Purgatory Insights to Believe and Urgent Plea to Pray for Them!

Purgatory and the Paranormal

I work at a funeral home as a secretary. It is so sad to see the number of people that just sign the papers and say look after the cremation.  There is no goodbye, no service – nothing.  Their reply is ‘they didn’t want anything’.  

Even deceased persons who were Catholic, are not given the Sacrament of the Sick while they lay dying or even a Catholic Mass after they died as their family does not believe in that.  

How many countless souls are there abandoned by their families and friends with indifference, ignorance or unbelief in God!! 

All Soul’s Day A day to remember the Holy Soul's in Purgatory that are going through purification.    Pray for your loved ones, but don’t forget the ones who have no one to pray for them.  

And don’t just pray on the Feast of All Souls – but every day! 

One day we will undoubtfully find ourselves there!

I am currently reading a book on Purgatory called "Hungry Souls: Supernatural Visits, Messages and Warnings from Purgatory by Gerard J. M. Van Den Aardweg, a modern day writing that gleans information from the ages, from writings of the saints as well as quotes from St. Pope John Paul II, and others. I am finding it quite insightful and worth looking into for yourselves to find out more.

The opening lines from Hungry Souls came home to the point of purgatory and the misinformation that is given in some religions as to what happens after death.  Sin seems to be a dirty word nowadays.  To mention sin is to live olden times… that’s ‘old school’ we are told, we don’t believe that anymore... and so on.

Well, I hate to break their fantasy bubble, but PURGATORY IS REAL AND SO IS HELL!

                         

The following are a few quotes from the book (and other information I have come across) that I found interesting, enlightening and helpful.  I hope that you will find that as well.                                                                              --R.M., Blogger             

Maccabees Martyrs

"The teaching of Purgatory goes back through the centuries and even has roots in the Jewish religion.  It is apparent from the second book of Maccabees, that the Jewish people believed in a purification after death which usually lasted a maximum of 12 months.  The fire of purification and that of hell are the same the "Gehinnom" and is often described as burning in a fire.  The sons of the departed were to recite the "kaddish" for their deceased parents for one year; this prayer is thought "to help raise the soul to its ultimate destination in God's presence."

“For those who (at death) find themselves in a condition of being open to God, but still imperfectly, the journey towards full beatitude requires a purification, which the faith of the Church illustrates in the doctrine of purgatory.”  



St. Pope John Paul II

This is how St. Pope John Paul II explains why Purgatory is necessary, for, he continues, we are called “to be perfect like the heavenly Father during our earthly life… sound and flawless before God the Father ‘at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.’ (Thrss 3:12).”

"Purification means atonement for sins and their effects on the soul.  It is not a painless, automatic process of “growing” the soul, of attaining full “self-realization” through the acquisition of ever more insight after death, as is the soothing theory of some spiritualists.  

It is not an accumulation of learning, through a series of “reincarnations”, until some point of perfect wisdom is reached, as in the fantasy of some Western New Age disciples.  Such are childish attempts to suppress man’s deep awareness that the basic dimension determining his destiny in the new world is not knowledge or experience but moral purity: sin, and the traces it leaves on the soul, versus holiness.

In our culture today, of the three destinations that traditional Christian doctrine teaches may follow death and judgment—Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory—only belief in Heaven or some such happy state has widely survived.  

The prevailing cheap optimism hold that (if there is anything at all across the threshold of death) the life of practically everybody automatically ends up in a state of bliss.  

De-christianed  and inwardly impoverished Western man may acknowledge having his imperfections and shortcomings but doesn’t look upon himself as sinful.  To him, atonement for or purification from sin is a “medieval” idea.

…the truth is that man has to be “sound and flawless before God the Father” when, after death, he appears before Him to render an account of his life.  Only holy souls have direct access to the blissful abode where “nothing unclean shall enter.”  Therefore, “every trace of attachment to evil must be eliminated, every imperfection of the soul corrected.”  The place for this correction of the soul’s imperfections is Purgatory.”

….St. John Paul teaches us that penance and pain in Purgatory are mitigated by the comfort of mercy.  In the final analysis, Purgatory is the mercy of Christ working through his Mystical Body, the Church.” 

