials he sends us. Only in that way, from that supernatural perspective, will we understand the meaning of pain and suffering: Let us bless pain. Love pain. Sanctify pain… Glorify pain!

Total purification, which will enable us to go straight to heaven, means continual atonement.

Atonement: this is the path that leads to life. But we must not deceive ourselves. Total purification in this life, and the cleanliness of soul needed to go straight to heaven after death, require a great deal of generosity and love. But it is well worth being generous in abundant mortification. How little a life is for making atonement!

We wish to go straight to heaven, after a life spent wholly in God’s service. Suffering is necessarily part of this life, and we must not shrink from it. Heaven: “The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things that God has prepared for those who love him.” Don’t these revelations of the Apostle spur you on to fight?

The thought of the glory that awaits us can move us to greater self-denial when our body feels reluctant. And so that we may not lose sight of the means at our disposal, our Father reminds us: I will tell you which are man’s treasures on earth so that you will appreciate them: hunger, thirst, heat, cold, pain, dishonour, poverty, loneliness, betrayal, slander, prison…

With this new perspective, we will store up a treasure in heaven, and increase our desire to atone. It will also lead us to make atonement for the sins of others. Love God for those who do not love him, our Father wrote. You should make this spirit of reparation and atonement flesh of your flesh.

The whole of our life is a time for purification, spatium verae poenitentiae, a time for true penance, and this is especially true during Lent. While we await the moment when we will contemplate God face to face, we ourselves, although we have already begun to reap our spiritual harvest, groan in our hearts, waiting for that adoption which is the ransoming of our bodies from their slavery. Until that time comes, we pray to our Lord along with the whole Church: Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.

We beg our Blessed Lady, Refugium peccatorum, Refuge of sinners, that the thought of purgatory may make us more generous every day in atoning for our faults.