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Among those throughout the history of the Church who have written and spoken about purgatory, many have emphasized the sorrows or pains. They have done so rightly, since the sufferings of purgatory are real.However, I think it’s safe to say some have over-emphasized the pains of purgatory, such that many have lost sight of its joys. It’s important that we find a happy medium. St. Francis de Sales taught, “If purgatory is a species of hell as regards suffering, it is a species of paradise …

  Having a proper understanding of joy is imperative to becoming a saint.   Joy is the arousal of some sense of good. When we malign and obscure good, we malign and obscure joy. St. Gregory the Great tells us, for example, that (a false) joy may result from another’s misfortune (CCC 2539). The unrighteous presence of envy, in this case, corrupts true joy. There’s a better means of obtaining the joy that comes from the Spirit, and a study of the life of St. Philip Neri rev …