Holy Week has been my favorite part of the year, even more so than Christmas, because it makes me feel the breadth and depth of Pinoy spirituality and consequently the comfort of the thought of belonging to eternity. There was a time, though, that the week didn’t matter to me that much, in those beer days when Maundy Thursday and Good Friday shut down beerhouses and offered only fleeting sentiments of religiosity.
People do change and, often at the senior stage of their lives when experience grasps wisdom, the thought of dying brings deeper sobriety. It was such change that have been prodding me to write these series that other folk consider spiritual, but if you ask me, they’re things we ought to know about, as the world of the spirit is where we jump into someday, whether we like it or not, regardless of whether we believe in it. It would be unfortunate, of course, for those who do not believe, or just ignore, because they would likely be indisposed to preparing for their future in that realm.
Priests these days should be convincing people in our mundane times about their being everlasting, that they are to exist beyond the grave but that where they go after this would depend on how they exercised their free will on earth.
Now to go on with our series.
We swerve again from our series on mystic Maria Simma, who I call the seer of ghosts, and backtrack to the Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory, that piece of what Catholic authorities regard as a reliable historic documentation of the conversation between an earthly living nun and the soul of another deceased nun who, landing in Purgatory, communicated information on what happens in the afterlife.
Q. Are you able to receive a prayer or a thought of friends who are dead, and let them know of the remembrance we have of them?
A. Thoughts of earth can be made known here, but there is not much in all that, because I have already told you that the souls in Purgatory know those persons who interest themselves in their behalf on earth. God sometimes allows those on earth to receive a prayer, a warning or some information. All that I told you about St. Michael was from himself and all that I said about your Father was from God.
Q. Does everyone in Purgatory know the faults of the others as they will be known at the last judgment?
A. In general we do not know about the faults of one another, except in some rare cases when God has particular designs with regard to certain souls, but it is to few that He acts in this way.
Q. Have you a more perfect knowledge of God than we have?
A. What a question! Of course we know Him far better and love Him far more. Indeed, it is just that which causes our greatest suffering. On earth you simply do not know what God is. There, each one of you has an idea of what you think God is, according to your very limited knowledge, but when we leave our covering of clay and when nothing impedes the liberty of our souls, we at last begin to know God, His goodness, His mercy, His love. After this clearer view and the thirst for union, our souls yearn for God. This is our very life and we are forever repulsed because we are not sufficiently pure. This, in a word, is our worst suffering, the hardest, the most bitter. Oh, if only we were allowed to come back to earth, after knowing what God really is, what a different life we would lead! But what useless regrets, and yet on earth you do not think of these things and live as if you were blind. Eternity is of no account to you. The earth, which is only a journey and receives only the body which in itself turns to dust, is the sole object to which almost all of your desires tend and you do not even think of Heaven while Jesus and His love are entirely forgotten.
Q. Do the souls in Purgatory console each other mutually?
A. In Purgatory our only consolation, our only hope is in God alone. On earth, God sometimes allows us to be consoled in our sufferings of soul or body by the heart of a friend, but then again if the love of Jesus does not fill that heart, the consolations are vain. Here the souls are lost, drowned as it were, in the Divine Will and God alone can soften their pains. Each soul is tormented according to its guilt, but all have one common sorrow that surpasses all the rest, the absence of Jesus who is our very element, our life, our all. And we are separated from Him through our own fault.
After an action you must not waste your time going over it to examine if you have done well or ill. Certainly you must examine your actions each day to be able to do better in the future, but this must not be at the expense of the soul.
God loves simple souls. You must go to Him, therefore, with good will, always ready to sacrifice yourself to please Him. You must act with Jesus as a little child does with its mother, trusting in His goodness and placing all your spiritual and temporal interest with great confidence in His Divine Hands. Having done this, try to please Him in everything without troubling yourself about anything else. God does not regard great acts or heroic deeds as much as He does simple actions or small sacrifices, provided these are done with love for Him.
