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WE propose in this book to speak of life everlasting,
to show what light falls on our life here below from
the life there beyond. Our chief concern will be the
immensity of the human soul, first in our present life,
then in the particular judgment at the moment when the
soul is separated from the body. Thus we shall attain a
better understanding, first of what hell is: that
boundless void which can never be filled; the
unmeasured depths of the soul forever deprived of that
sovereign good which alone could fill those depths.
Secondly of what purgatory is: the state of the soul
which cannot as yet possess God, which is deprived for
a period short or long of the vision of God, because by
its own fault it was not ready for its appointed
meeting. Thirdly of what the moment of entering heaven
is, an instantaneous moment which will never pass away:
the unchanging possession of life everlasting, of God
who alone can fill the boundless depths of the human
will. This soul-depth, as we shall see, is explained by
the truth that already in the natural order our will is
illumined not merely by sense and imagination but by
the intellect which, grasping universal reality, grasps
likewise universal and boundless good, a good which,
speaking concretely, is found in God alone, the
infinite good.
Life everlasting then throws great light on our life
here below. It draws us up out of our superficiality
and drowsiness. It reveals the immensity of our soul,
which either must remain eternally in a desert waste or
then be completely filled with the eternal possession
of God, Truth supreme and Sovereign Good.
The mystics, Tauler [1] above all and Louis de Blois,
often use the term soul-depth in a metaphorical sense,
in contrast to the exterior sense world. Similarly they
use the term soulheight, in contrast to the same sense
world as inferior. Less known is the teaching of St.
Thomas, who in language less metaphorical explains the
immeasurable depths of the will. His doctrine on this
point illumines the solution of many great problems and
prevents us from resting in a superficial attitude of
mind.
We endeavor in the following pages to maintain
theological preciseness in the use of terms. In the
rare cases where we have recourse to metaphors we note
explicitly that we do so of necessity, when proper
terms are lacking. Our book is to be a theological
treatise on the last things (de novissimis).
Our purpose is to enlighten souls, to arouse conscience
and responsibility. Our book would recall those who may
be on the road to perdition, would instruct those who
often commit deliberate venial sins, who take no pains
to expiate mortal sins already remitted in the tribunal
of confession. Above all we would give the reader a
high idea of heaven, of eternal happiness, in its
opposition to hell, in its retardation by purgatory, in
its infinite elevation. To attain heaven is to reach
our ultimate and supernatural goal, to see God as He
sees Himself, to love Him as He loves Himself, to
possess Him unfailingly forever.
A handmaid of God once heard these words: "I gave you a
religion of life, and you have made it a religion of
formulas. I am the Creator of good, and you have made
me a tyrant, since in my precepts you see only what
displeases you."
We pray our Lord Jesus and His Blessed Mother to bless
these pages that they may bring to many, many souls a
benefit that will last for all eternity.
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