The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-11-22
ST. CATHERINE ON puRcAToRy.
The Wonderful Wisdom Of God In the
Institution Of Purgatory.

AS the soul cloanSed ana purlf1od
finds no place wherein to rest but God,
this being it's end by creation, so
the soul in state of sin finds no
place for it but hell, this being its
end by the judgment of God. No
sooner, then, does the soul leave the
body in mortal sin than it goes
straight to hell as to it's allotted
place, with no other guide than the
nature of sin; and should soul not
find itself thus prevented by the JUS
tice of God, but excluded altogether
| from His appointment, it would en-
dure a still greater hell-for Gods
appointment partakes of His mercy,
and is less severe than the sin de-
serves;-as it is, the soul, finding no
place suited to it, nor any lesser pain
provided for it by God, casts itself
into hell as into it's proper place.
Thus with regard to purgatory,
when the soul leaves the body and
finds itself out of that state of purity
| in which it was created, seeing the
hindrance, and that it can only be
removed by purgatory, without mo-
ment's hesitation, it plunges therein;
and were there no such means pro-
vided to remove the impeachment, it
would forthwith beget within itself a
hell worse than purgatory, because
by reason of this impeachment it would
see itself unable to reach God, its
last end; and this hindrance would
be so full of pain, that, in compari-
son with it, purgatory, though as l
have said, it be like hell, would not
be worth thought, but be even as
nothing.
Separation From God Is the Greatest
Punishment of Purgatory.
All the pains of purgatory take
their rise from sin, original or actual
God created the soul perfectly pure
and free from every spot of sin, with
a certain instructive tendency to find
it's blessedness in Him.
From this tendency it is drawn
away by original sin, and still more
by the addition of actual sin; and the
farther off it gets, the more wicked
it becomes, because it is less in con-
formity with God.
Things are good only so far as they
participate in God. To irrational crea-
lures God communicates Himself,
without fail as He wills, and as He
has determined; to the rational soul
more or less, according as He finds
| it purified from the impeachment of
sin; so that, when a soul is approach
ing to that state of first purity and
innocence which it had when created,
the instructive desire of seeking hap
piness in God develops itself, and
goes on increasing through the fire
of love, which draws it to it's end
with such impetuosity and vehemence,
that any obstacle seems intoler-
the more extreme it's pain. Now be-
cause the souls in purgatory are with
out the guilt of sin, there is nothing
to stand between God and them ex-
cept the punishment which keeps
them back, and prevents this instinct
from attaining it's perfection; and
from their keenly perceiving of what
moment it is to be hindered even in
the least degree, and yet that justice
most strictly demands hindrance,
there springs up within them a fire
like that of hell. They have not the
guilt of sin; and it is this latter which
constitutes the malignant will of the
damned, who are excluded from shar-
ing in the goodness of God, and there
fore remain in that hopeless malignity
of will by which they oppose the will
of God.
The Desire of the Souls in Purgatory
to Be Free From the Stains of
Their Sins.
The soul in it's creation was in
vested with all the conditions of which
it was capable for reaching perfec-
ton, supposing it to live according
to the appointment of God, and keep
altogether from the defilement of sin.
But-marred by original sin, it loses
all its gifts and graces and becomes
dead; and God alone can raise it to
life again And when He has done
so by baptism, still the propensity
to evil remains which, if unresisted,
inclines and leads to actual sin,
whereby the soul again dies.
Again God restores it to life, hut
after this it is so tainted, so turned
to self, that to recall it to its first
state needs all the Divine agency that
1 have been speaking of, without which
it never would be recalled. And
when the soul finds itself on it's way
back to that first state, it is so en-.
kindled with the desire of becoming
one with God, that this desire be.
comes its purgatory, not that the soul
can look at purgatory as such, but
the instinct by which it is kind1ed