Sometimes even a tiny sacrifice, which was known only to God and to the soul, may be far more meritorious than a great one that was loudly applauded. One must be very interior in order not to take for oneself any of the praise given one. God seeks souls empty of self so as to fill them with His love. He finds but a few. Self-love leaves no place for Jesus. Do not let any opportunity to mortify self pass by, especially interior mortification. Jesus has many graces to give you during Lent. Therefore, prepare yourself by a redoubling of your fervor, but above all, love Jesus. He is so little loved by the world and so outraged by it. The Blessed Virgin loves you very much. On your part love her with all your heart and do all you can to procure her the greatest possible glory.
You will never be able to understand well enough the goodness of God. If people only took the trouble to think about it sometimes, it would be enough to make them all saints, but they do not sufficiently know the merciful goodness of the Heart of Jesus in the world.
Each one measures it according to his way of thinking and this way is wrong. This is the reason why they pray badly. Yes, very few people pray as Jesus wants them to pray. They are wanting in confidence and yet Jesus only grants our prayers according to the ardor of our desires and the strength of our love. This is why the graces we often ask for remain ineffective. To be happy in religion we should be deaf, dumb and blind. That is to say, we must hear many things that we could repeat but which are far better kept to ourselves. We shall never be sorry for having kept silent. We are obliged to see and hear many things and to act as if we had neither seen nor understood.
Oh, if you only knew how paltry these little nothings are about which some make such a fuss. The devil makes use of these little straws to check the progress of a soul and obstruct all the good that she is called to do. Do not let yourself be caught in these meshes. Have a large heart and pass over all these little miseries without even noticing them. Jesus should be a sufficient attraction for you to prevent your being hindered by anything whatsoever outside of Him. See everything as coming from His bounty, whether He afflicts or consoles you. It is His love that arranges everything for the benefit of His friends. Never allow yourself to be discouraged. In a few hours, or even in the twinkling of an eye, Jesus could bring you to the summit of perfection which He desires for you. But no, He prefers your own efforts and He wants you to see for yourself how hard and rugged is the way to perfection.
People do change and, often at the senior stage of their lives when experience grasps wisdom, the thought of dying brings deeper sobriety. It was such change that have been prodding me to write these series that other folk consider spiritual, but if you ask me, they’re things we ought to know about, as the world of the spirit is where we jump into someday, whether we like it or not, regardless of whether we believe in it. It would be unfortunate, of course, for those who do not believe, or just ignore, because they would likely be indisposed to preparing for their future in that realm.
Priests these days should be convincing people in our mundane times about their being everlasting, that they are to exist beyond the grave but that where they go after this would depend on how they exercised their free will on earth.
Now to go on with our series.
We swerve again from our series on mystic Maria Simma, who I call the seer of ghosts, and backtrack to the Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory, that piece of what Catholic authorities regard as a reliable historic documentation of the conversation between an earthly living nun and the soul of another deceased nun who, landing in Purgatory, communicated information on what happens in the afterlife.
Q. Are you able to receive a prayer or a thought of friends who are dead, and let them know of the remembrance we have of them?
A. Thoughts of earth can be made known here, but there is not much in all that, because I have already told you that the souls in Purgatory know those persons who interest themselves in their behalf on earth. God sometimes allows those on earth to receive a prayer, a warning or some information. All that I told you about St. Michael was from himself and all that I said about your Father was from God.
Q. Does everyone in Purgatory know the faults of the others as they will be known at the last judgment?
A. In general we do not know about the faults of one another, except in some rare cases when God has particular designs with regard to certain souls, but it is to few that He acts in this way.
