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(Diary, # 20): W hen Sr. Faustina’s Guardian Angel escorted her to Purgatory; she asked
the Poor Souls on their greatest suffering, and they answered in unison that their “greatest
torment” was “longing for God.”
(Diary, # 1186): Sr. Faustina also wrote on her experience during Holy Mass, which
she associated with the worst suffering of the Poor Souls in Purgatory. She wrote that she
suddenly suffered a mysterious, intense torment of soul, akin to an overwhelming hunger for
God. To her, she “seemed to be dying of the desire to become united with Him,” but it lasted
only briefly. With this experience, she now came to understand “what the longing of the Souls in
Purgatory was like” (Diary, # 1186).
(4.2) Creatures are Indebted to God’s Justice to the Last Penny (Diary, # 1375)
On November 1, 1937, a fter Vespers, Sr. Faustina observed people processing to the
cemetery. She was unable to go, due to a gate assignment that day. However, she prayed for the
souls of the faithful departed. As the group returned from the cemetery, she felt the unusual
presence of several of the deceased souls. With this experience, she came to understand God’s
“great justice,” which moved her to pray for them to be cleared off their debt “to the last cent”
(Diary, # 1375).
The Scriptures teach that, “Nothing unclean shall enter Heaven” (Rev 21:27). xlvii The
Church also affirms that even if the Poor Souls were assured of salvation in Christ and could no
longer sin; still, God’s justice requires that the faithful departed who were imperfectly purified
should undergo “purification” in Purgatory before entry into Heaven (CCC, 1371, 1030-1031).
On the Poor Souls in Purgatory, Jesus told Sr. Faustina in August 1925, after her Guardian Angel
had just escorted her out of a visit to Purgatory, “My mercy does not want this, but justice
demands it” (Diary, # 20, xxxi).
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