St. Catherine of Genoa

“... As far as I can see, the souls in purgatory can have no choice but to be there; this God has most justly ordained by his divine decree.  They cannot turn towards themselves and say: I have committed such and such sins for which I deserve to remain here; nor can they say: Would that I had refrained from them, for then I should at this moment be in paradise; nor again: This soul will be released before me; or I shall be released before her.  They retain no memory of either good or evil respecting themselves or others which would increase their pain.  They are so contented with the divine dispositions in their regard; and with doing all that is pleasing to God in that way which he chooses, that they cannot think of themselves, though they may strive to do so, says St. Catherine of Genoa.  They see nothing but the operation of the divine goodness which is so manifestly bringing them to God that they can reflect neither on their own profit nor on their hurt.  Could they do so, they would not be in pure charity.  They see not that they suffer their pains in consequence of their sins, nor can they for a moment entertain that thought, for should they do so it would be an active imperfection, and that cannot exist in a state where there is no longer the possibility of sin.  At the moment of leaving this life they see why they are sent to purgatory, but never again, otherwise they would still retain something private, which has no place there.  Being established in charity, they can never deviate therefrom by any defect, and have no will or desire, save the pure will of pure love, and can swerve from it in nothing.  They can neither commit sin, nor merit by refraining from it.”
Excerpt above taken from: A Treatise on Purgatory by St. Catherine of Genoa

“...It is furthermore remarkable that the reports of apparitions o souls from Purgatory are highly consistent in the course of the centuries and vary but little from one historical period to another. Purgatory has always been represented as a fierce fire, a burning away of all stains of the soul, regardless of the century or cultural period the apparition took place.  And there is always proof of a twofold suffering: namely the “pain of loss”, which is the soul’s painful longing for God, and the “pain of sense”, which is felt as if the bodily senses were still intact.

St. Faustina

St. Faustina writes in 1926, “I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him.  In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls.  They were praying fervently, but without effect for themselves; only we can come to their aid.  The flames which were burning them did not touch me at all.  I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was.  They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God…. (I heard an interior voice) which said, My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it.  Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls.”

St. Ambrose said that the souls in purgatory pray for the living so that they may recognize their sins.  Apparently, their suffering makes them most keenly aware that holiness is by far the most important boon to implore for the ones they love—it means less suffering in Purgatory and a quicker path to eternal bliss.

Other communications in the past from souls in purgatory say they also pray for temporal needs of the living: for their beloved, their family and benefactors.

St. Bridgett of Sweden

St. Bridgett of Sweden (1303-1373), however, heard from the suffering nevertheless indirectly supplicating Christ’s Mercy for themselves, asking Him to incite the faithful on earth to come to their aid: “We implore Thee for the sake of Thy infinite mercy to turn away Thine eyes from our innumerable sins… Imbue with Thy love the religious, the priests and the faithful, so that they may hasten to our relief by their prayers, sacrifices, alms deeds and indulgences.  They an aid us if they wish; they can hasten our union with Thee O God!”

The Council of Trent (1545 and 1563)   dogmatized what had been believed by the faithful all along.  That although the guilt of a penitent sinner may have been forgiven, that does not mean that automatically all his “debt of temporal punishment” is discharged.  In short, he may have to do penance in order to be purified, whether in this life or in the next: in Purgatory.

The Council also dogmatized that the souls in Purgatory “are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but particularly by the Sacrifice of the Altar.”

St. Catherine of Genoa’s explanation  of the tormenting flames of Purgatory:  “The greatest suffering of the souls in purgatory, it seems to me, is the awareness that something in them displeases God, that they have deliberately gone against His great goodness… I can also see… that the divine essence is so pure and light-filled—must more than we can imagaine—that the soul that has but the slightest imperfection would rather throw itself into a thousand hells than appear thus before the divine presence.”  Hence “the soul… aware that the impediment it faces cannot be removed in any other way, hurls itself into purgatory… That is why the soul seeks to cast off any and all impediments so that it can be lifted up to God.”

“A fire like that of hell”: in the opinion of St. Thomas, the proper fires of Purgatory and Hell are one and the same –

St. Catherine explains that the difference between hell and purgatory is that the souls in Purgatory will themselves to suffer, the certainty that God has been most merciful to them in the light of what they deserved… that (they) accept the ordinance of God and would not think of doing otherwise.  As well as a certain joy that is never wanting and that, indeed, increases as they come closer to God....

Purgatory

“...Poor souls told Ruth (one of many who have been visited by the Souls of Purgatory) that they are often present around their living family members and beloved without getting their help, sometimes for years.  She transmits their complaints, 
“You in the world have no inkling of what we have to suffer!  Being abandoned and forgotten by those who have been nearest to us in the world: that is most bitter.  Sometimes they stand at the tombs of our decayed bodies and don’t pray for us at all.  They are as if we don’t exist anymore.  God’s justice commands us to be silent.  But we stand at the door of their houses, of our former dwellings, and wait.  We stand there and wait.  Days, years.  We wait for them to give us a small sign of their love by prayer and sacrifices.  But we stay there in vain.  We cry in vain for love.  For help!  Tell them through the priest:  Love should not die at death.  We are still alive and we are hungry for love!!  For your love!”

