They
knew that much profit and advantage would be thereby derived."
Tertullian--the most ancient of the Latin Fathers, who flourished in
the age immediately following that of the Apostles--speaks of the duty
of a widow with regard to her deceased husband: "Wherefore also does
she pray for his soul, and begs for him, in the interim, refreshment,
and in the first resurrection, companionship, and makes offerings for
him on the anniversary day of his falling asleep in the Lord. For
unless she has done these things, she has truly repudiated him so far
as is in her power." All this supposes a Purgatory.
"The measure of the pain," says St. Gregory Nyssa, "is the quantity of
evil to be found in each one.... Being either purified during the
present life by means of prayer and the pursuit of wisdom, or, after
departure from this life, by means of the furnace of the fire of
purgatory."
* * * * *
Not only deeply instructive, but also eminently consoling is the
doctrine of Purgatory. We need not "mourn as those who have no hope,"
for those nearest and dearest who have gone hence and departed this
life in the friendship of God.
How beautifully our Holy Mother the Church bridges over the terrible
chasm of the grave! How faithfully and tenderly she comes to our aid in
the saddest of our griefs and sorrows! She leaves us not to mourn
uncomforted, unsustained.
Pages:
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186