Q. Have you a more perfect knowledge of God than we have?
A. What a question! Of course we know Him far better and love Him far more. Indeed, it is just that which causes our greatest suffering. On earth you simply do not know what God is. There, each one of you has an idea of what you think God is, according to your very limited knowledge, but when we leave our covering of clay and when nothing impedes the liberty of our souls, we at last begin to know God, His goodness, His mercy, His love. After this clearer view and the thirst for union, our souls yearn for God. This is our very life and we are forever repulsed because we are not sufficiently pure. This, in a word, is our worst suffering, the hardest, the most bitter. Oh, if only we were allowed to come back to earth, after knowing what God really is, what a different life we would lead! But what useless regrets, and yet on earth you do not think of these things and live as if you were blind. Eternity is of no account to you. The earth, which is only a journey and receives only the body which in itself turns to dust, is the sole object to which almost all of your desires tend and you do not even think of Heaven while Jesus and His love are entirely forgotten.
Q. Do the souls in Purgatory console each other mutually?
A. In Purgatory our only consolation, our only hope is in God alone. On earth, God sometimes allows us to be consoled in our sufferings of soul or body by the heart of a friend, but then again if the love of Jesus does not fill that heart, the consolations are vain. Here the souls are lost, drowned as it were, in the Divine Will and God alone can soften their pains. Each soul is tormented according to its guilt, but all have one common sorrow that surpasses all the rest, the absence of Jesus who is our very element, our life, our all. And we are separated from Him through our own fault.
After an action you must not waste your time going over it to examine if you have done well or ill. Certainly you must examine your actions each day to be able to do better in the future, but this must not be at the expense of the soul.
God loves simple souls. You must go to Him, therefore, with good will, always ready to sacrifice yourself to please Him. You must act with Jesus as a little child does with its mother, trusting in His goodness and placing all your spiritual and temporal interest with great confidence in His Divine Hands. Having done this, try to please Him in everything without troubling yourself about anything else. God does not regard great acts or heroic deeds as much as He does simple actions or small sacrifices, provided these are done with love for Him.
Sometimes even a tiny sacrifice, which was known only to God and to the soul, may be far more meritorious than a great one that was loudly applauded. One must be very interior in order not to take for oneself any of the praise given one. God seeks souls empty of self so as to fill them with His love. He finds but a few. Self-love leaves no place for Jesus. Do not let any opportunity to mortify self pass by, especially interior mortification. Jesus has many graces to give you during Lent. Therefore, prepare yourself by a redoubling of your fervor, but above all, love Jesus. He is so little loved by the world and so outraged by it. The Blessed Virgin loves you very much. On your part love her with all your heart and do all you can to procure her the greatest possible glory.
You will never be able to understand well enough the goodness of God. If people only took the trouble to think about it sometimes, it would be enough to make them all saints, but they do not sufficiently know the merciful goodness of the Heart of Jesus in the world.
Each one measures it according to his way of thinking and this way is wrong. This is the reason why they pray badly. Yes, very few people pray as Jesus wants them to pray. They are wanting in confidence and yet Jesus only grants our prayers according to the ardor of our desires and the strength of our love. This is why the graces we often ask for remain ineffective. To be happy in religion we should be deaf, dumb and blind. That is to say, we must hear many things that we could repeat but which are far better kept to ourselves. We shall never be sorry for having kept silent. We are obliged to see and hear many things and to act as if we had neither seen nor understood.
Oh, if you only knew how paltry these little nothings are about which some make such a fuss. The devil makes use of these little straws to check the progress of a soul and obstruct all the good that she is called to do. Do not let yourself be caught in these meshes. Have a large heart and pass over all these little miseries without even noticing them. Jesus should be a sufficient attraction for you to prevent your being hindered by anything whatsoever outside of Him. See everything as coming from His bounty, whether He afflicts or consoles you. It is His love that arranges everything for the benefit of His friends. Never allow yourself to be discouraged. In a few hours, or even in the twinkling of an eye, Jesus could bring you to the summit of perfection which He desires for you. But no, He prefers your own efforts and He wants you to see for yourself how hard and rugged is the way to perfection.
