Fifteenth Day
We may, without great difficulty, infer the existence of purgatory from the truths known by faith. Our faith teaches us that in the Sacrament of Penance our sins are forgiven, together with the eternal punishment due to them. The temporal punishment due to them is not always forgiven, however, and consequently it remains to be endured either in this world or in the next. Call to mind the examples of David, Moses, Peter and Mary Magdalene. They were all forgiven their sins and the eternal punishment due to them, and yet how much did those dear servants of God bewail their offences during their whole lives and expiate the temporal punishment due to them! Again there is another argument and ground on which our reason demands the existence of a purgatory. It may be that a soul just departed this life is free from all mortal sin—even free from all temporal punishment due to grievous sin, but perhaps not free from certain light and venial sins, which, though not destroying the grace of God in the soul, still darken and stain its full splendor. It may be that all those venial sins are atoned for and wiped away by the patiently borne agony of death, but how often it happens that the Christian is suddenly surprised by death in different forms, and when least expecting it. It would be contrary to God’s mercy and justice to cast that soul into hell, or to receive it at once into heaven.
Prayer.
Release, O Lord, etc., etc.