08-27-2026, 08:24 AM
Chapter XVI. The Saint Shows That the Sufferings of the Souls in Purgatory Do Not Destroy Their Peace or Their Joy.
I see that the souls in purgatory in the midst of their pains are sensible of doing two things:
First, that they are suffering willingly; for when they perceive their own deserts and God's Majesty, they think that He is treating them with great leniency in afflicting them as He does; for had not goodness tempered justice with mercy through the satisfactions of the precious Blood of Jesus Christ, a thousand hells would have been the portion of a single sin through all eternity. Hence they suffer all their pains gladly, and would not rid them of a single pang, knowing that all is justly deserved and righteously ordained: they no more complain of God, so far as their will is concerned, than if they were in life eternal.
Secondly, they are conscious of feeling positive satisfaction in beholding the love and mercy with which God orders His work within them. They are made sensible of these two facts at one and the same moment, and being in a state of grace, understand them as they are, each soul according to its capacity; and they experience great happiness, which never grows less, but, on the contrary, goes on increasing the nearer they approach God. They do not know these things directly in themselves, but in God, on whom their attention is more fixed — far more — than on the pains they suffer, and of whom in comparison they make far more account. For one glimpse of God exceeds every pain and every joy a man can conceive, and though it exceeds, does not take away one particle of the joy or of the pain.
I see that the souls in purgatory in the midst of their pains are sensible of doing two things:
First, that they are suffering willingly; for when they perceive their own deserts and God's Majesty, they think that He is treating them with great leniency in afflicting them as He does; for had not goodness tempered justice with mercy through the satisfactions of the precious Blood of Jesus Christ, a thousand hells would have been the portion of a single sin through all eternity. Hence they suffer all their pains gladly, and would not rid them of a single pang, knowing that all is justly deserved and righteously ordained: they no more complain of God, so far as their will is concerned, than if they were in life eternal.
Secondly, they are conscious of feeling positive satisfaction in beholding the love and mercy with which God orders His work within them. They are made sensible of these two facts at one and the same moment, and being in a state of grace, understand them as they are, each soul according to its capacity; and they experience great happiness, which never grows less, but, on the contrary, goes on increasing the nearer they approach God. They do not know these things directly in themselves, but in God, on whom their attention is more fixed — far more — than on the pains they suffer, and of whom in comparison they make far more account. For one glimpse of God exceeds every pain and every joy a man can conceive, and though it exceeds, does not take away one particle of the joy or of the pain.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre