Purgatorial satispassion is
not only accepted by the will, but it is offered, with ardent charity, as an
act of adoration. Here we have one of the most beautiful views of purgatory.
The soul clearly recognizes the imprescriptible rights of God, author of nature
and grace. It now sees the infinite value of redemption, of the sacrifice of
the cross, of Mass, of the sacraments, which on earth it treated with
negligence. It also sees much more profoundly, without possible distraction,
the value of eternal life, of the possession of God. What joy in purgatory when
Mass is celebrated on anniversary days !
These souls love their
suffering. On earth they were not generous enough to impose on themselves a
condign punishment. Now that punishment becomes an expiatory sacrifice. And the
more this suffering penetrates the depth of their will, the more lovingly they
accept it. Egoism, selfishness, the rust of sin, is burned away, and charity
reigns without rival in the depths, rooted there forever.
--Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Life Everlasting
