TREATISE ON PURGATORY — by St. Catherine of Genoa
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CHAPTER I
STATE OF THE SOULS IN PURGATORY, HOW THEY ARE FREE FROM ALL SELF-LOVE
This holy soul, yet in the flesh, found herself placed in the purgatory of God’s burning love, which consumed and purified her from whatever she had to purify, in order that after passing out of this life she might enter at once into the immediate presence of God her Beloved. By means of this furnace of love, she understood how the souls of the faithful are placed in purgatory to get rid of all the rust and stain of sin that in this life was left unpurged. As she, plunged in the Divine furnace of purifying love, was united to the object of her love, and satisfied with all that He wrought in her, so she understood it to be with the souls in purgatory, and said:
The souls in purgatory, as far as I can understand the matter, cannot but choose to be there and this by God’s ordinance, Who has justly decreed it so. They cannot reflect within themselves and say, ” I have done such and such sins, for which I deserve to be here; ”
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