Hungry Souls: Supernatural Visits, Messages and Warnings from Purgatory

by Gerard J.M. van den Aardweg

After a week of hearing ghostly noises, a man is visited in his home by the spirit of his mother, dead for three decades. She reproaches him for his dissolute life and begs him to have Masses said in her name. Then she lays her hand on his sleeve, leaving an indelible burn mark, and departs...

A Lutheran minister, no believer in Purgatory, is the puzzled recipient of repeated visitations from "demons" who come to him seeking prayer, consolation, and refuge in his little German church. But pity for the poor spirits overcomes the man's skepticism, and he marvels at what kind of departed souls could belong to Christ and yet suffer still...

Hungry Souls recounts these stories and many others trustworthy, Church-verified accounts of earthly visitations from the dead in Purgatory. Accompanying these accounts are images from the "Museum of Purgatory" in Rome, which contains relics of encounters with the Holy Souls, including numerous evidences of hand prints burned into clothing and books; burn marks that cannot be explained by natural means or duplicated by artificial ones. Riveting!

Genres: Catholic, Religion, Nonfiction, Christian, Faith, Paranormal, Theology

186 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2009

About the author

Gerard J. M. van den Aardweg is a Dutch psychologist, and psychotherapist in private practice. He has spoken and written on homosexuality, parapsychology, near-death experience, and anti-abortion matters.

Reviews

[booklady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absorbing read. Helps you see beyond the physical realm of the here and now which is such a challenge for me as I expect it is for most of us. Everything I do, everything that happens to me can be used, has merit depending on my openness to the continuity of life beyond the grave, the fact that when we die, most of us have unfinished business.

Although there are some who endure their 'purgatory' here on earth when they don't run away from long-term illness or suffering, many these days seemingly take the 'easy' way out through euthanasia. The thought crossed my mind as I was reading this book that wise people have always known there are no easy way outs, no short cuts, no free lunches, not in this life anyway. So why should there be any on the road to Heaven? Does it make sense? If God is anything, isn't He a God of Justice? Why would He let some of His children suffer so horribly dying of cancer or some other illness, but dying naturally while others pay to end their own lives, that is, commit cold-blooded suicide just to avoid some pain which they could also pay to have eased through pain killing drugs?

Perhaps those who terminate their own lives aren't going to get off so easy after-all. Perhaps on the other side, they will discover a place where the pain still exists and it is a pain they cannot escape until they have gone through what they were supposed to endure... Just a thought...

[Vivi Crespo · Rating 5 out of 5]

We have to pray for all souls in Purgatory. This book will touch your heart and you will be thinking about the hungry souls that are waiting for a prayer and help that us here on Earth can bring to them. It is a simple prayer made with love and devotion. We take this devotion with love and hope. We give thanks to God in the name of Jesus. If you want to help the souls in Purgatory you can say this prayer. "God we offer you the most precious blood of your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in union with all the masses given today for all the blessed souls in Purgatory. Amen." Jesus gave this prayer to St. Gertrudis. Hope anyone who read this review can say this prayer, thank you.

[Dawno · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first began reading this book, I was disheartened by the fact that there were reports of children aged less than 10 years old doing large time in Purgatory. If a child's sins kept him/her in Purgatory, what chance do I have of ever getting out of there and into heaven, because my age of 5 times, and sins of all my own years would prove that much more purification needed?
But later chapters gave hope of what I could do to help the poor souls, and gave me hope, by proving the power of prayer, fasting, and daily offerings of simple tasks for their relief. I would recommend this book to people of all faiths.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an engrossing read that also serves as a wake-up call.

We become so wrapped up in secular affairs that we frequently allow the spiritual world to be placed in the background. Our soul, God’s love and our cooperation in His love do not occupy enough of our attention. This book brings the spiritual to the forefront.

The person who believes in a loving God will get a sense of how interconnected we all are.

