Growing up in Catholic surroundings, on “All Souls’ Day,” I was always reminded to pray for the souls in purgatory. My mother would tell, “Souls must undergo purification before entering heaven, for God is pure.” The Book of Wisdom, in the first reading, depicts this purification through the image of gold being tested and purified in a furnace so that it may become an acceptable offering to God. In this sense, purgation is a heavenly gift—the grace of God that purifies the soul and prepares it for union with God.
This gift of purgation is always available to us. It is the wonderful process of renouncing the very self from inordinate attachments in order to attach ourselves to God. It is to lose ourselves in God only to find ourselves. While purgation can be painful because it involves detaching ourselves from false hope, its outcome is freedom, love, and peace.
Saint Faustina, in her Diary, wrote about the purgation God gave her, while assuring her not to fear because he was always with her. Saint John of the Cross described it as the “dark night of the soul,” through which God leads the soul in order to purge the attachments that hinder its union with him. He refers to this purgation as a “Happy Chance,” because through it the soul escapes bondage and restrictions to be united with God.
This purgation is more fully revealed in the life of Christ, who took upon himself the impurity of humanity and purged us on the cross. In today’s Gospel, Christ calls each one of us to believe in him and follow him. Let us pray for the grace to accept the “Happy Chance” by following Christ because his path purges us to become an acceptable offering.
Rev. George Meze, SJ
I am Fr. Vilezo George Meze SJ, originally from India. I am doing my EdD studies and serve as a spiritual director with Campus Ministry. Before coming to the U.S., I spent a decade working in school administration among Indigenous communities in Northeast India.
