One of the pains of Purgatory

An English mystic, Saint Julian of Norwich (1342 – c. 1416), said something that I like very much: “See the courtesy with which God treats his creature!” The Virgin Mary could have said no. Something else could have happened. But God knew from all eternity that she would say yes, a totally free yes.

With us, God uses these same courtesies; he does not insist; he never forces. He offers you this or that. You can say no. If it is not a fault, you will not fall into mortal sin, you will remain in a state of grace, but you will deprive yourself of an adventure that could have been wonderful.

This is what happens to us constantly. It will be one of the pains of Purgatory if one day God lets us enter there, to have missed so many of these invitations of divine grace, sweet as the breeze that Elijah heard on the mountain announcing God’s visit.

Cardinal Charles Journet

Entretiens sur Marie – (Interview on Marie) Éditions Parole et Silence 2001