How can we help the Holy Souls?  Since early Christianity there has been unanimity that offering the Sacrifice of the Altar to the holy Trinity is the most beneficial suffrage for the poor souls… St. Thomas held that only by holy Mass could a soul be definitively delivered from Purgatory.  

Poor souls indeed very often ask for holy Masses; but an expiatory act of high value is also the offering up of holy Communions, even of so-called spiritual Communions.  Furthermore, prayers, alms, all acts of charity and all and every ordinary daily work; all mortifications and sacrifices that are offered to God for the relief or release of the suffering souls…"

Excerpts from Hungry Souls: Supernatural Visits, Messages and Warnings from Purgatory. 

HOW CAN WE HELP??? 

Devotion to the Poor Souls by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

"It must seem strange to speak of devotion to the Poor Souls. But it is not really strange. Devotion to the Poor Souls has two sides: our side and the side of the souls in purgatory.

On their side, the Poor Souls are united with us in the one Kingdom of Christ. They can pray and obtain blessings for us here on earth. They are united, as the Second Vatican Council teaches, with the pilgrim Church in the Communion of Saints. 

We are therefore encouraged to invoke their aid, with a confidence of being heard by those who understand our needs. They know from their own experience what it means to carry the cross here on earth.

On our side we are to do everything we can to help the Poor Souls in the Church Suffering. The sufferings in purgatory are not the same for all. They depend on each person's degree of sinfulness. 

St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas held that -

the least pain in purgatory 

is greater than 

the worst pain 

in this life....

...What does it mean to pray for the Poor Souls? It means everything that we can offer for the faithful departed

.

• We can offer our bodily pains in expiation for their sins.

• We can offer our spiritual sufferings, our disappointments and fears, our discouragement and estrangement from those we love.

• We can offer our vocal prayers, like the Rosary, the Memorare, the Angelus, the recitation of the Divine Office.

• We can offer our mental prayers, like the Way of the Cross, our daily meditation and examination of conscience.

• We can offer our mortifications, like giving up some delicacy at table, or performance of some unpleasant work.

But the most effective offering

 we can make for the Poor Souls 

is the Holy Eucharist 

at the Sacrifice of the Mass, 

Holy Communion and 

adoration of the Blessed Sacrament....

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. recommends that during the month of November, we make a list of all the deceased persons whom we wish to specially remember in our Masses, prayers and sacrifices for the repose of their souls. 

Add to this list as those enter eternity whom you wish to specially commend to the mercy of God. This, by the way, is called a Necrology. Every Catholic diocese in the world has a Necrology of its deceased priests. Every family should have its own Necrology of deceased members whom we daily remember to our merciful Lord.

Every time you say the grace after meals, be sure to add the invocation, "May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen." In every Rosary you recite, do not forget to say after each decade, " O, my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and bring all souls to heaven, especially those who are in most need of thy mercy."

Remember that devotion

 to the Poor Souls

 is really a covenant 

between them and us. 

We pray and sacrifice for them, 

They can pray and suffer for us. 

They appreciate whatever help 

we give them, to lessen their suffering

 and to shorten their stay in Purgatory. 

They will continue to show their appreciation 

when we join them in a heavenly eternity."

http://www.therealpresence.org/chapel/poorsoul.htm

The Museum of Purgatory 

(Museo del Purgatorio)

Little Museum of Purgatory in the Sacred Heart of Suffrage Church, Rome

Do we have any signs to prove that Purgatory exist????

There is a place for which proof or evidence of supernatural origin of the reality of Purgatory are found in the “Little Museum of Purgatory” in Rome.  “They bear the signature of souls who have appeared from Purgatory to ask for mercy, revealing something about themselves and their condition of suffering and doing penance.” 

Documented paranormal evidence to be found in relation to contacts with the dead.  The authenticity of the apparition stories linked to each of the specimens in the museum has been verified by critical priests, theologians, and trustworthy         witnesses.   There are many other examples as well that are not in the museum in which I will give some examples later on...

In Rome at the church named the Sacred Heart of Suffrage there is to be found ten specimens or relics, exhibited behind glass each left behind by their owners who were suffering the fires of Purgatory.  Father Jouet built a chapel in the same site of the present church and founded the Archconfraternity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for Aid to the Holy Souls.

Face burned into wood (top left)

In November 1897, the altar in the chapel caught fire.  Many people who were present thought they discerned through the flames the face of an anguished person. (pic)  One can see the distorted features of this face on the wall, which was conserved when the chapel was demolished and the present church completed in 1917.  It was the museum’s first “exhibit”.

