been saved. But our torments in Purgatory are terrible, because in the exercise of our profession we have committed many acts of injustice. Until these acts are repaired we can have no repose nor alleviation. This is why we beseech you, servant of God, to go and find such and such of our relatives and heirs, to warn them to make restitution as soon as possible of all the money which we have unjustly acquired." They gave the holy penitent the necessary information and disappeared.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Matter of Expiation — Sins against Charity — Blessed Margaret Mary — Two Persons of Rank in the Pains of Purgatory — Several Souls Punished for Discord.
We have already said that Divine Justice is extremely severe in regard to sins against Charity. Charity is, in fact, the virtue which is dearest to the Heart of our Divine Master, and which He recommends to His disciples as that which must distinguish them in the eyes of men. By this, He says, shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another?. [1] It is, then, not astonishing that harshness towards our neighbour, and every other fault against Charity, should be severely punished in the other life.
Of this we have several proofs, taken from the Life of Blessed Margaret Mary. " I learned from Sister Margaret," says Mother Greffier in her Memoirs, "that she one day prayed for two persons of high rank in the world who had just died. She saw them both in Purgatory. The one was condemned for several years to those sufferings, not-
- ↑ John xiii. 35.