[Frances Sylliboy]

I love a book when I cannot even put down, went everywhere with it. Recommend it to family and friends..Hungry Souls is a very heavy book..brings you to reality....talks of people that passed away and coming back to the living and showing themselves that there is Purgatory, Hell and Heaven....teaches one what to do to help these poor souls..be it family or just people we do not know..speaks of a nun and her deceased dad..her dad coming back begging for prayers and mass because he was severly suffering..the daughter offers up 3 masses and lots of prayers and she eventually sees her dad again in bright light..The dad came back to thank her for her prayers...the daughter dies 6 months later at the tender age of 28..after seeing her dad she longed for the love of God....

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an informative read, but also held my interest. I leave with a desire to assist the holy souls. God's peace be upon them and offer the much consolation. May their entrance into the beatific vision be hastened. I bet the author of this book will get many prayers from grateful souls!

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book definitely gets your attention and makes you think. Reminds you that the souls in purgatory are in need of our prayers.

[Mariah Byrnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read! Pray for the poor souls!

I found it so interesting that from one account, the souls said that they are often present around their living family members and friends for years. Here's what they said:

"They act as if we don't exist anymore. God's justice commands us to be silent. But we stand at the doors of their houses, 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."

[Tina Hertz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absorbing read.
Fascinating book that explains the existence of ghosts, explaining that most are souls asking for prayers. I thought ghosts were evil but not so, most of the time ghosts are not diabolical manifestations at all.
Based on Catholic teaching and Scripture, the book starts with a review of the Church of the Suffrage in Rome which contains a little old museum. These are items relating to Poor Souls who have visited the living to beg for prayers. Some of the items include burned-in images on cloth of hands or fingers as proof from these suffering souls that they indeed exist, were suffering greatly from real fire and needed prayers to satisfy their debt before entering heaven.
The book emphasizes the mercy that the living must perform in praying for the dead, as those in Purgatory cannot pray for themselves. The dead can no longer gain any merit, as we the living still can before our personal judgement. In Scripture we are advised not only to bury the dead, but also to pray for the dead.
The book goes on to describe differences in paranormal activity. Phenomena can be caused by dead souls who are allowed by God to interact with the living, good angels, or sometimes a fallen angel - a demon.
We are never to ask for or seek this kind of material contact, since we can never know who is really on the other side of the veil, as the devil is a liar and can impersonate anyone. However in charity, we must always pray for the good soul who may be asking for prayers. The good appreciate the prayers while an evil spirit rejects holy activity.
Included are descriptions of good people or saints who prayed assiduously for the Poor Souls, and thus were visited by many because of their kind help. In turn these grateful souls interceded with God to get great favors for their living friends.
In one description, a kind prayerful woman characterized the ugly, scary, grotesque, groaning appearances as those who were in the deepest Purgatory and had many sins - they had barely escaped the permanence of Hell in spite of a very bad life, and had much reparation to make. As this woman offered rosaries, novenas and had Masses said for the soul, this disfigurement would slowly transform into beauty, and the grateful person would be able speak and thank the woman.

I recommend this book for anyone scared of the dark, afraid of ghosts, those who don't believe in ghosts, and anyone who mourns the death of loved ones.

[Bernadette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was stunning. Despite being Catholic and having Purgatory as a part of my theology, I never really was able to reflect on what it was, what it would be like, or how entwined it is with the living world. I didn't even know there was a whole chapel dedicated to preserving evidence of the apparitions of souls in Purgatory; heck, I didn't even know souls in Purgatory appeared to people! This book was easy to read, spiritually powerful with every page, and full of well-sourced stories. It gave me a whole different view of Purgatory, a view that is much more hopeful and at peace if I end up there, as well as helped to strengthened my resolve to not want to go there at all. Aardweg convincingly reveals the need to pray for the souls in Purgatory and the stories he relates help to show the desperation the souls have in wanting to be free from Purgatory and united with God. I feel much more connected to my departed brothers and sisters from reading this book.

