We\’d like to offer you some thoughts from St. Catherine of Genoa on this All Souls Day, when we remember our beloved dead:
\”There is no joy save that in Paradise
to be compared with the joy of the souls in Purgatory.
As the rust of sin is consumed
the soul is more and more open to God\’s love.
Just as a covered object left out in the sun
cannot be penetrated by the sun\’s rays,
in the same way,
once the covering of the soul is removed,
the soul opens itself fully to the rays of the sun.
Having become one with God\’s will,
these souls, to the extent that he grants it to them,
see into God.
Joy in God, oneness with Him, is the end of these souls,
an instinct planted in them at their creation…
The overwhelming love of God
gives the soul a joy beyond words.
In Purgatory great joy and great suffering
do not exclude one another.\”
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord
and let perpetual light shine upon them!
Dominican Life on Lotus Lane 