The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-10-31

The torrents of the damned we have said,
are not infinite in their ri gor. The great good
| ness of God extends ray of mercy even to hell.
man expiring in II state of deadly sin merits
! punt shment Infinite in duration and In in
| tensity. God, in his Justice, could have m
| tlcted on the damned torments far greater
than they have to endure; but while he has
rendered them infinite as To their duration, he
| has limited their intensity.
Oh. how dangerous is voluntary SIM for
repentance is difficult, and unrepented of, the
guilt of sin remains, and will remain as Tonga
man retains his affection for past sins or has
| the will to commit them anew.
CHAPTER V.
OF the peace and Joy in PurGatory.
| The souls in purgatory, being entirely freed
| from the guilt OF SIM and thus far restored 10
! their original purity, and their volltion being
| entirely contOrmed to that of God, they are
constantly participating in his goodness.
Their guilt is rcmitted because, before de
| parting this life, they repented OF their SINS
aud confessed them with Il firm purpose not 10
commit any IN are. They retain, then, only tie
INST of sin w".rA is worn away by those penal
| fires.
Being thu. clcan,"I from all sin and United
| t. CD by t cir Will, they contemplate him
/ clearly according to the degree of light winch
is given them. They comprehend how i'm
poriant it is t!.at they should enjoy God, 'he
! md for which they were created. They tceI 50
/ united to him by entire conformity of WILL, and
are attracted 50 powerfully toward him by u
| Lat III Al instinct, that find no comparison Or
/ ~ ,tuosity rs understand it. Nevertheless,
Will Sjve 4 comparison which has been snA
gested to my mind
CHATTER VI.
Comrar son illustrating the ardent love with which the
Souls in PurgatOry long tor union with God
| If in all tho world there were but one loaf,
the mere sight of which wonld satiate tue
hunger of all creatures, what would be the
| feelings of a man, with natural instinct to
eat. hen he is in health, it he were neither
able 10 eat, Yet to be III or to die His hunger
would III ways ho increasing with its undimin-
ishcd- instinct, "Md. knowing that he could he
sa;iIted by the very sight of his loaf Of which
Ire IS deprived, he remains IN unhearth!e tor
ments. The nearer he aprroaches il, the more
| TavcnOus is lis hunger, which draws him to-
! ward this food, The Object of his desire.
! If he sure ut never beholdinG this
bread he woulI sod re kind of hell, Ike
tnlr Of the externally lost, Hhp deprived OF
the Bccad of life and OF the nope of ever be-
holding Christ our Rr'lc"uI-r.
The souls in purcator%, On the contrary,
hope to boho!d this bread ana - eat their hi
thereof; bU: meanwhile tHcy sun = the tor
ments of a cruel hun ger after It-that is to say,
after Jesus CLt>t the G ID of our saliva ION and
our love-
CHATTER VII
OF the wonderful wisdom of God in tie creation OF
FuTE.tOry and He'll.
AS the purified soul finds it's repOse only in
God. for whom il >as created, so the sonl de
flied by sin has 10 other place but hell assigned
it for its destination.
The soul at the InOmeut of it's separation
from the body, naturally gravitates towards
Il its true centre. If in IA state of deadly sin, 1t
goes to it's appointed place, carried there by
the very nature of sim If 1T did not find this
place provided for it by divine Justice, 1t would
remain in worse bel for II would no longer
be under the ordinance Of God, still partiG-
pating in his mercy, and where the pain Is less
than the soul merits
Not finding then any place better shifted TO
it, or less fearful than he'll, by divine appoint
nent it goes thither as To is own place.
Ii is the same with purGatory. The soul,
separated from the body, not finding in itself
oil lis primitive purity, ard seeing that TINS
impeachment to its union with God can only be
removed by means of purgatory, voluntary
throws Itself therein. If the place prepared
for the remove! of this impeachment did not
exist, there would instantanc0usly be gen
Grated in the soul torture far worse than
purgatory, for 1T would comprehend that this
impeachment would hinder 1t from union with
God, its aim and its end.
This end is SO ardcntly longed for, that the
tormeuts of purgatOry seem AS nothing, al
! though, as We have sad, they arc Ike those OF
hell IN some respects. But, | repeat, they
seem as nothing compared with the souls true
end.
CHAPTER VIII.
or the necessity of rurgatory and the terrible nature
of It's tOrtnents.
Furthermore I will say the gates of heaven,
through the goodness of God, are closed against
| no one Whoever wishes enter, for the
! Lord is full of mercy, and his arms are con-
stantly extended &c receive US into glory.
But see also that this divine essence - ct
such purity, surprising all we can imagine,
that the soul which perceives in ltse't the
slightest mote of imperfecton would cast
itself into thousand hells rather than remain
with a single stain in the presence OF Infinite
Majesty.
Therefore, seeing purgatory ordained for the
removal of these stains, the soul Plunges into
it, esteeming il provision of wonderful mercy
by which it be freed from the impeachment
il finds in itself
No tongue can express, no mind conceive, the
nature of Purgatory. As to the severity OF its
tormeuts, they equal those of hell. NeEerthe-
Except that the souls in purgitory are not separated
! from tie love and Will Of God, and have toPe-