But those who have left this earth to enter into the other world are not the dead. If they are in Heaven and see God, they are the living par excellence; if they are in Purgatory where they suffer but with the certitude that they are chosen and that they will see God, they are – through this very certitude, and through the very pure and very ardent love with which they accept and bless their sufferings – much more living than we are.
Jacques Maritain (1882–1973)