We can so delude ourselves through pride. Which of us truly knows ourselves? But there are good things too.
Great things to ponder. We must also remember what Maria Simma said about purgatory......Souls want to be there. They are happier to be there more than being on earth because they have the assurance of heaven and they have ceased from sin. I look at it like this......it's just a beauty appointment........where I get all prettied up before I meet my beloved King face to to face. I don't really like going to the beautician .......but after......I feel some much better. I just don't want to spend forever there or long amounts of time.
I was remembering there how when I left prison and went to see my Spiritual Director he was surprised how much at peace I was. He said he was surprised how I was not tortured by al lthe terrible things I had done. I quoted Isaiah to him: Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let us settle the matter," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. I said that since God had forgiven me, I must forgive myself and since He no longer blamed me , I must not blame myself. He seemed amazed at this but looking back on it the grace to forgive ourselves is a big a miracle as conversion itself. God wants compunction, true but hHe does not want everlasting depression. He wants us to move on and start over. I guess Our Lady taught me this better than anyone . Once I rpented she moved right on in to teaching me to pray without pausing for a heart beat. I guess that's what we al lhave to do. Start over and keep starting over as long as it takes, relying not in oursleves but in God. So here I am back with a smile ; starting all over again. With a big smile. If God is happy enough to keep on batting, so am I.
I am afraid I got a little off put reading about the sufferings of the Holy Souls. So I am leaving it for a while and reading a more cheerful book about Padre Pio. It is really a collection of magazine and newspaper articles on the saint. I think Spiritual Reading is not meant to make us feel like throwing ourselves in the lake. I am afraid reading about all these awful apparitions was so depressing. Padre Pio and his miracles always cheers me up. Padre Pio, good friend of the Holy Souls, pray for us.
Indeed Padraig. It's a tough book to read, apparition after apparition recounting the conditions in Purgatory. I knew Purgatory was tough, but..... A big eye opener.
Purgatory is tough. In earth terms .....it's like winning a trillion dollars but your told you cannot have it when you want it or you have to wait several years to get it. Now....I have a GREAT story to share with you all. I have a devotion to poor souls in purgatory. On a few occasions I have asked the Lord in the quiet of my heart for confirmation if a soul is in purgatory. These last few days I have been getting ready to celebrate Dia De Los Muertos.....Day of the Dead...".which is celebrated every year in many parts of Mexico and the US. Well my husband is Mexican so over the years I have come to love my inherited Mexican culture. Well.....my husbands grandfather died over 15 yrs ago. From time to time I've wondered about his soul. A couple days ago.....in the quiet of my heart I said to the Lord that it would be wonderful to get a sign if he was in purgatory. I then reminded the Lord......not that he needs reminding ....LOL.....of how my husbands grandfather loved KFC chicken. I thought if you wanted to give me a sign that would be great. I never told anyone of request or thoughts to the Lord on this subject. Well......yesterday while I was on FB looking at cute pics of people's costumes."....I see a great picture of someone dressed like Kernal Sanders. The persons name that like it was a lady whose grandfather just passed and I had mass for him. That was a great sign for me from the lord......but HE wasn't done letting me know. More signs came today!!! This morning my husband and I were sitting in bed with our little dog and my husband began to sing to the dog. The words were KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN......"PAW LICKEN GOOD!! I said to my husband WHAT DID YOU JUST SING? he repeated . I then started laughing and told him about my prayer about his grandfather. I couldn't believe my husband was singing about KFC because we weren't even eating it and we never eat it. Then my husband goes downstairs and within minutes I look down on my FB again and I see the word TUTTI in BIG LETTERS!!! this what everyone called my husbands grandfather!!!! So."....tomorrow you can bet I will be praying for him in purgatory. Hes been there so long but he IS ASSURED of heaven. PLEASE IF YOUR WILLING could you please pray for him. His name was CELSO FLORES or if you can't remember that offer it for TUTTI. God bless you all and have a most blessed ALL SAINT AND SOULS DAY!!!
