Purgatory,

an instrument of Divine Mercy

by Father Mathurin of the Mother of God Saint Catherine of Genoa received heavenly revelations concerning Purgatory which were consigned to a little treatise. 1 Inspired by these writings, Father Mathurin speaks to us of Purgatory, that place of expiation in which souls are purified before entering Paradise, where nothing defiled shall enter. 2 Dear brothers and sisters, At the moment of death, the soul, in an instantaneous vision, sees its whole life unfold before it. It sees all that God has invested in its favor, what He has done through His Word and through His particular graces. The soul remembers the graces of thoughtfulness received in the course of its life: the sanctifying graces of baptism and the sacraments. It also sees the present and personal graces that God, in His infinite Love, has granted it, moment by moment. It realizes that, despite its lack of correspondence, the Lord has never stopped loving and pursuing it with His grace. At the same time, the soul realizes that it has often rejected divine grace, out of selfishness and self-love, in order to satisfy its immediate, sensual, vain interests. It becomes aware of its distraction, its nonchalance, its heedlessness, its numerous sins, more or less considerable and not adequately repaired. And the soul conceives an immense sorrow in discovering this love that God has shown to it and which it has refused, having preferred itself to God. At this sight, it enters into an extreme torment which burns it: its Purgatory begins. Purgatory is a means that Divine Mercy offers us to repair our past life. It is not God who sends His children to Purgatory. The soul goes there on its own, feeling the irresistible need to purify itself before presenting itself before God. It realizes that its self- love is an obstacle to this face-to-face, eternal intimacy with God. Although it is in a state of immense suffering, the soul in Purgatory is totally united to the Will of God. It desires nothing other than these torments until its complete purification. Conscious of having lacked love for God during its earthly life and realizing that all its sins came from its egoism, it applies itself only to loving God. Certainly it is a painful love, but it is pure. The soul does not withdraw into itself, nor does it fret with self-centered reasoning, “I should have done this or that to avoid these sufferings.” On earth, people are constantly having selfish second thoughts about themselves: “If I disobey God, will I be punished?” In Purgatory, the soul no longer thinks about its petty personal interests. Only one thought torments it: “God loved me and I did not love Him in return. I loved myself more than Him.” This immense grief purifies it of its self-love. But since this operation is effected outside of freedom, it is much more painful.

Let us make our Purgatory here

below

Since the greatest purifying suffering in Purgatory is love, how much more, and more rightly, is the greatest possible purification on earth operated through love! Love is the perspective that guides and motivates all those who love God. They seek to please Him in everything and want to respond to all His loving advances solely to please Him and give glory to Him, not in fear of being punished or avoiding Purgatory and Hell. Those who, right here on earth, apply themselves to loving God and suffer from loving Him so little in return, are in a way already serving their Purgatory. We offend God so often! As soon as we have the misfortune to fall, let us immediately turn to Him: “O Lord, forgive me!” Let us not waste a minute. With love, let us begin to purify ourselves right now, repair our sins as time goes on. Everyone suffers, but we must accept everything with docility and submission: in this way we serve our Purgatory on earth. When we lovingly and voluntarily embrace all the sufferings Divine Providence sends us here below, this love is very meritorious and far more purifying than in Purgatory, where we suffer outside our freedom. That is why on earth, all suffering is a blessing. If God gives you old age and infirmity, if He grants you time to suffer, with love say to yourself, “God has given me a precious gift.”

The merit of solitude

Another great suffering in Purgatory is certainly solitude. After death, the soul, having glimpsed the Face of God, has tasted His love. It feels loved by Him, and it loves Him. It longs to be with Him forever. However, the imperfect soul must atone and purify itself further in Purgatory. Then it is an extreme torment for it to be separated from its God through its own fault. On earth, to escape from suffering, people compensate by seeking comfort in vain pleasures or distractions. In Purgatory distractions are no longer possible. This purifying solitude is very painful. Here on earth, any solitude, however painful it may be to human nature ‒ especially the solitude of old age ‒ is in reality a great blessing. “I am alone in my little room. My eyesight is failing, I am losing my hearing. I am no longer able to read, no longer able to hear. I feel a great loneliness.” While we live surrounded by many people, we may feel a profound loneliness. Perhaps our children, whom we cherish so much, do not seem to understand us. In His infinite mercy, God allows this in order to purify us. Let us accept this loneliness wholeheartedly. “My God, I have lived all too often for myself, continually seeking my satisfaction. Now that I am alone with You, my God, I want to make amends. I desire this solitude to prove my love to You, to make up for all that I have not done for You, to fulfill Your expectations.” We would find it far less difficult to bear the little troubles of earth if we understood the painful solitude of Purgatory. The trials of life would no longer seem so bitter to us, for we would realize what a favor God is giving us on these occasions to purify ourselves already on earth by a love given freely, by the adherence of our will to His. But often we do not understand. Let us then say: “Lord, I do not understand suffering, but I accept it. I believe in You. I believe that my destiny is union with You, and that to get there, I have to divest myself. You have told us that if we do not deny ourselves and renounce everything, we cannot follow You, 3 cannot unite ourselves to You. So I desire this renunciation of everything for Your love!” Does such language seem exaggerated, too unconditional, too absolute? And yet, it is the truth taught by Jesus in His Gospel: it is the road to Heaven!