The stories which explained the apparitions acting like Hollywood ghosts was a little unnerving, but it made me recognize that people don't get these ideas for dramatizations from nowhere. There were times after I had read a chapter that I would lay down to sleep and find myself spooked! Ultimately it made me say a prayer for the souls in Purgatory and reassure them that I was praying and therefore there was no need to appear to me. I suppose that was the point.

[Ari's library · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 🌟

It was very interesting and filled with historical testimonies of pious faithfuls visited by suffering souls. I would not recommend it for the more scrupulous but, other than that, it is informative and does remind the reader that we prepare our eternity with each choice and action. It would be a perfect book for the hallowtide !

[A. Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book, and it included many anecdotes of conversations with poor souls which were very enlightening. I learned a lot about how to pray for them and all the ways to help them, some of which I knew a little already. This was a great comprehensive guide and also very moving.

[Stephanie Guillot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very insightful book. Urges one to always remember to pray for the souls who have died.

[Jeff Koloze · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you know a dead person, then you should read this book.

Now that I have your attention…

Seriously, though, Aardweg’s book is not simply an illustration of the merits of praying for the dead (a feature of Judaism and Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, long abandoned by our Protestant brothers and sisters). It is, in contrast, an interesting summary of the theology behind Purgatory and the benefits of praying for those who have died.

Besides theology, the reader can accommodate the 134 easy-to-read pages in about two days, accounting for DuckDuckGo searches to locate more information about the persons who have seen or been touched by the dead.

That Aardweg was able to generate 134 pages of text (and 20 pages of endnotes and a bibliography) based on only ten artifacts held in the Piccolo Museo del Purgatorio (the Little Museum of Purgatory) in Rome testifies to his ability to incorporate accounts of the various seers to substantiate his thesis.

Despite the praise it deserves for bringing to the attention of twenty-first moderns the instances of souls from Purgatory reaching out to living persons, the book has definite flaws, some minor and one major. Some sentences are not as mellifluous in English as they could be; perhaps these matters of diction can be attributed to translation deficiencies. The major flaw is, as is typical with many books published by TAN, the lack of an index. (What is it with that company that it produces books with no indices? Doesn’t the company know that faculty and students may want not only to read its productions, but also to use them for research?)

Despite these flaws, since Amazon collaborates with cancel culture zealots and bans conservative and pro-life material, purchase this book from TAN Publishers directly. At $5, the book is a steal: https://tanbooks.com/products/books/a....

Quotable quotes:

“The prevailing cheap optimism holds that […] the life of practically everybody automatically ends up in a state of bliss” (x).

“Purgatory (to say nothing of Hell), penance, expiation, God's holy justice: these do not fit in with today's cheerfully cheap religiosity” (x).

“Yet on balance, the place or state of purification, of God's fathomless justice, is at the same time a place or state of God's mercy, of hope, inner peace, and joy” (xxi).

“Typically, ghosts, i.e., souls from purgatory, seem to wait humbly until their host questions them” (7).

“Some apparitions that present themselves as souls of the dead may indeed turn out to be demons in disguise, seeking to deceive the credulous” (17).

“Souls from Purgatory and Hell have one decisive point in common: they cannot be conjured up at will” (17).

“Reports of poor souls dwelling in churches are not exceptional; these souls seem to get more ‘rest’ in holy places and places of prayer than somewhere else” (22).

“The widespread age-old belief in reincarnation or migration of the souls (into newborns or even animals) was perhaps a degeneration of an originally more correct insight; at any rate, it contained the wisdom of the necessity of some purification after death” (29).

“Offering sacrifices for the dead is an extremely old and almost universal custom that at least hints at some awareness of Purgatory, and praying for the dead is so spontaneous and human a reaction that one can hardly believe that this habit originated only a few hundred years before Christ” (30).

“The notion of Purgatory and the belief that the living can come to the aid of the suffering souls there are anything but medieval inventions. Affirmations of the ancient Church Fathers show that the apostles themselves professed them” (33).

