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Who are the dead that suffer in the expiatory flames?
Are they great criminals, public and scandalous sinners,
who have died under the anathema of the Church
and of their fellow citizens?
No;
they are souls sanctified by grace,
who have to expiate only light faults,
slight acts of unfaithfulness,
or even only the temporal punishment
of faults already forgiven.
Among them are some
who acquired on earth eminent virtue,
who consequently, are more humble,
more chaste, more obedient,
more charitable,
and especially more patient than we.
They suffer, without complaint
and even with much love,
intolerable pains which surpass all we can imagine
or endure in this life.
A fire, like that of hell,
burns them without ceasing, without mercy,
and a pain far greater still,
that of loss,
completes their torments.
they are souls sanctified by grace,
who have to expiate only light faults,
slight acts of unfaithfulness,
or even only the temporal punishment
of faults already forgiven.
Among them are some
who acquired on earth eminent virtue,
who consequently, are more humble,
more chaste, more obedient,
more charitable,
and especially more patient than we.
They suffer, without complaint
and even with much love,
intolerable pains which surpass all we can imagine
or endure in this life.
A fire, like that of hell,
burns them without ceasing, without mercy,
and a pain far greater still,
that of loss,
completes their torments.
And we who have so much and,
perhaps, so greviously sinned,
we complain of the slightest suffering!
Are we ignorant of the law
that obliges us to expiate our sins,
in this life or in the next?
And is it not better to pay our debts now to our Lord's mercy,
which forgives so easily,
than to fall later under the blows of His justice,
which requires full payment to the last farthing? (Mat. 5:26)
Moreover, by bearing on earth afflictions and trials,
we embellish more and more our eternal crown,
whilst in purgatory we shall have to pay,
without increase of merit, the whole of our debt to God.
Can we hesitate between those two alternatives,
either to have our purgatory in this life
by suffering patiently and meritoriously,
or
to await the torments of next life,
when we shall have to satisfy rigorously
and unprofitably for heaven,
the divine justice in full?
Prayer and Resolutions
O Lord, it is evidently more advantageous for me
to deny myself and suffer now for Thee,
than to defer it till later.
Wherefore I embrace from this day forward
all the trials it will please Thee to send me;
bitterness, disgust, annoyances, infirmities,
pains, humiliations and contradiction.
I am therefore resolved,
first,
when tempted to impatience,
to think of purgatory and the souls
so lovingly suffering therein;
and
secondly,
often to offer Thee my sufferings in union with Thine,
as an expiation for my sins,
and for the relief of the faithful departed,
who are still indebted to Thy justice.
[From this morning's Meditation book.]
perhaps, so greviously sinned,
we complain of the slightest suffering!
Are we ignorant of the law
that obliges us to expiate our sins,
in this life or in the next?
And is it not better to pay our debts now to our Lord's mercy,
which forgives so easily,
than to fall later under the blows of His justice,
which requires full payment to the last farthing? (Mat. 5:26)
Moreover, by bearing on earth afflictions and trials,
we embellish more and more our eternal crown,
whilst in purgatory we shall have to pay,
without increase of merit, the whole of our debt to God.
Can we hesitate between those two alternatives,
either to have our purgatory in this life
by suffering patiently and meritoriously,
or
to await the torments of next life,
when we shall have to satisfy rigorously
and unprofitably for heaven,
the divine justice in full?
Prayer and Resolutions
O Lord, it is evidently more advantageous for me
to deny myself and suffer now for Thee,
than to defer it till later.
Wherefore I embrace from this day forward
all the trials it will please Thee to send me;
bitterness, disgust, annoyances, infirmities,
pains, humiliations and contradiction.
I am therefore resolved,
first,
when tempted to impatience,
to think of purgatory and the souls
so lovingly suffering therein;
and
secondly,
often to offer Thee my sufferings in union with Thine,
as an expiation for my sins,
and for the relief of the faithful departed,
who are still indebted to Thy justice.
[From this morning's Meditation book.]
5 comments:
Thank you, Father! I'll show this to my dad, who has particular devotion to the souls in purgatory. He always jokes with me, "When you join the Sons, how much time off purgatory do I get for that?"
Among [the suffering souls who endure "intolerable pains which surpass all we can imagine or endure in this life"] are some who acquired on earth eminent virtue, who consequently, are more humble, more chaste, more obedient, more charitable, and especially more patient than we.
A thought that is at once edifying and chilling. What fires await us who have no patience at all? What fires await me? Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me for all of my many and grievous sins.
David
Excellent post Father, something we should think about everyday...I wish such posts would draw the same attention as the previous one.
Dear Rev. Fr. Michael Mary, F.SS.R.
Thanks for this post.
I know suffering on earth and daily bear my Cross and, yes, I have to admit that sometime I complain for this.
Here I mean to be much more humble and to keep on suffering in silence.
Thanks Father! This is very interesting. It was revealed to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque that her spiritiual director, Bl. Claude de la Colombiere, had to spend time in purgatory from his death until the burial of his body. That really consoles me! God Bless!
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