Vigils Reading – Office for the Dead

THE LAST STAGE OF LOVE

From “Purgation and Purgatory” by St Catherine of Genoa 5

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In its creation the soul was endowed with all the means necessary for coming to its perfection, for living as it ought to, for not contaminating itself by sin. Once sullied by sin, original and actual, it loses those gifts and dies. It can be brought back to life only by God. The inclination to evil still remains in the soul revivified by Baptism, and unless it is strenuously fought leads back to death.

Afterwards, God revivifies the soul with a special grace of His. In no other way could the soul renounce its self-centeredness or return to the pristine state of its creation; and as the soul makes its way to its first state,its ardor in transforming itself into God is its purgatory, the passionate instinct to overcome its impediments. The last stage of love is that which comes about and does its work without man’s doing. If man were to be aware of the many hidden flaws in him he would despair. These flaws are burned away in the last stage of love. God then shows that weakness to man, so that the soul might see the workings of God, of that flaming love.

Things man considers perfect leave much to be desired in the eyes of God, for all the things of man that are perfect in appearance — what he seeks, feels, knows –contaminate him. If we are to become perfect, the change must be brought about in us and without us; that is, the change is to be the work not of man but of God. This, the last stage of love, is the pure and intense love of God alone. In this transformation, the action of God in penetrating the soul is so fierce

that it seems to set the body on fire and to keep it burning until death. The overwhelming love of God gives it a joy beyond words.

Yet this joy does not do away with one bit of pain in the suffering of the souls in purgatory. As the soul grows in its perfection, so does it suffer more because of what impedes the final consummation, the end for which God made it; so that in purgatory great joy and great suffering do not exclude one another. If contrition could purge it, the soul would turn to it in an instant and forthwith pay its debt; and it would do so impetuously, since it has a clear appreciation of the meaning of that impediment in its way…

The soul, for its part, no longer has a choice of its own. It can seek only what God wills, nor would it want otherwise; and that too is in keeping with God’s decree. Andifthelivingweretoofferalmsforthebenefitofthesoulsinpurgatory, to shorten the assigned time of their purgation, still those souls could not turn with affection to watch, but would leave all things to God, who is paid as He wishes. If those souls could, in gratitude, turn their attention, that would be a self-seeking act that would distract them from the contemplation of the divine will — and that distraction would be hell. The souls in purgatory attend to all that God gives them, injoyandsuffering; norcantheyhaveanyfurtherconcernforthelesserselfsince they have been radically transformed by the will of God.

What He wills for them is what gives them joy. Were a soul to appear in the presence of God with one hour of purgation still due, that would be to do it great harm. It would then suffer more than if it were cast into ten purgatories, for it could not endure the justice and pure goodness of God, nor would it be fitting on the part of God. That soul, aware that complete satisfaction was not as yet fully rendered to God, even if the time lacking were but the twinkling of an eye, would prefer to submit to a thousand hells rather than so appear in God’s presence