“It is furthermore remarkable that reports of apparitions of souls from Purgatory are highly consistent in the course of the centuries and vary but little from one historical period to another” (35).

“Terrestrial bonds of love continue after death” (36).

“The fire of Purgatory, which comprises the sufferings of the ‘pain of loss’ and the ‘pain of sense,’ is the fire of the love of God enkindled in the soul right after death” (40).

“Demons appear as repulsive creatures; if they disguise themselves as human persons, there is usually some abhorrent quality of shape or manners that puts the seer on his guard” (77).

“These apparitions clearly prove that it is the individual person and not some depersonalized, anonymous ‘soul matter’ that survives bodily death” (78; italics in original).

“It is not unusual for animals to perceive something physical, too: dogs may become scared, and cattle or chickens become restless” (78).

“The perception of a spirit cannot be reduced to a merely mental event, something internal in the seer; it is a manifestation outside of him. He can see the door opening or a strange light that makes the objects in the dark room visible; objects (such as a light-switch on the wall) cannot be perceived anymore during the time the phantom stands before it, but as soon as it is gone, the object is normally visible again” (78).

The Bavarian mystic Sister Maria Anna Lindmayr writes, “I have always been given to understand that: how you sin, so you must do penance” (79).

“It cannot escape us that the seers of souls from Purgatory are often reported to be especially good and pious persons” (80).

Regarding why more women than men are the seers of poor souls, “it might be explained by the motherly, caring, and more compassionate nature of the woman” (81).

The seer Eugenie von der Leyen recounts how the poor soul Old Heinz “threw himself upon me and strangled me so firmly by my neck that I thought I would suffocate. It didn't last more than a second, to be sure, but it was horrible and totally upset me” (95).

The Bohemian widow who saw the dead, called “Ruth”, is told that the poor souls of deceased family members “stand at the door of their houses, of our former dwellings, and wait” (121).

The deceased father of a nun reports to her “that St Joseph was present at his judgment, that he had since repeatedly visited Purgatory in company of the Blessed Virgin to console him, and that he often saw his guardian angel, who came to comfort him” (132).

Chapter 5, endnote 1: “Apparitions of the dead are reported in most, if not all, pagan cultures before Christianity. In the light of the fact that some poor souls in recent apparitions manifest animal features, to express the vices they must atone for […], one may wonder if such apparitions didn't occur in ancient times as well, giving rise to the confused idea that some souls come back (reincarnate) in animals” (140).

Chapter 11, endnote 9: “Look at the dehumanized figures of several poor souls who came to Eugenie von der Leyen. An exceptionally stark example was the soul that manifested itself as a snake” (145).

Chapter 13, endnote 4: “Some souls do not or cannot speak before reaching some minimal stage of purification, and when they speak, it is usually telegram-style, their answers being no more than a few key words that are all the more emotional and impressive” (147).

Chapter 13, endnote 26: “It may well be that demonic influences play a role in many cases of compulsive and obsessive needs and drives (which need not be precisely possessions proper, but rather partial possessions, or demonic obsessions and oppressions)” (148).

Chapter 17, endnote 5: “Family bonds of love and of responsibility reach over the grave” (150).

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

You think you have read everything of interest on religion or the paranormal? You haven't!

Hungry Souls - Supernatural Visits, Messages, and Warnings from Purgatory

"General Description:

After a week of hearing ghostly noises, a man is visited in his home by the spirit of his mother, dead for three decades. She reproaches him for his dissolute life and begs him to have Masses said in her name. Then she lays her hand on his sleeve, leaving an indelible burn mark, and departs...

A Lutheran minister, no believer in Purgatory, is the puzzled recipient of repeated visitations from "demons" who come to him seeking prayer, consolation, and refuge in his little German church. But pity for the poor spirits overcomes the man's skepticism, and he marvels at what kind of departed souls could belong to Christ and yet suffer still...