You are so right PADRAIG!! Through much prayer and suffering I have come to learn of Gods great unmeasurable forgiveness. I spoke to you before about this....because of souls in purgatory and my experiences. What I have come to learn was what truly sends men to hell is a COMPLETE UNWILLINGNESS to accept forgiveness and THE COMPLETE UNWILLINGNESS TO NOT TRY and amend our lives. GOD knows how often we fall and so VERY easily but all we have to do is TRY AGAIN and KEEP TRYING because we love HIM and FEAR HIM. To always ACCEPT HIS FORGIVNESS. To not do these things is to anger God and pierce his heart with great sorrow. When we are always trying.....even if it's just a tiny bit, GOD honors our efforts even if they are feeble and tiny. Like a loving parent who has children who are disabled in some way or another.....when that parent sees the effort given by them IN ALL their weakness etc......it's a treasure in the heart of that parent. This is GOD with us. He loves our little efforts in all our weaknesses.......regardless.
I would like to think also that the person who sincerley tries to live a good Chrisitan life, gettng to CHurch every week , praying, trying to keep the Commandments and doing her or his Chrisitan duties , loving and forgiving might not get too hard a welcome on the other side. God loves us,very,very much and is full of mercy. 2 Samuel 24:14 And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. View attachment 3655
Yes. I'm sure that the Christians who try and live a life doing Gods will with a loving heart will not meet a harsh purgatory. Some may just pass through in the blink of an eye. I bet many saints just passed through barely feeling it. Our God is an AWESOME GOD!! HE gives us all and we are so unworthy. I love HIM so much.
EWTN last nite Sunday nite prime was part 2 on Purgatory will re-air in 15 minutes 930 am eastern. She was speaking about how we are moved or alerted to pray for certain souls. Your post jumped off the page at me Sparrows. God Bless you and Mr Sparrows and may the Lord grant Celso Flores Eternal Rest this very day. Lord have Mercy on all the Faithful departed. Amen
It seems that even Popes have reached out for prayers from purgatory http://www.churchpop.com/2015/11/01...-the-pope-who-begged-for-help-from-purgatory/ This was the Pope of the 5th Crusade who approved the Franciscan Order and attempted to call back the Greeks and Oriental Orthodox (Alexandria,Antioch, Jerusalem etc) to union with Rome at the Lateran Council. This failed as did other attempts at Lyon and Florence.
Padraig I was reading on an older thread about purgatory where you mentioned some experiences that you had with souls in purgatory. I wonder if you could elaborate? I am interested. I have worked and lived in various parts of Latin America. My accent in Spanish is Argentine but I met my wife in Mexico and got married there over 20 years ago. I believe without a doubt that the veil between the living and the dead is much thinner in Latin America than in the States. I don't know about Ireland or the UK
St. Lidwina of Schiedam Horrors of Purgatory St. Lidwina of Schiedam was a 15th century Dutch saint and mystic. As a teenager, she had an ice skating accident that left her debilitated the rest of her life. A sinful man was converted by her prayers and and exhortation and was able to make a good confession, but he died soon after, unable to do much penance. After some time, she asked her guardian angel if he was still in purgatory, and she had this vision: “‘He is there,’ said her angel, ‘and he suffers much. Would you be willing to endure some pain in order to diminish his?’ Certainly,’ she replied, ‘I am ready to suffer anything to assist him.’ Instantly her angel conducted her into a place of frightful torture. ‘Is this, then, Hell, my brother?’ asked the holy maiden, seized with horror. ‘No, sister,’ answered the angel, ‘but this part of Purgatory is bordering upon Hell.’ “Looking around on all sides, she saw what resembled an immense prison, surrounded with walls of a prodigious height, the blackness of which, together with the monstrous stones, inspired her with horror. Approaching this dismal enclosure, she heard a confused noise of lamenting voices, cries of fury, chains, instruments of torture, violent blows which the executioners discharged upon their victims. This noise was such that all the tumult of the world, in tempest or battle, could bear no comparison to it. ‘What, then, is that horrible place?’ asked St. Lidwina of her good angel. ‘Do you wish me to show it to you?’ ‘No, I beseech you,’ said she, recoiling with terror; ‘the noise which I hear is so frightful that I can no longer bear it ; how, then, could I endure the sight of those horrors?’ “Continuing her mysterious route, she saw an angel seated sadly on the curb of a well. ‘Who is that angel?’ she asked of her guide. ‘It is,’ he replied, ‘the angel-guardian of the sinner in whose lot you are interested. His soul is in this well, where it has a special Purgatory.’ At these words, Lidwina cast an inquiring glance at her angel; she desired to see that soul which was dear to her, and endeavour to release it from that frightful pit. Her angel, who understood her, having taken off the cover of the well, a cloud of flames, together with the most plaintive cries, came forth." Do you recognise that voice?’ said the angel to her. ‘Alas! yes,’ answered the servant of God. ‘Do you desire to see that soul?’ he continued. On her replying in the affirmative, he called him by his name; and immediately our virgin saw appear at the mouth of the pit a spirit all on fire, resembling incandescent metal, which said to her in a voice scarcely audible, ‘O Lidwina, servant of God, who will give me to contemplate the face of the Most High?’ “The sight of this soul, a prey to the most terrible torment of fire, gave our saint such a shock that the cincture which she wore around her body was rent in twain; and, no longer able to endure the sight, she awoke suddenly from her ecstasy. The persons present, perceiving her fear, asked her its cause. ‘Alas!" she replied, ‘how frightful are the prisons of Purgatory! It was to assist the souls that I consented to descend thither. Without this motive, if the whole world were given to me, I would not undergo the terror which that horrible spectacle inspired.’ “Some days later, the same angel whom she had seen so dejected appeared to her with a joyful countenance; he told her that the soul of his protege' had left the pit and passed into the ordinary Purgatory. This partial alleviation did not suffice the charity of Lidwina; she continued to pray for the poor patient, and to apply to him the merits of her sufferings, until she saw the gates of Heaven opened to him.” (Purgatory, by Fr. F. X. Schouppe, S.J., p. 16-19)
Well Robert he first time was about (I think) 1983 . I should explain firstly that Our Lady had promised me that because of my rosaries none of my family would be damned , that they would all get into heaven. So my brother Colm doed at the age of 26. He was a complete atheist and I don't think had ever gone to Church isnce he was a child. He was brother and I loved him very much , but I would not claim that in many repsects he was not a good person. On the other hand he loved his mothers nad family very,very much whihc must count for something. In either case you may see I had good casue to doubt that Our Lady's promise would come true for him, under the circumstances. But the morning after his death while I was walking the dog round the park Colm appeared beside me and said, 'You were right and I was wrong!' (meaning there really is a life after death and a God...we used to argue about this).. Then he said, 'But I know far, far more about theese things than you now!' and he laughed and disappeared. THis was so lile him to laugh and say something like this. I made the big mistake of telling my brothers about this, they thought i had lost the plot or was attention seeking and where very hostile. I was hurt by this, I saw what I saw. So I went down to see my Spiritual Director who told me it was very ,very common for people to see members of their family in the immediate period after their death. He at least believed me. But I understand now that it was Our Lady confirming the truth of her promise hat they would all be saved and I have seen several of my dead family since then, including my mother. I think a huge number of people see things like this but simply write it off or don't talk about it, but I suspect as my Spiritual Director said, it is very common.
Two different Holy Souls came to me in different ways to ask for prayers after mass this morning. I'll write about this in the morning, it's getting late. You know the Holy Souls will, I think anywhere they cna see a door will open. We sometimes remember to pray for someone dead. I'll bet most times this is a Holy Soul knocking at our door.