Display of Objects from Museum of Purgatory in Rome

Father Jouet began to collect testimonies, documents, and objects that could help to incite devotion to the poor souls.  The pieces that are presently in this little museum span over two centuries.  The oldest belongs to an apparition from 1696, the most recent from 1919.  

There has been more documented cases of apparitions of souls from Purgatory in recent times, but they have not so far been added to the collection in the museum.  The specimens shown are from western European countries; Germany, Belgium France, Austria, and Italy.  Pope Pius X and Pope Benedict XV supported and patronized the work of the arch-confraternity founded by Father Jouet as well as the building of the church of the Sacred Heart of Suffrage.

Items showing burn marks from hands of souls in Purgatory

The ‘specimens’ are actual burn marks left on prayer books and other objects of hand prints and even a face.  Of course there are many skeptics that say they are frauds but many conscientious priests and other investigators looked for the truth concerning them.  As well there are well-documented and witnessed evidence by reliable people of the time that these were indeed real cases and real signs of Purgatory...

Excerpts from Hungry Souls: Supernatural Visits, Messages and Warnings from Purgatory. 

Is this God's Will or my own??

Do you find life pretty darn hard?  I do... things just seem some times to be hard to take...heartaches, challenges, disappointments, oppositions, sickness, betrayal... I wonder why is this happening to me?  

What's the point?  I've been struggling with this my whole life.  I know I'm to do God's Will..but it's like I have been trying---but stuff keeps happening to me... 

I didn't realize that the "stuff" 

WAS GOD'S WILL.   

I have constantly prayed -- help me Lord to do Your Will---but have fought against everything that does not go with what I think should happen...  Thinking that this can't be it...this can't be what God wants.. why would He want things to go this way?  Why???? 

I found this book that has answered some of my questions -- awakened spirit to see the deeper meanings of what I have gone through.... it's called Uniformity with God’s Will & the Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ by St. Alphonsus Liguori.  

Guess I am pretty dense...I have been fighting tooth and nail against what I now know to be His Will.  The Lord must shake His Head at me.   I guess I will never understand until I meet the Lord face to face...I must learn to accept everything with love and in peace that God knows what He is about.  I learn through all the difficulties of life...everything is laid out for me...I must accept it with the knowledge that God will use it for my perfection. 

It's hard to do...not having control..or wanting it (control).  I'm going to be struggling with this for the rest of my life here on earth.  Perfection is not going to be easy to obtain, but I am hoping the Lord will see the meager, imperfect efforts I am making to fulfill His Will in my life..,

I would like to recommend this book to you if you have been struggling as I have been.  It's called:

 

Uniformity with God’s Will

by St. Alphonsus Liguori 

Edited by Paul A. Boer, Sr. Veritatis Splendor Publications 2012

(Kindle edition is  90 cents on Amazon..or you can get the softcover for about $8.00)









Excerpts from the book...

St. AlphonsusLiguori

“When, therefore, something adverse happens to us, let us accept it from his hands, not only patiently, but even with gladness, as did the apostles “who went form the presence of the council rejoicing, that they were accounted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus.”  

What greater consolation can come to a soul than to know that by patiently bearing some tribulation, it gives God the greatest pleasure in its power?  

Spiritual writers tells us that though the desire of certain souls to please God by their sufferings is acceptable to him, still more pleasing to him is the union of certain others with his will, so that their will is neither to rejoice not to suffer, but to hold themselves completely amenable to his will, and they desire only that his holy will be fulfilled.

If, devout soul, it is your will to please God and live a life of serenity in this world, unite yourself always and in all things to the divine will.  

 Reflect that all the sins 

of your past wicked life 

happened because you 

wandered from the path of God’s will.   
 

For the future, embrace Gods’ good pleasure and say to him in every happening:  “Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight.”  
  
When anything disagreeable happens, remember it comes from God and say at once, “This comes from God” and be at peace: “I was dumb and opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it.”  Lord, since thous hast done this, I will be silent and accept it.   

Direct all your thoughts and prayers to this end, to beg God constantly in meditation, Communion, and visits to the Blessed Sacrament that he help you accomplish his holy will.

St. Teresa of Avila

Form the habit of offering yourself frequently to God by saying, 

“My God, behold me in thy presence; do with me and all that I have as thou pleasest.”  

This was the constant practice of St. Teresa.  At least fifty times a day she offered herself to God, placing herself at his entire disposition and good pleasure.  

How fortunate you, kind reader, if you too act thus! You will surely become a saint.  Your life will be calm and peaceful; your death will be happy.  At death all our hope of salvation will come from the testimony of our conscience as to whether  or not we are dying resigned to God’s will.  

