Some thoughts on the Souls in Purgatory

you forget they can see through better than those airport scanners

 

MS7....that was translated in a book by Jan O'Connell where this particular quote was made.....the answer was, that when we pray for a person by name....from the fires of purgatory....they can "visualize" us at that time which makes it a beautiful thing especially for deceased loved ones. I too thought about praying in the shower after that quote!

 

I have had experiences at times to pray for my deceased uncles etc...sometimes I feel my guardian angel is in fact nudging me to help people when they come to mind like that.....that is what Our Lady and Lord would want, right?

 

<<< am still roaring with laughter..

 

Geeeze....how long will it take now for me to erase the image in my mind of Padraig sitting on the crapper (as we sometimes call it here in America..I actually cleaned that name up...but I love the LOO..what a great name) holding a rosary praying for a bountiful purging? A good day is when he doesn't make it to the first decade.

 

Now I am roaring with laughter, talk about TMI

 

Let me see if this can get back on topic,lol.
Garabandal and the Poor Souls
The people of Garabandal have had a long standing tradition in regard to prayers for the souls in purgatory. The month of November, dedicated to prayer for these souls, and especially the first of November, Feast of All Saints, and the second of November, the Remembrance of all the Faithful Departed, were celebrated with great religious fervor at the liturgical functions held in the local church. What is more remarkable is the call to prayer for the souls of the departed each day of the year. This is carried out by a child who goes through the streets and lanes of the village, striking a tin can as he walks along.
Prayer for the Dead at the Cemetery
Our Lady confirmed, as it were, this custom of praying for the dead by frequently leading the girls in ecstasy to do this very thing. She led them to the village cemetery, either alone, or in various numbers. Quite significantly, this happened more often during the month of November than at other times of the year. The significance of this is heightened by the fact that the Spanish people are not really given to visiting the graves of their dead. In fact, as a general rule the girls in ecstasy did not enter the cemetery. They stayed at the wrought iron gate that gives access to the square stone walled plot of land which stands in isolation in a field a few hundred yards to the northwest of the village. The above picture is of Aniceta ( Conchita's mother ) walking through town, ringing a bell to remind people to pray for the dead.

 

I grew up in a traditional Italian family and from a very young age we were taught to pray often for the souls in purgatory. We never missed mass on all souls day. My mother lit a candle after every mass for the poor souls. I include them in my daily rosary I was under the impression everyone did.

 

Years back the account circulated of a Irishman named Pat Murnahan who chanced to be seated next to Mother Teresa of Calcutta on a plane from New York to London (then on, for him, to Dublin). A full account is here. He had watched as Mother Teresa and another nun prayed with an unusual set of beads -- ones that were colored. "They both closed their eyes as they immersed themselves in prayer and Pat stole a closer look at the unusual Rosary beads," says the account. "He noticed that the decades at the beginning were totally black but as the beads went on they got lighter until, at the end of the rosary, they were completely white. As she took out the rosary he ventured to ask about the differing colors of the beads. She explained they were called Holy Souls Beads and the changing colors signify coming from darkness into light. We know as we pray a Rosary for the holy souls, Jesus brings many of them out of darkness into the light."
When Mother Teresa asked him if there was anyone he wanted them to pray for, he thought of his elderly grandmother, who at the moment was barely clinging to life. The nuns prayed, mentioning deceased names in between decades. But there was no petition for his grandmother. When, afterwards, he asked why, Mother Teresa said, “When you pray for the souls in purgatory God will be so pleased with your unselfish prayers for those you don’t even know, that he will grant you your dearest wish, without even asking and sometimes maybe without you even knowing what your dearest wish is.”

http://hicatholicmom.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-and-holy-souls-in-purgatory.html

 

Has anyone read the book " Mist of Mercy " ? It has a chapter within it, a very descriptive account of Purgatory.

 

I always though Our Lady specifically came to Garabandal because of their devotion to the Holy Souls.

As to praying in the crapper.Well I think Our Lady and anyone else can see what they need to see.

Enough said

Yes I think when we pray for the souls it is a bit like being a light in the dark and we draw Holy Souls like moths flying about. I notice some people have a very particular mission for the Holy Souls, like Maria Simna and the Holy Souls flock around them like little sheep.

It seems ot me a natural thing, we go were there is water to drink when we are hot; the Holy Souls do the same.Bless them.

I must pray for them at mass today.

 

If souls are there to be purified in purgatory, how is it that they are allowed to leave and present themselves on earth?

 

I don't think they all are Jimmy, just some. it is a mystery of God's mercy. But it is mercy, He doesn 't have to let them out, it's like ebing in prison doing your time, they don't have to let you out on parole.

But I wonder if some of the ones that get help were not themselves good to the Holy Souls?

Another good reason for being kind to them ourselves.