The perfection of detachment

What could be more natural for a human being than to be attached to earthly things, riveted to the earth? Yet God invites us to rise to a supernatural life. If we do not detach ourselves in this world, we must do it in the hereafter. Attachment to the people and things of this world is a major obstacle to our immediate entry into Heaven. To pass directly from death to Heaven without any transit, you must be free, without any attachments. Very few souls want to hear this truth, and even less practice it. But wanting to hear it is already wanting to start doing it! If you apply yourself to it, God will bring you to the perfection of detachment. He will sustain you with His grace because of your good will. “My God, I want to detach myself from the earth for your love, I know that you are expecting it of me. I am a coward, but I want it! I regret that I have not always done it. Thank You for setting your hand to it, in Your good Providence.” When God spoils us, it is easy for us to say to Him, “Praise the Lord for granting me a little consolation! I do not deserve it, but in Your goodness, You have taken pity on my weakness. How good and merciful You are!” Afterwards, when God takes away the sweetness, let us then especially say to Him, “Blessed are You again, my God! Be praised! You intervene to help me unbind myself. You know what I need. You are just as good!” Everything that God wills is always good. Thank Him with the same emphasis. That is perfection. By practicing this loving surrender, you go straight to Heaven when you die. God wants to unite us to Himself, which is impossible without our detachment from the earth. It takes the work of a lifetime to achieve this perfection of self-denial, dying to self and renouncing our self- love, our ego. In order for God to take up all the space, we must strip ourselves of little human satisfactions. God is asking us to be super natural, to rise above the natural law of gravity. How is this possible? You are right in thinking it is impossible. But what is impossible for man is possible for God, 4 says Jesus in His Gospel. Ask, and you shall receive. 5 Ask... and especially if you ask for the good spirit, your heavenly Father will give it to you. 6 To meet this challenge, prayer is of paramount importance. We do not feel strong enough to accomplish this detachment? Let us throw ourselves to our knees: “My God, I am not able, but I want to. My God, You should be everything for me. This is the desire of my heart. Lord, make a miracle, do something! You ask me to fly, ascend to You, detach myself from earthly trifles. How can I do it? I am attracted to the earth, I feel heavy, like a toad, strongly subject to the law of gravity. O Lord, help me!” God hears your prayer, He will fulfill it in you, He will bring you to sanctity. You will become humble, recognizing that it is not your work but God’s work. Let us get started today. Every day, let us make this plea and take action to detach ourselves. What we put off till tomorrow will never get done. Maybe we will not have immediate success, but let us make efforts today, without waiting. Tomorrow is not certain. At every failure, every imperfection, every more or less serious sin, let us humble ourselves and return constantly to God: “My Lord, no! I want You and You alone. I want to answer Your call. I am making painful efforts to deny myself. Lord, uphold my weakness, strengthen my helplessness.” God can take you to a high perfection if you apply yourself to it. There is only one goal in our life: union with God for all eternity in Heaven. Provided we pay the price, God offers us a direct flight, with no transit through Purgatory. He hopes that in order to obtain it, His children will accept to detach themselves from the earth.

Every soul is called to holiness

Saint Paul says, The will of God ‒ for everyone ‒ is sanctity. 7 No one enters Heaven if he is not holy. This is the reason for Purgatory: to sanctify those who have not seen to their duties on earth, to perfect what they have done absent-mindedly, negligently. We have so often given to God with one hand and then taken back with the other. God has done everything for us. He sent His Son on the earth, He left us His Eucharist, He has manifested Himself throughout the ages. Despite so many proofs of His love, man always remains full of himself. It is frightening! It pains us to see that we are still so full of ourselves in the face of so many manifestations of God’s infinite love. In order to put all the forces of Heaven in motion against our ego, which is so difficult to overcome, we must fight, we must pray, we must beg with unutterable groanings. 8 Groanings express pain and sorrow. Praying with groanings means a painful prayer that becomes permanent in us. “My God, it is not for fear of Purgatory that I desire this detachment, but because I want to love You and live only for You.” Prayer destroys this selfish ego within us. “My God, I give You carte blanche to strip me. Help me die to myself, detach myself from myself.” God intervenes and we respond: “ Jesus, I trust in You! Everything You do is perfect. I trust in You.” It is then that this prayer takes on its full dimension and truly honors God: “ Jesus, I trust in You! Everything is against me. But everything is according to You! How wonderful! I trust in You. The more You attack my ego, the more You strip me, the more I trust in You.” This prayer becomes very strong, it takes on its full meaning before God. I encourage you to repeat this invocation recommended by Jesus to Saint Faustina Kowalska. It is a sublime prayer when prayed in this way.

Let us pray for the suffering souls

in Purgatory

Another good way to avoid the pains of Purgatory is to make many prayers and sacrifices for the souls who are suffering in that place of atonement. Our Lady of La Salette asks Her Apostles of the Latter Times to offer all their works and prayers for the souls in Purgatory, in favor of the conversion of sinners. The prayers of the souls in Purgatory for sinners are extremely powerful, precisely because their supplications are devoid of all self-love. When a soul in Purgatory prays, it does not think of itself, it is completely oblivious to its own interests. It is without self-love precisely because it is fully aware that its worst enemy has been its pride and selfishness. In doing good works, people usually expect some return, some consideration, and even a small favor from Heaven. In Purgatory this is no longer the case. Souls seek only the glory of God and His love. This is what makes their prayer so powerful. We pray for them and in return they intercede for sinners, for the intentions of the Church. You have no idea how powerful their intercession is. Let us offer many prayers and good works for the souls in Purgatory. In recognition for the relief we bring them, they intercede for us with God: “Lord, help these dear friends who are praying for us. Lord, remove the obstacle from them, their precious self- love, which is the obstacle to their union to You.” The prayer of the souls in Purgatory is very efficacious. This is a secret that I encourage you to discover.