Hungry Souls recounts these stories and many others trustworthy, Church-verified accounts of earthly visitations from the dead in Purgatory. Accompanying these accounts are images from the "Museum of Purgatory" in Rome, which contains relics of encounters with the Holy Souls, including numerous evidences of hand prints burned into clothing and books; burn marks that cannot be explained by natural means or duplicated by artificial ones. Riveting!"

Riveting, indeed!

[StBenedictPressTAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Trailer: "Hungry Souls":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjn3uB...

Our Channel (StBenedictPressTAN):
http://www.youtube.com/StBenedictPres...

There is a new video for everyone in preparation for All Souls' Day! This video is for Hungry Souls, one of TAN's best-selling titles, and a book spoken about before for its incredible ability to fascinate, comfort and heal those who have lost loved ones. Please Like, Comment on, and Share this video with those who may find it useful (status messages are perfect!), and remember to pray for all the souls who are patiently suffering in wait for the ultimate kingdom. Hungry Souls can help us to imagine the incredible ordeal that they (and we) must endure.

[Jane Lebak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my Good Friday reading. I've read several books on Purgatory, and I'm approaching it from that angle. Hungry Souls is different in focus in that it deals less with the theology of Purgatory and visions of the saints while focusing on evidence. This evidence takes the form of physical objects changed by souls allowed to visit the Earth (hand prints, burn marks, etc) and testimony from both saints and non-canonized laity in the past 150 years.

Overall I think this is a pretty good addition to the library, and a good introduction to Purgatory for someone who hasn't really looked into it before.

[Hilda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very eye opening to say the least. Being raised a Catholic I have always believed in Purgatory and Hell, but to hear the accounts of these people who have been visited by their deceased relatives and friends only confirmed that for me.

After reading this book one must really ponder the health of their soul and pray that they have done enough penance to rid their souls of the stain of these sins. Very compelling read.

[Stacy Jens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This will give a reality check if you are a believer of Christ from any religion. Serious matter written in per episode kind of format. If you do not believe then smove on right past it! I loved that what I wanted to ask after reading a section, was eventually answered. It did however, feel like a super short read. Jesus bless all the forgotten souls in purgatory and give them reprieve from their suffering by virtue of Your sorrowful passion! Amen.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great little read. It explored and explained the concept of purgatory based on the reports of men and women who have had contact with the souls in torment and examined the physical evidences left behind from these visits. I expected to be frightened but was instead comforted by these stories - there might be hope for me yet!

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yikes. I had to summon a lot of courage before even starting to read this…the pictures were so scary. But I have now become so much more empathetic with the Holy Souls and feel a tender friendship for them. This book, though not for everyone, had helped me to pray with compassion for the Holy Souls, among whom I expect to abide someday in my journey to God.

[Patrick Alog]

Probably the best book I've ever read about Purgatory! Yes, purgatory is not hell, but makes you think that purgatory is not a place you want be in nonetheless. It talks about the experiences that people had when meeting souls in purgatory.

[Joe Vigliotta]

Its slow moving

[Anne Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A disturbing, interesting, eye-opening book.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful reminder to pray for those who have passed away.

[Mary Ruebelmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great history of encounters with those on the other side and the Catholic understanding of these encounters . . . and how to deal with them.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you don't believe in ghosts, you should! They need us to not only believe in them, but remember them. We need to remember to pray FOR our departed. Great read, and answered questions I had.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book about purgatory and visions of people who are there. Opened my eyes to what purgatory is and why it exists.

[Mary Mimouna · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Unusual and Interesting Book, Worth a Read for Many Types of People

This book was not quite what I was expecting, but it still turned out to be excellent and very well-written. I ordered this book because I've been extremely interested in near-death experiences for many years, and have read many books on the subject. I would not say the book is mis-described on Amazon, but as it turns out, the book contains only a little bit on near-death experiences and visions.

