SEVENTH DAY
THE SOULS IN PURGATORY SUFFER MUCH FROM NOT KNOWING WHEN THEIR TORMENTS
WILL END.
The souls in purgatory are certain of
their eternal salvation, because at the moment of their death they received
their sentence; but when they are to obtain possession of it, they cannot know,
except by Divine revelation. Many, however, are between hope and fear that
their painful imprisonment may be short, or may be long. They know the rigour
of Divine justice, which exacts entire satisfaction, and have little to hope
for from the pity of the faithful, who think of anything rather than of
succouring them with works of charity: and so this fear increases greatly their
torment. Hence it is that each one of them will be constrained many times to
cry to the Lord: “Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged in this
place!" It may be so, that many will have to wait in purgatory up to the
last, till the Day of Judgment. This is the opinion of the venerable Bede, who,
in his histories, mentions a person to whom purgatory was shown, and it was
revealed to him that some souls would have suffered these cruel pains till the Day
of Judgment, if they had not been helped by the living. That they may not have
to undergo so dreadful a misery, let us succor them all abundantly.
Ejaculation
The trembling pilot sees at last A
calm come o'er the wave: And shall not holy souls, my God, Some gale of comfort
have?
De profundis
Out
of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. Let thy ears
be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If thou, O Lord, wilt mark
iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it. For with thee there is merciful
forgiveness: and by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord. My soul
hath relied on his word: My soul hath hoped in the Lord.
From
the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord. Because with
the Lord there is mercy: and with him plentiful redemption. And he shall redeem
Israel from all his iniquities.
Prayer
The just shall be in everlasting
remembrance; He shall not fear the evil hearing. Absolve, O Lord, the souls of
the faithful departed from every bond of sin, and by the help of Thy grace may
they be enabled to escape the avenging judgment, and to enjoy the happiness of
eternal life. Because in Thy mercy are deposited the souls that departed in an
inferior degree of grace, Lord, have mercy. Because their present suffering is
greatest in the knowledge of the pain that their separation from Thee is
causing Thee, Lord, have mercy. Because
of their present inability to add to Thy accidental glory, Lord, have mercy. Not
for our consolation, O Lord; not for their release from purgative pain, O God;
but for Thy joy and the greater accidental honour of Thy throne, O Christ the
King, Lord, have mercy. For the souls of our departed friends, relations and
benefactors, grant light and peace, O Lord.
St. Vincent Ferrer will be the
protector of this day, of whom we read, that with his prayers and sacrifices he
obtained a speedy liberation for his sister Frances, to which she was condemned
till the day of judgment for having made a bad confession, though in good
faith. (Marches. Diar. Dom. 5. Apr.)
Example
A religious died without being able
to receive before his death, according to constitution of his order, the
absolution of his own abbot, who, much grieved at the sad event, prostrated
himself before an altar which stood apart, in order to pray God for the soul of
the departed: and, whilst he prayed, lo! he saw the dead man before him, who,
with sorrowful voice, begged his absolution, telling him that he hoped, in
virtue of the same, to be freed from those excessive torments in which he had
to be purified, and to pay off the whole of his debt. At this news the abbot
was consoled, and without delay gave him absolution, setting him, for penance,
to remain only half an hour in purgatory, that is, till the obsequies were
finished, and the body was buried. But, on hearing this penance, “O cruel''
exclaimed the dead man; “ah, penance without mercy! Do you wish me to be all
that time in purgatory?" And with this pitiful exclamation, which was
heard all over the convent, he vanished from his sight, leaving the Abbot
astounded and full of terror, who concluded from these words how painful the
torments of purgatory must be to those souls which are uncertain how long their
tortures are to last. What will become of us who leave these holy souls to
suffer for months and years among such cruel torments, without giving them
efficacious succour? (Campad. Disc. 18.)
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