After death, in order to be with God, we cannot be impure. But often, we live in sin and error. That is why purgatory exists.

For us Catholics, purgatory is the opportunity God grants us to mature radically in death. It is a process where man is purified of bad habits and sin acquired throughout life.

Father Eustáquio, in one of his writings, offers a reflection on purgatory. Read on!

THE SOULS IN PURGATORY

Beyond any doubt, I strongly recommend your prayers for the souls in purgatory. A great and perpetual miracle of the Catholic Church, and its ever-ancient and ever-new fruitfulness in producing charity and succoring in times of misery.

From the base to the summit, traverse all the steps of the hierarchy, and you will find that where human disorder has created misery, the charity of God, acting through the hand of the Church, has created succor. And this charity is not limited to the boundaries of this world, but extends to the other side, even to the prison where the souls of the deceased, the souls in purgatory, are suffering. Although the Church does not cease to send succor to these souls, this month in particular, it offers special masses and prayers for the repose of these unfortunate souls.

In their name, I wanted, with my weak strength, to ignite a new love, a fertile sympathy for these poor souls in purgatory. Undoubtedly, because of their great suffering, you should have a great interest in helping the souls in purgatory. God placed goodness in the depths of the human heart, and every being that suffers is an interesting being. Suffering immediately interests our goodness.

Furthermore, after the disturbance of sin, God dropped into the heart of each one the mystery of suffering. There is no heart in the world, whatever appearances we say, that does not carry this mystery, expressed here by the verb "to suffer." Thus, this word has become the most eloquent of words; for us, the being that suffers is the most interesting of beings.

Nothing leads to better understanding than through suffering. It also seems to me that your hearts, predisposed to take an interest in suffering wherever it is found, ask me: – Father, what do our brothers and sisters suffer in purgatory, the ones we have lost? Tell us… because those who love not only need to weep, but also need to feel compassion, to alleviate suffering, and to help.

What do the souls in purgatory suffer?

To this question, my dear brothers, I could answer with one word, which alone would suffice to move your souls and soften your hearts: fire, the torment of fire! It is the affirmation of all the Doctors of the Church, which no one can doubt for a single moment. I have questioned the Faith, Christian tradition, and the instinct of Christian peoples on this matter—the ever-living and faithful echo of God's voice. And from all sides, I hear the same answer, full of dread: the torment of fire.

And at this moment, as if suspended over the abyss to listen to the voice of the soul and heart of the souls in purgatory, I seem to hear sorrowful voices, crying out from the depths of purgatory, like the rich man from within: “Crucior in hac flamma” (I am tormented in these flames). In the fire of which no one on earth can form an idea, in the fire in which, have faith in me, none of you could dwell, in that fire henceforth, terrible fire, whose ardor, it is true, is not eternal, but whose violence punishes, says Saint Thomas, like the fire of hell. But it is not through the door of your senses, but primarily through the door of your hearts, that I wish to penetrate today with you to the depths of purgatory, for if fire causes moral suffering, the heaviest is separation from God.

What causes the greatest torment of the human heart here on earth? The forced separation from the one you love! Question your own heart about the intimate mystery of suffering. Why are you sad, why are you troubled? "I am sad because I suffer, I suffer because I am separated from the one I love." Souls will take to the next life the greatest love, of which all love here on earth is only an image. It is love for Jesus Christ. This love will become their torment.

O souls of our brothers, tell us how we can understand what it is to love as you love, and to remain separated as you are. But, if the souls in purgatory cannot answer you, you at least know the purgatory of this vale of tears, and tell me what best represents suffering on earth. Is it not the exile, the orphan? Is not suffering the prisoner, the widow? They are all situations and all forms of separated love, which retain, from their separation, a wound that cannot heal. Ah, you are right. These are the true sufferings and can help you imagine the sufferings of purgatory. Greater than those of the exile, the orphan, the widow, are the longings that the souls in purgatory have for the Heavenly Homeland of God! Who is more orphaned than the soul in purgatory? They can exclaim with the Psalmist: “My father and mother have abandoned me.” Suffering is the prisoner. The prison is solitary, harsh, and long, and it is a great torment to be alone.