The Blessed Virgin visits Purgatory to offer comfort to the suffering souls there.
The other day someone who I love was very sick and admitted to hospital. The period of time that she spent in hospital seemed to be never-ending. She did not enjoy her time in the hospital. She was initially very very sick and while she was sick, time seemed to move very slowly.
During that part of the hospital stay the whole focus was on watching this person for any improvement in her health. And while Time seemed to move slowly because we were waiting of news of her improvement.
Later, as she continued her slow recovery, time seemed to move even more slowly. After all, during that period she was feeling a little bit better, so it became very difficult to hold herself back from doing all the things she wanted to do because she was more than able – in her mind at least – to do everything that she wished to do.
And those final few days I the hospital seemed to drag on interminably.
And I have been thinking about that today, because that period of time being treated in hospital reminds me of the soul’s experience in Purgatory.
We are very lucky that God has allowed us the opportunity to experience Purgatory after our death (if we have not completely atoned of our sins). After all, the difference between the existence of Purgatory or not, is the difference between salvation and damnation. A soul cannot (and will not) enter Heaven and into the Beatific vision if that soul is unclean. And so, without the time that a soul will spend in Purgatory that soul will forfeit Heaven for a myriad of sins that the soul has failed to atone for…
And though I am grateful for Purgatory, I do not Romanticise the suffering of the souls in Purgatory. You see, the suffering of Purgatory is far greater than any possible suffering here on Earth. Where a soul on Earth will experience terrible pain, we do not feel the separation from God Himself in the same way that the suffering souls in Purgatory experience this. It is said that this distance from God is the thing that causes the souls of Purgatory to suffer the most – as they yearn for the comfort of God while being separated from Him.
Once a soul from Purgatory appeared to Saint Padre Pio to ask the Saint to pray for him to be released for Purgatory. Saint Padre Pio replied to the soul that he would pray for the soul the next day (and offer Mass for that soul). The soul’s response was rapid and brutal – the soul called Saint Padre Pio heartless, to allow him to suffer for one more night in Purgatory, rather than agreeing to do whatever he could to save that soul and allow for its atonement and release into Heaven.
You see, the souls in Purgatory cannot pray for themselves. They rely on the prayers of others to achieve salvation. It has been said – by some of the Saints – that the Blessed Virgin visits Purgatory to offer comfort to the suffering souls there.
And today, as I remember my dear one who was sick, I also remember the slowness of time in that hospital, and that reminds me to pray for the poor Holy souls, suffering in Purgatory right now…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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