The author is a Dutch psychotherapist, born in 1936, who is both conservative and very traditionally old-Catholic in his interests and life approach. This book is a good read even for non-Catholics and non-religious people, for reasons I will explain below (and the reasons are nothing to do with converting people to Catholicism, but with understanding certain behavior of some groups of people in this life).

This book is about Purgatory, and messages from Purgatory which have been received and documented by the Catholic church. It's a really nice volume on extremely high-quality paper with color photographs of official church relics which are preserved, all having to do with Purgatory. Many of these relics are from the 1800s. They are currently housed in the 'Museo del Purgatorio' (Museum of Purgatory), at the Vatican, in Rome. The book concentrates on spiritual visitations which are all investigated, accepted, and documented by the Catholic church, to Catholics. The book is very well-written with extensive notes on every chapter, and a bibliography at the end.

I was born as a nominal Christian in a traditional Protestant denomination, but was not schooled in Christianity growing up. I feel I am a spiritual person, but not really a practicing Christian. I had heard of Purgatory, but knew nothing about it before reading this book. It seems to be a doctrine of the Catholic Church, but rejected by most Protestant Churches (except Methodist and Lutheran). I supplemented my reading by looking up Purgatory and reading a few online articles about it. For those who do not know what it is, it is an intermediate place where "saved" souls go to purify themselves and cleanse themselves from all earthly sins before entering heaven. According to what I read in this book, it is not God who casts souls into Purgatory, but the souls themselves, who appearing before God feel ashamed and unclean with the sin in their souls; therefore, they cast themselves into Purgatory for months or years to cleanse themselves before returning to the gates of Heaven. The gates of Heaven are not locked, but are wide open. Yet, they dare not enter while still in an unclean state. Those who reject God, according to what I read, go neither to Heaven, nor Purgatory, but to Hell. The method of cleansing in Purgatory is a burning fire (like the fires of Hell), and this is why the preserved relics are all things like burned hand hand prints or fingerprints, on fabric, on walls, on prayer books, etc. The "rust of sin" has to be "burned away."

The main message communicated from the souls in Purgatory, according to this book, is that LIVING PEOPLE need to PAY ATTENTION to HOW they are sinning, and how they are living each and every day. THEY NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT WHILE THEY ARE STILL ALIVE, in trying to stop sinning, and to become a better person, and to atone for the sins which they have committed. To do so will greatly shorten their future time in Purgatory. EVERYTHING THAT WE DO AND SAY AND THINK in our lives DOES MATTER. Some of the souls suffering in Purgatory have communicated that examples of what they are there for are things like failing to practice temperance in food and drink, smoking or drugs; for failures to behave charitably, or kindly; a priest performing masses while motivated for getting extra money, rather than for spiritual reasons; for ridiculing religion; for being self-centered; the many hidden flaws stemming from the soul's 'lower self' in all of us.

By reading this book, I learned all about Purgatory, as well as the mindset paradigm in which Catholic people were living up through the 1950s. One of the author's points in writing this book (he's now 83) is that young people are no longer being taught about Purgatory, and that they SHOULD be; that the Church needs to start teaching people about it AGAIN. To not do so is a grave disservice, according to the author. Also, the doctrine of Purgatory was reaffirmed by both Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope John Paul II; it has MOST DEFINITELY NOT BEEN DROPPED (as many modern or young Catholics apparently seem to think).

