4 November, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

More about the Sufferings of Purgatory

1. Apart from the physical pain which we have considered in the preceding meditation, the souls in Purgatory suffer a much greater torment, which theologians call the pain of loss. St. John Chrysostom writes that the pain of loss, which is the unsatisfied yearning to be united with the Supreme Good, is a far more agonising torment than the flames of a hundred hells. This is because the souls in Purgatory, having been set free from the bodily confinement which prevented them from seeing the eternal truths in all their clarity, now experience an unceasing and irresistible need to be united with God. Being aware of their own imperfection, however, they undergo a terrible anguish at their inability to satisfy this burning desire. They love God with an immense love and long to enjoy His intimate friendship, but they realise that they will be rejected by His divine justice as long as they have not perfectly expiated their faults.

If we would have a faint idea of the cruel agony of this unsatisfied desire let us recall the keen anguish experienced by the Saints whenever they remembered the sins which they had committed before their conversion. They shed tears of repentance before the Crucifix and inflicted terrifying penances on themselves in reparation for their misdeeds.

What are we doing in order to avoid offending God and to wash away our past transgressions? Let us remember that the divine justice must be satisfied either in this life or in the next. If we fail to make satisfaction now, we shall do so with much greater suffering in Purgatory, where we shall no longer have the benefit of the Sacraments and of Indulgences.

2. The vision of Purgatory accorded to St. Frances of Rome is well known. She saw Purgatory divided into three separate sections. (1) The first was the part farthest from Heaven and bordering, as it were, on Hell. In it two kinds of people were suffering terrible torments, namely, lay folk who had committed grave sins and postponed their conversion until the moment of death, and men and women who had dedicated their lives to God but on account of venial sins, neglect of duty, tepidity, and lack of gratitude for their great vocation, had a heavy debt to pay to divine justice. (2) The second place was the most crowded. Here the physical pain was still unimaginably severe, while the desire to be purified and to be with God was the cause of intense spiritual anguish. The souls in this region, however, were not only resigned to their lot, but even longed for greater sufferings which would finally wash away the imperfections which kept them apart from God. (3) The third section was the nearest to Heaven and was the abode of purer and more perfect souls. These did not have to endure much sensible pain, but their yearning for God was so insistent that every moment of separation seemed like an eternity.

3. If I were to die now, in which region of Purgatory should I be likely to be confined? I have no way of knowing this, but there is something which I do know with certainty. I know that I should avoid the slightest offence against God, that I should expiate my past sins by prayer and penance, and that I should pray for the suffering souls in Purgatory, for this is a work of mercy which is most pleasing to God.