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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.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
LIFE EVERLASTING is a translation of L'eternelle vie
et la profondeur de l'ame, published by Desclee de
Brouwer & cle, Paris.
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