For all these we must suffer either in this life or the next.
Divine justice weighs everything in a strict balance, and there is no
sin that we commit but for which we shall have to make due reparation.
Faults which we deem of little or no account the Almighty will not pass
unnoticed or unpunished. Our Blessed Saviour warns us that even for
"every idle word that man shall say he shall render an account in the
day of judgment."
We know full well that no man will be sent to hell merely for an "idle
word," or for any venial fault he may commit; consequently there must
be a place where such sins are punished. If they be not satisfied for
here upon earth by suffering, affliction, or voluntary penance, there
must be a place in the other life where proper satisfaction is to be
made. That place cannot be either heaven or hell. It cannot be heaven,
for no sufferings, no pain, no torment is to be found there, where "God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, where death shall be no
more, nor mourning nor weeping." It cannot be hell, where only the
souls of those who have died enemies of God are condemned to eternal
misery, for "out of hell there is no redemption."
There must be, then, a Middle Place where lighter faults are cleansed
from the soul, and proper satisfaction is rendered for the temporal
punishment that still remains due.
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