Coach

More about the Sufferings of Purgatory 1. Apart from the physical pain which we have considered in the preceding meditation, the souls in Purgatory suffer a much greater torment, which theologians call the pain of loss. St. John Chrysostom writes that the pain of loss, which is the unsatisfied yearning to be united with the Supreme Good, is a far more agonising torment than the flames of a hundred hells. This is because the souls in Purgatory, having been set free from the bodily confinement which prevented them from seeing the eternal truths in all their clarity, now experience an unceasing and irresistible need to be united with God. Being aware of their own imperfection, however, they undergo a terrible anguish at their inability to satisfy this burning desire. They love God with an immense love and long to enjoy His intimate friendship, but they realise that they will be rejected by His divine justice as long as they have not perfectly expiated their faults. If we would have a faint idea of the cruel agony of this unsatisfied desire let us recall the keen anguish experienced by the Saints whenever they remembered the sins which they had committed before their conversion. They shed tears of repentance before the Crucifix and inflicted terrifying penances on themselves in reparation for their misdeeds. What are we doing in order to avoid offending God and to wash away our past transgressions? Let us remember that the divine justice must be satisfied either in this life or in the next. If we fail to make satisfaction now, we shall do so with much greater suffering in Purgatory, where we shall no longer have the benefit of the Sacraments and of Indulgences. 2. The vision of Purgatory accorded to St. Frances of Rome is well known. She saw Purgatory divided into three separate sections. (1) The first was the part farthest from Heaven and bordering, as it were, on Hell. In it two kinds of people were suffering terrible torments, namely, lay folk who had committed grave sins and postponed their conversion until the moment of death, and men and women who had dedicated their lives to God but on account of venial sins, neglect of duty, tepidity, and lack of gratitude for their great vocation, had a heavy debt to pay to divine justice. (2) The second place was the most crowded. Here the physical pain was still unimaginably severe, while the desire to be purified and to be with God was the cause of intense spiritual anguish. The souls in this region, however, were not only resigned to their lot, but even longed for greater sufferings which would finally wash away the imperfections which kept them apart from God. (3) The third section was the nearest to Heaven and was the abode of purer and more perfect souls. These did not have to endure much sensible pain, but their yearning for God was so insistent that every moment of separation seemed like an eternity. 3. If I were to die now, in which region of Purgatory should I be likely to be confined? I have no way of knowing this, but there is something which I do know with certainty. I know that I should avoid the slightest offence against God, that I should expiate my past sins by prayer and penance, and that I should pray for the suffering souls in Purgatory, for this is a work of mercy which is most pleasing to God. (Antonio Cardinal Bacci)

The moment a human being draws a last breath, Catholic doctrine teaches that the soul steps immediately—without delay or reprieve—into the presence of Christ the Judge. This encounter, called the particular judgment, is the private, irrevocable verdict rendered on one individual life. As one of my seminary professors was in the habit of saying, “the person who we are at the moment of death, is the person we shall be for eternity.” Unlike the general judgment at the end of time, when every soul will be publicly vindicated or condemned before the assembled universe, the particular judgment is intimate: only the soul, its conscience, and God. At that instant the entire moral history of the person is laid bare. Every grace offered, every commandment kept or broken, every secret motive and public act passes before the divine light. The standard is not abstract perfection but fidelity to the light each person actually received: the natural law written on the heart, the revealed law of Scripture and Tradition, and the unique vocation inscribed by Providence. Three outcomes alone are possible. Souls who die in perfect love, detached from all sin, enter at once into the bliss of heaven—often, the Church adds, after a final cleansing in purgatory. Souls who die in friendship with God yet still bearing the temporal effects of forgiven sin are admitted to purgatory, a state of purifying joy that ends infallibly in heaven. Souls who die in unrepented mortal sin, having freely chosen final separation from God, enter hell: the eternal ratification of their own refusal of love. Scripture states the principle plainly: “It is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb 9:27). The Catechism distills two millennia of teaching: “Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ… Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death” (CCC 1021–1022). Thus the particular judgment is not a preliminary hearing but the definitive sentence. No reincarnation, no second probation, no mitigation after the soul leaves the body. The doctrine therefore invests every earthly choice with everlasting weight and every confession with urgent hope. In the unforgettable words of Saint John of the Cross, “At the evening of life, we shall be judged on love.” Catholic faith replies: the examination begins the very second the evening falls.