THE PITIFUL STATE OF THE LUKEWARM PRIEST IN PURGATORY
St Bernard, the Benedictine from Burgundy, attracted many zealous priests to his monastery in Clairvaux, France. Bernard and his priests put many people to shame in French society of the 1100s by their white-hot fervor for converting sinners.
There was an outlier among his fold - a priest who was thoroughly lukewarm - he was neither coldly indifferent or on fire for the Faith. Rather than try to become more fervent, he cultivated his milk-warm soul. When he died, he had not repented of his lackluster, half-hearted ways.
When his body was cooling in the coffin, his fellow priests offered a Requiem Mass for his soul. At the Holy Mass, one of the very old priests who had magnificent virtue was enlightened that the lukewarm priest had not been condemned to Hell, but was in a most wretched part of Purgatory.
The night after the Requiem, the lukewarm priest appeared to the old priest of magnificent virtue and said, "Yesterday, you learned of my deplorable fate. Behold now the tortures to which I am condemned in punishment for my culpable tepidity." He took the old priest to a chasm that held a raging fire. "Behold the place where the ministers of Divine Justice have orders to torment me, they cease not to plunge me into this abyss, and draw me out only to precipitate me into it again, without giving me one moment's respite."
He lived his life as a priest in total tepidness, but in Purgatory he was assayed in flames so hot they defy human understanding.
The morning after the vision of the lukewarm priest in Purgatory, the old priest sought out his superior, St Bernard and told him of his vision. Low and behold, St Bernard had been treated to the same sight of the lukewarm priest plunged into an abyss of flames. Bernard discerned it as a grave warning from God, and called a chapter of all the priests of his order. His eyes dripped with tears as he told them the state of the lukewarm priest, and he asked them to do their utmost to relieve their brother with prayer.
The fate of this priest calls to mind Revelation 3:16: "But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth".
Why didn’t the Requiem Mass result in the priest’s soul being released from purgatory?
ReplyDeleteThe Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered on that one day after the priest's death was the occasion of grace when he was given permission to show the old priest the dire conditions of his purification. This resulted in him getting many prayers.
DeleteBut the priest was not yet purged of his sins, and not eligible for Heaven which is for those who have made complete satisfaction for their sins.
This is why we should have the 30 Gregorian Masses said for one soul. At the end of that month of Masses, the soul is guaranteed to be out of Purgatory. However: there is no time in purgatory, and 30 days can feel like 30 years. Still, it's better than "being in Purgatory 300-400-- years; or, as Our Lady said i 1854 to Bernadette at Lourdes of a recently departed soul, "She will be in Purgatory until the end of the world." Put it in your will, and tell your relatives, that as soon as you die they should have the 30 "Gregorian Masses" said for your soul; Aid to the Church in Need can see that you stipend goes to a needy missionary who can begin the consecutive masses for your intention immediately.
DeleteThat is not entirely true. The 30 Gregorian masses are a pious and beneficial act that helps the soul. But there is no guarantee that they will be sufficient to release a soul from purgatory. The church has never defined that. The circumstances around the 30 masses involved a monk who took a vow of poverty to enter his order and then retained a single gold piece under his pillow. If this single act (breaking a vow and maybe greed) required 30 masses, how many masses will our souls require that are so mired in habitual sin? Punishments in purgatory fit the sins.
DeletePerhaps some of us know of living priests who seem to fit this description.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be a good idea to pray for them too? Pray that they would become more fervid in their devotions and in their vocation. Perhaps this would not only help them to avoid at least some of the pains of purgatory, but would also help them in their ministry to their Parishioners.