Father Dr. Hubert van Dijk, ORC¹ has written a deep and thought-provoking account of the Little Flower's teaching on purgatory. Although controversial to some, perhaps many, the underpinnings of her beliefs are based on her Little Way of radical trust in the love and mercy of God, and that one must abandon oneself as little children to Him. That means adopting a radical revolution of love within our own daily lives. By surrendering to God's love and will, we can be burned up by His love while here in our earthly lives.
According to Fr. van Dijk's article, and the saint's own comments as published in "Last Conservations" and "Story of a Soul", one must have complete confidence in the way of God's love. His article presents the following, "While still only a novice, the saint commented about this with one of the sisters, Sr. Maria Philomena, who believed in the near impossibility of going to heaven without passing through purgatory:
You do not have enough trust. You have too much fear before the good God. I can assure you that He is grieved over this. You should not fear Purgatory because of the suffering there, but should instead ask that you not deserve to go there in order to please God, Who so reluctantly imposes this punishment. As soon as you try to please Him in everything and have an unshakable trust He purifies you every moment in His love and He lets no sin remain. And then you can be sure that you will not have to go to Purgatory.
She even said that we would offend God if we didn't trust enough that we would get to heaven right after dying. When she found out that her novices talked occasionally that they would probably have to expect to be in Purgatory, she corrected them saying: "Oh! How you grieve me! You do a great injury to God in believing you're going to Purgatory. When we love, we can't go there." ..It is true that God will judge us at one point, but He is always and first our Father Who... suffers when He has to punish His child and sees its suffering. The child should do His will just out of love, and not to avoid punishment. And this really means that God does not want Purgatory! He allows that His children suffer, but only as if He had to look away.7
If St. Therese is correct that one does not need to be in Purgatory because God Himself does not want this and would love to help us, the thought that Purgatory can be avoided is suddenly not so far-fetched anymore. But first there is the problem of the. aforementioned opinion which says that only few will avoid Purgatory. This is confirmed by great saints and mystics like St. John of the Cross who says, "Only a small number of souls achieve perfect love"8 (perfect love is necessary to go straight to heaven). St. Teresa of Avila also had the experience that only few will be able to avoid Purgatory.9 St. John Vianney said, "It is definite that only a few chosen ones do not go to Purgatory and the suffering there that one must. endure, exceeds our imagination."10St. Therese encouraged her novice, Sr. Marie de la Trinire to have the faith that it was possible even for her to get to heaven right away. She wondered "If I fail even in: the smallest things, " may I still hope to get straight to heaven?" St Therese, who knew well the weaknesses of her novice, replied: "Yes! God is so good. He will know how He can come and get you. But despite this, try to be faithful, so that He does not wait in vain for your love."11God is Father rather than Judge.
If St. Therese is correct that one does not need to be in Purgatory because God Himself does not want this and would love to help us, the thought that Purgatory can be avoided is suddenly not so far-fetched anymore. But first there is the problem of the. aforementioned opinion which says that only few will avoid Purgatory. This is confirmed by great saints and mystics like St. John of the Cross who says, "Only a small number of souls achieve perfect love"8 (perfect love is necessary to go straight to heaven). St. Teresa of Avila also had the experience that only few will be able to avoid Purgatory.9 St. John Vianney said, "It is definite that only a few chosen ones do not go to Purgatory and the suffering there that one must. endure, exceeds our imagination."10St. Therese encouraged her novice, Sr. Marie de la Trinire to have the faith that it was possible even for her to get to heaven right away. She wondered "If I fail even in: the smallest things, " may I still hope to get straight to heaven?" St Therese, who knew well the weaknesses of her novice, replied: "Yes! God is so good. He will know how He can come and get you. But despite this, try to be faithful, so that He does not wait in vain for your love."11God is Father rather than Judge.
Once St. Therese had a confrontation regarding this topic with Sr. Marie Febronia, who not only was sixty-seven years old but also was sub-prioress. She had heard that St. Therese encouraged the novices to believe that they could go straight to heaven. She did not like this as she considered this kind of confidence presumptuous, and thus she reproached St Therese. St Therese tried lovingly and calmly to explain to Sr. Febronia her point of view but with no success as Sr. Febronia clung to belief. For St. Therese God was more Father than Judge, and she took the liberty offinally responding, "My sister, if you look for the justice of God you will get it. The soul will receive from God exactly what she desires."
The year had not passed when, in January 1892, Sr. M. Febronia together with other sisters fell prey to the flu and died. Three months later Sr. Therese had a dream which she related to her Mother Prioress and which was then documented: "O my Mother, my Sr. M Febronia came to me last night and asked that we should pray for het:. She is in Purgatory, surely because she had trusted too little in the mercy of the good Lord. Through her imploring behavior and her profound looks, it seemed she wanted to say, You were right. I am now delivered up to the full justice of God but it is my fault. If I had listened to you I would not be here now."\
It is understandable that many find this teaching hard to accept. We should not be flippant about purgatory and we should not be presumptuous that any given person is in heaven. We must pray for all souls, and we must start with ourselves. Having said that, we need to let go of the notion that God cannot accomplish all things within us, if we truly approach Him as a Father. We need to lower ourselves and approach Him with empty hands at the end of our journey, so that Jesus can present all of His merits to Him on our behalf, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. As we dedicate this month to praying for the Holy Souls in purgatory, let us ask Our Merciful Lord to show us His ways of love and to teach us how to do so at a deeper more intense level. St. Peter tells us that "love covers a multitude of sins".
St. John of the Cross also tells us in Chapter XII of the Dark Night of the Soul, the following summary about the purgation of the spirit:
(This horrible night is purgatory, and how in it the Divine
wisdom illumines men on earth with the same illumination
that purges and illumines the angels in Heaven.)
wisdom illumines men on earth with the same illumination
that purges and illumines the angels in Heaven.)
FROM what has been
said we shall be able to see how this dark night of loving fire, as it purges
in the darkness, so also in the darkness enkindles the soul. We shall likewise
be able to see that, even as spirits are purged in the next life with dark material
fire, so in this life they are purged and cleansed with the dark spiritual fire
of love. The difference is that in the next life they are cleansed with fire,
while here below they are cleansed and illumined with love only. It was this
love that David entreated, when he said: Cor mundum crea in me, Deus,
etc. For cleanness of heart is nothing less than the love and grace of God. For
the clean of heart are called by our Saviour 'blessed'; which is as if He had
called them 'enkindled with love', since blessedness is given by nothing less
than love.
2. And Jeremias well
shows how the soul is purged when it is illumined with this fire of loving
wisdom (for God never grants mystical wisdom without love, since love itself
infuses it), where he says: 'He hath sent fire into my bones, and hath taught
me.' And David says that the wisdom of God is silver tried in fire—that is, in
purgative fire of love. For this dark contemplation infuses into the soul love
and wisdom jointly, to each one according to his capacity and need,
enlightening the soul and purging it, in the words of the Wise Man, from its
ignorances, as he said was done to himself.
Let us abandon ourselves to Our Triune God's Ways of love, and have confidence that through our spiritual littleness and growth in imitating this Divine Love, that we will be able to do our purgatory here on earth as St. Therese assured us. Amen.
