We are commanded to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. In other words, we are to love the Lord as the Lord Himself loves. But who, bar a very few exceptional souls, does that, can do that? Yet, to the degree we don’t do it, we are not ready for God, we cannot be ready for God, for we are in sin. The mercy of Christ is beyond doubt and beyond imagining, but he Himself is utterly holy, innocent and uncontaminated and beyond the influence of sinners. Otherwise, He would not Himself be able to love as He commands.

Jesus says of the lawyer who questioned Him about the commandment of love that he is “not far from the kingdom of God”, which means that he’s not there yet. He falls short; he misses the mark, a phrase which can be used to define sin. At the same time, it’s evident that the Lord wantshim to be in the Kingdom of God; He doesn’t want him to fall short or miss the mark. He wants the lawyer to reach the point where he does love as God loves, and so can come into the presence of the holy, innocent and uncontaminated Son of God.

This is always the case. More than we do ourselves, Christ wants us to be free from sin, from any and every imperfection in love, in divine love, and so to be able to stand in His unveiled Presence. And at least in our better moments, so do we. How we hate the fact that despite our best intentions and resolve, we repeatedly find ourselves missing the mark of our own moral and spiritual goals, never mind those of the Lord. Sometimes it seems to be that on the very crest of the wave we inexplicably tumble, like a surfer who loses balance or hits an unseen obstacle. And yet, we know we can’t give in because, if we do, things will only get worse; and, so, we keep trying, we keep going, we keep hoping that this time there will be a breakthrough. We long to be free of the sin that keeps tripping us up. We trust that there will be an end to it and that, at last, our love for the Lord will win through. We live in hope of final holiness.

So, what we experience even daily is that we do love the Lord, but imperfectly, not yet with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And yet we desire, we long to reach a perfect love and friendship with Him. When the Church speaks of Purgatory, all she is saying is that, if we die in imperfect love for the Lord (an imperfection which He, not we, measures), then the Lord in His infinite mercy will purify us until our love is perfect. Then, we will enter into the full joy of the Beatific Vision of God. Those who are in Purgatory have the certainty that heaven will be their final destiny once the final purification is complete.

And since the purpose of this purification is to perfect us in love, then the experience undergone by the holy souls must itself be one of love. It is the love of the Holy Spirit who engages our freedom to let go of the attachments of selfishness and instead to embrace ever greater attachment to the person of Christ. The pain of Purgatory is the pain of both realising how we have not loved Christ and of longing to love Him. It is the fire of love, not the fire of hell. The Spirit works with us to bring us to the fullness of love of which we are capable and thus to our true identity as willed by God from the beginning. The Spirit brings out to the full the image and likeness of God in us, an image of love and a likeness of love. Purgatory is God’s final work of loving compassion upon our soul to unleash its full potential for sharing in God’s life, love, joy and peace. It fits us for the final fulfilment of the commandment to love God above all and our neighbour as our self. And what is that if not Communion, Holy Communion? It perfects the work of the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus in our deepest being, entire and whole. It is where we are finally set free: our soul, like a bird, will be escape from the snare of the fowler. We will at least be truly and fully free with the freedom of God.

To pray for the holy souls, to make sacrifice and do penance for them, to have the Mass offered for them, is therefore to share willingly in the Lord’s purifying love for them. Along with us, the saints already in heaven, and especially the Mother of God, pray for them. It is a work of loving communion which transcends all barriers, bar hell itself. In fact, by praying for the holy souls, their prayers for us are empowered: “St. Catharine of Bologna, said that whenever she desired any favour, she had recourse to the souls in purgatory, and was immediately heard. She even testified that by the intercession of the souls in purgatory she had obtained many graces which she had not been able to obtain by the intercession of the saints.  St. John Vianney says: ‘If it were but known how great is the power of the good souls in Purgatory with the Heart of God, and if we knew all the graces we can obtain through their intercession, they would not be so much forgotten’.”

The doctrine on Purgatory is a great consolation because it teaches how the immense mercy of God, even after death, extends the work of salvation to those whose love for Him is not yet perfect, and might even hardly be there at all. Purgatory shows how God understands our weakness and frailty in love: He does not crush the bruised reed nor quench the wavering flame. Instead, with the immense tenderness of His divine heart, He gradually and carefully enkindles our hearts once more until they can love with His very own love. Of course, He would prefer that we loved Him to the full before the hour of death comes upon us. And we should do what we can every day to respond to His will and never presume upon His generosity. Yet, we must not fear or despair or think that the Lord thinks as we do. His measure is beyond measure; and if our hearts are open at all to Him, He won’t miss His chance to enter and transform.

In short, let’s stir ourselves to love Him as fully as we can every day until we die. When we fail, let’s repent quickly and try again with the help of His grace. And while we can, let an important part of our love for Him be the prayers and penances we offer for the holy souls for we are likely to be among them some fine day.