If during life we have embraced everything 

as coming from God’s hands, 

and if at death we embrace death 

in fulfillment of God’s will, 

we shall certainly save our souls 

and die the death of saints.  

Let us then abandon everything to God’s good pleasure, because being infinitely wise, he knows what is best for us; and being all-good and all-loving – having given his life for us—he wills what is best for us.  

St. Basil the Great

Let us, as St. Basil counsels us,  

"...rest secure in the conviction that beyond the possibility of a doubt, God works to effect our welfare, infinitely better than we could ever hope to accomplish or desire it ourselves.”

 "...In external matters.  In times of great heat, cold or rain; in times of famine, epidemics and similar occasions we should refrain from expressions like these:  "What unbearable cold!" "What a tragedy!" In these instances we should avoid expressions indicating opposition to God's Will.  We should want things to be just as they are, because it is God who thus disposes them...."

"Do thou build up or tear down, O Lord, 

as seems good in thy sight.  

I am content.  

I wish only what thou dost wish."

ON SICKNESS....

 

Let's see what St. Ignatius says to this...

Do not weary yourself planning

what you would do it you were well,

but be content to be sick

for as long as God wishes...

 

 

We ought to make use of the ordinary remedies in time of sickness--such is God's will; but if they are not effective, let us unite ourselves to God's will and this will be better for us than would be our restoration to health...

 

Certainly, it is more virtuous not to repine in times of painful illness, still and all, when our sufferings are excessive, it is not wrong to let our friends know what we are enduring, and also to ask God to free us from our sufferings....that the sufferings here referred to are actually excessive.  

 

It often happens that some, on the occasion of a slight illness, or even a slight indisposition, want the whole world to stand still and sympathize with them in their illnesses. 

 

But where it is a case of real suffering, we have the example of our Lord, who, at the approach of his bitter passion, made known his state of soul to his disciples, saying: "My soul is sorrowful even until death"  and besought his eternal Father to deliver him from it: "Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me." 

 

 

But our Lord likewise taught us what we should do when we have made such a petition, when he added:

"Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."
 

St. John of Avila, Doctor of the Church

 

"If you are seeking to carry out God's will,

what difference should it make to you 

whether you are sick or well?" 

                                                     

St. John of Avila 

 

Excerpt from Uniformity with God's Will --

'Finally we should consider the events which are happening to us now and which will happen to us in the future, as coming from the hands of God.  Everything we do should be directed to this one end: to do the will of God and to do it solely for the reason that God wills it.  To walk more securely on this road we must depend on the guidance of our superiors in external matters, and on our directors in internal matters, to learn from them God’s will in our regard, have great faith in the words of our Lord:”He that heareth you, heareth me.” 

 

Daydreaming

Above all, let us bend all our energies to serve God in the way he wishes.  This remark is made so that we may avoid the mistake of him who wastes his time in idle day-dreaming.  Such a  one says, “If I were to become a hermit, I would become a saint” or “If I were to enter a monastery, I would practice penance” or “If I were to go away from here, leaving friend and companions, I would devote long hours to prayer.”  If, If, If—all these ifs!  In the meantime such a  person goes from bad to worse.  These idle fancies are often temptations of the devil, because they are not in accord with God’s will.  Hence we should dismiss them summarily and rouse ourselves to serve God only in that way which he has marked out for us.  Doing his holy will, we shall certainly become holy in those surroundings he has placed us.

Let us will always and ever

only what God wills;

for so doing,

he will press us to his heart. 

 

To this end let us familiarize ourselves with certain texts of sacred scripture that invite us to unite ourselves constantly with the divine will: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?  Tell me, my God, what thou wilt have me do, that I will it also, with all my heart.  “I am thine, save thou me.”  I am no longer my own, I am thine, O Lord, do with me as thou wilt.

If some particularly crashing misfortune comes upon us, for example, the death of a relative, loss of goods, let us say: “Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight.”  Yes, my God and my Father, so be it, for such is thy good pleasure.  Above all, let us cherish that prayer of our Lord, which he himself taught us:  "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

St. Catherine of Genoa

 

St. Catherine of Genoa

to make a notable pause at these words

whenever she said the Our Father,

praying that God’s holy will be fulfilled on earth

with the same perfection with which

the saints do in heaven. 

Let this be our practice also,

and we shall certainly become saints.

 Excerpts taken from the Conclusion of the book, Uniformity with God’s Will St. Alphonsus Liguori

Uniformity with God’s Will & the Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ by St. Alphonsus Liguori Edited by Paul A. Boer, Sr. Veritatis Splendor Publications 2012