Treatise On Purgatory
By St. Catherine Of Genoa
The joy of souls in
purgatory
The saint illustrates their
ever increasing vision of God. The difficulty of speaking
about their state.
“There is no peace to
be compared with that of the souls in purgatory, save that of the saints in
paradise, and this peace is ever augmented by the inflowing of God into these
souls, which increases in proportion as the impediments to it are removed. The
rust of sin is the impediment, and this the fire continually consumes, so that
the soul in this state is continually opening itself to admit the divine
communication. As a covered surface can never reflect the sun, not through any
defect in that orb, but simply from the resistance offered by the covering, so,
if the covering be gradually removed, the surface will by little and little be
opened to the sun and will more and more reflect his light. “So it is with the
rust of sin, which is the covering of the soul. In purgatory the flames
incessantly consume it, and as it disappears, the soul reflects more and more
perfectly the true sun who is God. Its contentment increases as this rust wears
away, and the soul is laid bare to the divine ray, and thus one increases and
the other decreases until the time is accomplished.
The pain never diminishes, although the time does, but
as to the will, so united is it to God by pure charity, and so satisfied to be
under his divine appointment, that these souls can never say their pains are
pains.
“On the other hand, it is true that they suffer torments which no tongue
can describe nor any intelligence comprehend, unless it be revealed by such a special grace as that
which God has vouchsafed to me, but which I am unable to explain. And this
vision which God revealed to me has never departed from my memory. I will
describe it as far as I am able, and they whose intellects our Lord will deign
to open will understand me.
No comments:
Post a Comment