The Mutual Love Of God And The Souls In Purgatory--
Difficulty Of Finding Expressions On This Subject.
Everything which has been revealed to me upon this subject, and
which I have comprehended according to the capacity of my mind,
is of so much importance that, compared therewith, all the
knowledge, all the sayings, all the opinions, all the reason, and
all the wisdom of man in this life seem as vain trifles and as
things of no account. I acknowledge, to my confusion, that I can
find no other words to express my meaning.
I perceive so great a conformity between God and the soul in
purgatory that, in order to restore the latter to its original
purity, God inspires in the soul an ardent love which draws it
toward him--a love forcible enough to annihilate it, were it not
immortal. It transforms it to such a degree that the soul beholds
nothing but God, who draws and inflames it continually, without
ever abandoning it, till he has brought it back to the source
whence it issued, that is to say, to the perfect purity in which
it was created.
And when the soul, interiorly enlightened, feels itself thus
attracted by the fire of God's great love, it melts completely in
its ardor. It sees, by a supernatural light, that God never
ceases to lead it on, with constant providential care, to its
entire perfection; it sees that God is prompted only by pure
love, and that the soul, impeded by the effects of sin, can only
follow the divine impulse, that is to say, that attraction which
draws it toward God; it comprehends also the greatness of the
obstacle which hinders its admission to the presence of the
divine light; finally, it is drawn by that powerful instinct
which would have nothing hinder it from yielding to the divine
attraction: it sees and feels all these things, I say, and
therein is the source of the soul's torments in purgatory.
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But it does not regard its pain, however great: it regards
infinitely more the obstacle the will of God finds in it, that
will which it clearly sees is full of the purest and most ardent
love for it.
This love and this unitive attraction act so continually and so
powerfully upon the soul, that if it could find another purgatory
more terrible than this, in which it could be sooner delivered
from all that separates it from the Sovereign Good, it would
speedily plunge therein, through the impetuosity of the love it
bears to God.