It’s way past Nov. 1, All Saints’ Day, with Christmas nearing. Yet, it makes sense to continue with our series on Purgatory instead swerving towards being fashionably Christmassy, if we have to ruminate on what the Blessed Virgin Mary once told a visionary of Medjugorje. While many souls are delivered from Purgatory on All Saints Day, more are carried off to Heaven during Christmas, she said.
It makes sense to conclude that, with more prayers offered for the Purgatorial souls these Yuletide days, even more than usual would see flight to Paradise on Noche Buena, and we certainly want departed relatives, who have not made it yet to their Destiny, take wings for this.
So to pep up our focus on the souls as Christmas drifts nearer, we continue with our series on Purgatory and its pitiable souls. But then, we skip the interesting revelations from the Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory, from which we had culled from rather copiously in our last pieces. Instead, we jump into the more recent experiences of mystic Maria Simma of Austria, who lived most of her humble life being visited by souls from Purgatory seeking various favors, before she died on March 16, 2004 at the age 89.
We choose to give Maria Simma enough importance, as a published interview of her by Sor Emmanuel Maillard was marked with imprimatur and nihil obstat byCatholic church authorities, and made a part of a prayer book titled Devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory edited by Fr. Domie Guzman and translated by Fr. Romeo Hitosis.
Again, we present a question and answer format, the questions being posed by Sor Emmanuel, and the answers by Maria Simma.
Question (Q): Maria, can you tell us how you were visited for the first time by a soul in Purgatory?
Answer (A): Yes, it was in 1940. One night, around 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, I heard someone coming into my bedroom… I saw a complete stranger. He walked back and forth slowly. I said to him severely: "How did you get in here? Go away!" But he continued to walk impatiently around the bedroom as if he hadn’t heard. So I asked him again: "What are you doing?" But as he still didn’t answer, I jumped out of bed and tried to grab him, but I grasped only air. There was nothing there. So I went back to bed, but again I heard him pacing back and forth.
I wondered how I could see this man, but I couldn’t grab him. I rose again to hold onto him and to stop him from walking around; again, I grasped only emptiness. Puzzled, I went back to bed. He didn’t come back, but I couldn’t get back to sleep. The next day, after Mass, I went to see my spiritual director and told him everything. He told me that if this should happen again, I shouldn’t ask, "Who are you?" but "What do you want from me?"
The following night, the man returned. I asked him: "What do you want from me?" He replied: "Have three Masses celebrated for me, and I will be delivered."
So I understood that it was a soul in Purgatory. My spiritual director confirmed this. He also advised me never to turn away the poor souls, but to accept with generosity whatever they asked of me.
Q: And afterwards, the visits continued?
A: Yes. For several years, there were only three or four souls, above all in November. Afterwards, there were more.
Q: What do these souls ask of you?
A: In most cases, they ask to have Masses celebrated and that one be present at these Masses. They ask to have the Rosary said and also that one make the Stations of the Cross.
Q: Maria, do the souls in Purgatory have, nevertheless, joy and hope in the midst of their suffering?
A: Yes. No soul would want to come back from Purgatory to the earth. They have knowledge which is infinitely beyond ours. They just could not decide to return to the darkness of the earth. Here we see the difference from the suffering that we know on earth. In Purgatory, even if the pain of the soul is just terrible, there is the certitude of living forever with God. It’s an unshakeable certitude. The joy is greater than the pain. There is nothing on earth which could make them want to live here again, where one is never sure of anything.
Q: Maria, can you tell us now if it is God who sends a soul into Purgatory, or if the soul itself decides to go there?
A: It is the soul itself which wants to go to Purgatory, in order to be pure before going to Heaven.
Q:Maria, at the moment of death, does one see God in full light or in an obscure manner?
A: In a manner still obscure, but, all the same, in such brightness that this is enough to cause great longing.
Q: Maria, can you tell us what the role of Our Lady is with the souls in Purgatory?
A: She comes often to console them and to tell them they have done many good things. She encourages them.
(to be continued)
It makes sense to conclude that, with more prayers offered for the Purgatorial souls these Yuletide days, even more than usual would see flight to Paradise on Noche Buena, and we certainly want departed relatives, who have not made it yet to their Destiny, take wings for this.
So to pep up our focus on the souls as Christmas drifts nearer, we continue with our series on Purgatory and its pitiable souls. But then, we skip the interesting revelations from the Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory, from which we had culled from rather copiously in our last pieces. Instead, we jump into the more recent experiences of mystic Maria Simma of Austria, who lived most of her humble life being visited by souls from Purgatory seeking various favors, before she died on March 16, 2004 at the age 89.
We choose to give Maria Simma enough importance, as a published interview of her by Sor Emmanuel Maillard was marked with imprimatur and nihil obstat byCatholic church authorities, and made a part of a prayer book titled Devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory edited by Fr. Domie Guzman and translated by Fr. Romeo Hitosis.
Again, we present a question and answer format, the questions being posed by Sor Emmanuel, and the answers by Maria Simma.
Question (Q): Maria, can you tell us how you were visited for the first time by a soul in Purgatory?
Answer (A): Yes, it was in 1940. One night, around 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, I heard someone coming into my bedroom… I saw a complete stranger. He walked back and forth slowly. I said to him severely: "How did you get in here? Go away!" But he continued to walk impatiently around the bedroom as if he hadn’t heard. So I asked him again: "What are you doing?" But as he still didn’t answer, I jumped out of bed and tried to grab him, but I grasped only air. There was nothing there. So I went back to bed, but again I heard him pacing back and forth.
I wondered how I could see this man, but I couldn’t grab him. I rose again to hold onto him and to stop him from walking around; again, I grasped only emptiness. Puzzled, I went back to bed. He didn’t come back, but I couldn’t get back to sleep. The next day, after Mass, I went to see my spiritual director and told him everything. He told me that if this should happen again, I shouldn’t ask, "Who are you?" but "What do you want from me?"
The following night, the man returned. I asked him: "What do you want from me?" He replied: "Have three Masses celebrated for me, and I will be delivered."
So I understood that it was a soul in Purgatory. My spiritual director confirmed this. He also advised me never to turn away the poor souls, but to accept with generosity whatever they asked of me.
Q: And afterwards, the visits continued?
A: Yes. For several years, there were only three or four souls, above all in November. Afterwards, there were more.
Q: What do these souls ask of you?
A: In most cases, they ask to have Masses celebrated and that one be present at these Masses. They ask to have the Rosary said and also that one make the Stations of the Cross.
Q: Maria, do the souls in Purgatory have, nevertheless, joy and hope in the midst of their suffering?
A: Yes. No soul would want to come back from Purgatory to the earth. They have knowledge which is infinitely beyond ours. They just could not decide to return to the darkness of the earth. Here we see the difference from the suffering that we know on earth. In Purgatory, even if the pain of the soul is just terrible, there is the certitude of living forever with God. It’s an unshakeable certitude. The joy is greater than the pain. There is nothing on earth which could make them want to live here again, where one is never sure of anything.
Q: Maria, can you tell us now if it is God who sends a soul into Purgatory, or if the soul itself decides to go there?
A: It is the soul itself which wants to go to Purgatory, in order to be pure before going to Heaven.
Q:Maria, at the moment of death, does one see God in full light or in an obscure manner?
A: In a manner still obscure, but, all the same, in such brightness that this is enough to cause great longing.
Q: Maria, can you tell us what the role of Our Lady is with the souls in Purgatory?
A: She comes often to console them and to tell them they have done many good things. She encourages them.
(to be continued)