 

St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi: Purgatory Before the Blessed Sacrament


One day, while praying before the Blessed Sacrament, St. Mary Magdalen saw the tortured soul of one of the sisters, who had passed on recently. She saw her rising painfully from the earth, encircled by leaping flames wrapping themselves around her body. The only thing that kept them from scorching the sister's body was a sparkling white robe covering her, shielding her from the blazing fire. She had been faithful to the Rule. She had led a pious life. Then why was she coming to Sister Mary Magdalen like this?


This sister explained that she had grudgingly spent time before the Blessed Sacrament while she was alive. And now, she was being denied her Spouse's Beatific Vision. She went over to where the Blessed Sacrament was exposed and remained kneeling at the foot of the altar, oblivious to the flames about her, adoring her Lord so very preciously present in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Oh how she had longed to see Him, once more! Worse than the furnace, which enveloped her in Purgatory, was the loss of the vision of her Lord. She remained motionless, her eyes transfixed on her Savior. At the end of her hour with her Lord in this Garden of Gethsemane, her penance ended, St. Mary Magdalen saw the sister rise to Heaven.

 

St Padre Pio’s visions of the souls in Purgatory

In May, 1922, Padre Pio testified the following to the Bishop of Melfi, His Excellency Alberto Costa and also the superior of the friary, Padre Lorenzo of San Marco along with 5 other friars. One of the five friars, Fra Alberto D' Apolito of San Giovanni Rotondo wrote down the account as follows:

"While in the friary on a winter afternoon after a heavy snowfall, he was sitting by the fireplace one evening in the guest room, absorbed in prayer, when an old man, wearing an old-fashioned cloak still worn by southern Italian peasants at the time, sat down beside him. Concerning this man Pio states: ‘I could not imagine how he could have entered the friary at this time of night since all the doors are locked. I questioned him: 'Who are you? What do you want?'

The old man told him, "Padre Pio, I am Pietro Di Mauro, son of Nicola, nicknamed Precoco." He went on to say, "I died in this friary on the 18th of September, 1908, in cell number 4, when it was still a poorhouse. One night, while in bed, I fell asleep with a lighted cigar, which ignited the mattress and I died, suffocated and burned. I am still in Purgatory. I need a holy Mass in order to be freed. God permitted that I come and ask you for help."

According to Padre Pio: "After listening to him, I replied, 'Rest assured that tomorrow I will celebrate Mass for your liberation.' I arose and accompanied him to the door of the friary, so that he could leave. I did not realize at that moment that the door was closed and locked: I opened it and bade him farewell The moon lit up the square, covered with snow. When I no longer saw him in front of me, I was taken by a sense of fear, and I closed the door, reentered the guest room, and felt faint.”

A few days later, Padre Pio also told the story to Padre Paolino, and the two decided to go to the town hall, where they looked at the vital statistics for the year I908 and found that on September 18 of that year, one Pietro Di Mauro had in fact died of burns and asphyxiation in Room Number 4 at the friary, then used as a home for the homeless.

 

Probably the best Holy Soul story ever

 

Oh, I see you already posted this story at the beginning of the thread.

 

I met a Holy Soul one time Mac, who had been dead about 500 years ago.

He was totally black. He had been disturbing the house of the lady I was staying with. It seemed to me extraordinary he did not go to hell for he had lived such a very bad life. Belligerent and unkind, very bad tempered to all he met.

He was a minor noble ho became a Protestant at the time of the Reformation. He was saved because of his mother who remained Catholic, he was English, killed fighting the Irish , crossing a ford near were he appeared to me.

He seemed totally black , like coal.

Mothers prayers are very powerful. He is in heaven now, due to the woman of the house he was haunting having masses said for him.

 

One time I was praying a chaplet of mercy for certain souls who passed on and during it, I realised I had forgotten Nene, my DIl's grandmother. Her sister had been praying for her grandmother at her grave and was asking her if she was in heaven or if she needed prayers. A piece of black bordered paper floated down to her which said, Pray for me! So I told her I would pray for Nene. Realising I had forgotten her, I yelled out O Lord Jesus, I forgot Nene! You know I include Nene in all my prayers, one special Hail Mary for Nene. As I'm Finishing the Hail Mary, suddenly I heard, I've got her. literaly felt a great whoosh and I felt I had been lifted up to heaven. I have never felt such love and joy, completely in describable. It happened to me twice since then, each time to a lesser degree. I think the Lord showed me this to show me that praying for the holy souls does work. I told my DIL and she was of course very thankful, although she didn't know if she'd tell her father{not a christian type of person} The next time she visited she told me she told him and she said she couldn't believe it, her father, Mr. Hard Heart broke down and cried and cried. He's a much more converted person now, in fact he said the thing he hated most was being preached at. I think Nene got to heaven and prayed her son into conversion. A mother's prayers indeed.

 

Thats an amazing story , thanks Padraig.While I have never experienced anything like that it is always wonderful to hear others stories. I have some in my family , especially from my grandfather.