Jesus reveals Purgatory and Hell to Saint Catherine of Genoa

Through the divine fire which burned inside Saint Catherine of Genoa, while she was still on earth, she was able to understand the state of souls in Purgatory. The Lord had purified her soul, in the furnace of his love, as gold is refined of all its impurities, by fire! Cleansing her of every stain of sin while she was still in the flesh, he was perfecting her on earth, so that when Catherine passed to the next world, she would be ready to appear before him. God told her that the soul is like gold; once all the impurities are burned away, no matter how great the fire is, it can do it no harm to the soul. God said he keeps the soul in the flames of his divine love until every stain of sin is burned away and the soul reaches the highest perfection it is capable of (each according to its own vocation and capacity), and once this is accomplished, the soul rests completely in him.

He further told her that, as the sun cannot penetrate a covered surface (like a dark shade) so as to allow light to flow into a room, not through any defect in the sun but simply from the blockage of the covering, so it is with the rust of sin which darkens the soul; it blocks the Son's love from coming through. In Purgatory, the compassionate flames burn away all the rust of sin, layer by layer, allowing the divine rays of God's love to come through, the rust of sin decreasing as God's love increases. This does not take away the torment which no one can ever truly describe, nor anyone truly understand. The vision of Purgatory that the Lord revealed to Saint Catherine of Genoa so impressed her, she could not wipe it from her mind and heart.

God revealed to her:

On Sin: "The source of all suffering is either original or actual sin. God created the soul pure, simple, free from every stain, and with a certain beatific instinct toward Himself. It is drawn away from him by original sin, and when actual sin is added afterwards, this (actual sin) draws the soul still farther away from God; and as the soul removes itself more and more from him, its sinfulness increases and its communing (or communication) with God decreases, till there is less and less of him and more and more of the dark shade of sin blocking the soul from him."

On Hell and the Soul: "As the purified spirit finds no repose but in God for Whom it was created, so the soul in sin can rest nowhere but in Hell, which by reason of its sin has become its end."

On Purgatory: "The same thing is true of Purgatory: the soul leaving the body, and not finding in itself that purity in which it is created, and seeing also the hindrances which prevent her union with God, conscious also that Purgatory only can remove from them, casts herself quickly and willingly therein. And if she did not find the means ordained for her purification, she would instantly create for herself a hell worse than Purgatory, seeing that by reason of this impediment she is hindered from approaching her end, which is God; and this is so great an ill that in comparison with it the soul esteems Purgatory as nothing. True it is (as I have said), like Hell; and yet in comparison with the loss of God it is as nothing.