TREATISE ON PURGATORY by St. Catherine of Genoa
CHAPTER II
THE JOY OF THE SOULS IN PURGATORY.
THE SAINT SHOWS HOW THEY ARE EVER SEEING GOD MORE AND MORE.
DIFFICULTY IN SPEAKING OF THEIR CONDITION.
I do not believe it would be possible to find any joy comparable to that of a soul in purgatory, except the joy of the blessed in paradise a joy which goes on increasing day by day, as God more and more flows in upon the soul, which He does abundantly in proportion as every hindrance to His entrance is consumed away. The hindrance is the rust of sin; the fire consumes the rust, and thus the soul goes on laying itself open to the Divine inflowing.
It is as with a covered object. The object cannot respond to the rays of the sun, not because the sun ceases to shine, for it shines without intermission, but because the covering intervenes. Let the covering be destroyed, again the object will be exposed to the sun, and will answer to the rays which beat against it in proportion as the work of destruction advances. Thus the souls are covered by a rust that is, sin which is gradually consumed away by the fire of purgatory; the more it is consumed, the more they respond to God their true Sun; their happiness increases as the rust falls off, and lays them open to the Divine ray; and so their happiness grows greater as the impediment grows less, till the time is accomplished. The pain, however, does not diminish, but only the time of remaining in that pain. As far as their will is concerned, these souls cannot acknowledge the pain as such, so completely are they satisfied with [the] ordinance of God, so entirely is their will one with it in pure charity. On the other hand, they suffer a torment so extreme, that no tongue could describe it, no intellect could form the least idea of it, if God had not made it known by special grace; which idea, however, God’s grace has shown my soul; but I cannot find words to express it with my tongue, yet the sight of it has never left my mind. I will describe it as I can: they will understand it whose intellect the Lord shall vouchsafe to open.
Reflection
St. Thomas teaches (cf. S. Th., IIa-IIæ, Q. 28, Art. 2 ) that, originating from diving charity, joy in God is twofold. The first, and more excellent, is that joy that arises from considering the divine Goodness in itself and leads to rejoicing in His ineffable goodness. It is incompatible with sorrow. The second is the joy that comes from the degree to which we participate individually in the divine Goodness. The degree to which participation is hindered and does arrive at the fullness of perfection results in spiritual sorrow, graver according to the degree of knowledge of God’s perfect goodness and the disparity between His goodness and lack of fullness of perfection.
A soul in purgatory has seen God as He is in her judgment. Upon leaving the body, the veil was torn asunder, and she saw Goodness itself as itself and saw the degree to which she did not in her early life participate in this goodness and, to the minutia, that which now hindered her participation. Then Goodness was hidden from her again and she knew the fires of purgatory. What cause for rejoicing! What cause for true sorrow! What cause for rejoicing that all hindrance should be done away with by His hand! What pain from this temporary loss! What ecstasy in all the dross being burned away!
Contemplation
Question: In this life, bodily healing is not without painful recovery. In this life, mental trauma is not without painful recovery. Yet, in these things, there is joy that is ever-increasing as one heals and more and more participates in the goodness of health. The same for the soul. Why should we expect otherwise?
Question: In Purgatory, the soul is not dissatisfied with the pain nor with how long she must tarry before being reunited with her beloved. Here on earth, we find ourselves dissatisfied with these things. These are some of the very things that Purgatory exists to heal us from. How can we seek to keep dissatisfaction away from our hearts and only seek to rejoice in His goodness?