One of the useful things I learned in this book, as a non-Catholic, and as a non-practicing nominal Christian, is about a cultural phenomenon many people are asking about today. Lately, every time there is some kind of terrorist massacre with guns or bombs, you see so many people commenting online about offering their "thoughts and prayers." Lately, at least in the United States, there has been somewhat of a backlash against this, with people being angry about those who offer "thoughts and prayers," as in "how USELESS is THAT?!?" Through reading this book, I learned all about the Catholic belief that ALL souls in Purgatory (who are ALL the souls who believe in God, and who will eventually go to Heaven; all of whom will need to be in Purgatory for months or years before getting into Heaven) CAN ONLY BE HELPED BY THE LIVING WHO ARE WILLING TO PRAY FOR THEM. According to what I read, Catholic Doctrine says that because the souls in Purgatory no longer have a body, they are not able to take any actions to undo their sin. But because people on the Earth still have bodies, THEIR ACTIONS CAN HAVE AN EFFECT. Thus, THIS IS THE REASON for the "Requiem Masses for the Dead" in the Catholic Church. Those in Purgatory--our parents, relatives, and friends--can be helped to get out sooner by our constant prayers for them, by our own performing of good deeds on Earth, etc. (I'm not an expert to give more examples, but more examples are given in the book.) So my own personal conclusion is that I think what is happening when people offer "thoughts and prayers" is that this is part of an older tradition of offering prayers for the dead (those killed in the shooting or bombing) who are all assumed to be in Purgatory, in order to HELP THEM THROUGH AND REDUCE THEIR SUFFERING TIME IN PURGATORY--except that people today no longer know WHY that is the traditional thing to offer. As far as having Masses said for dead relatives or people killed in disasters, I presume the reason this is supposed to be helpful is because of the great NUMBERS of people in the Church praying for the souls of those people, even if they are strangers, that all of this praying helps them. In one case offered in the book, one dead soul appeared and asked that Masses be held for her. After two Requiem Masses were held, the dead person appeared again to tell the living person that this had been enough to get them out of Purgatory, and they were now moving on to Heaven. Before reading this book, I'd heard the term Requiem Mass, but had no idea what it meant, or what it's significance was supposed to be. So back to modern disasters, people offer "thoughts" when they aren't religious, and "prayers" if they are religious, but more as a way of trying to express condolences. Apparently what they should also be doing is also OFFERING REAL PRAYERS for those people. Here is an example, given in the book, of a few phrases from a Requiem Prayer: "...thus discharge, in that life hereafter, by mercy, the consequences of their trespasses, and call them to the crown of the ...immortality...of the accomplished virtue in the heavenly kingdom..." and "grant the souls of the defunct the eternal rest..." and "eternal Light to enlighten them."

I also learned in my supplementary reading that Islam believes in a Purgatory-like state, called Barzakh--although like in Catholicism, it isn't talked about too much today in Islam. Modern Islam, according to my reading, also focuses on a person's life and on the Day of Judgement. In Buddhism, the Purgatory-like state or place is called the Bardo Realm.

I think this book is a very worthwhile read for ALL Catholics. For non-Catholics, it is an interesting and thoughtful read for anyone interested either in religions, in spirituality (many more topics are discussed in the book than I have space to mention here), and for anyone seeking to understand what other groups of humans believe. I found it especially interesting as the origin of the "thoughts and prayers" behavior after terrorist attacks or disasters became clear to me.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

I think I've watched and read things about Purgatory before. And I ordered this book a year ago because I read excerpts. I knew that it's not all peachy, which is why many denominations refuse to believe it exists. Purgatory just sounds too painful, too frightening, to believe in for those of us who believe in a merciful, all-loving God. And Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sins, right? Why should death for a believer potentially bring us to pain instead of bliss?

There are all sorts of questions we juggle with and struggle with when it comes to the mystery of what comes after. And if we're honest with ourselves, we know we often water down our faults because if we told it like it is, we wouldn't sound like very good people. But I think when we do that, we also water down Jesus. After all, our sins are so great, justice for them demanded His death. Are we supposed to get out of this imperfectly-lived life scot-free?

That brings us to the question this book shows is contemplated by the soul of the deceased: If we were to know we had failed by our own free will to live up to Christ's command to be perfect just as the Father is perfect, would we still think we deserved heaven according to true justice? We'd see just how often in life we chose not to embrace the mercy of the Cross, and know that we were not yet (yet is the key word) perfect for heaven. Would love for God and His will cause us to sink to Purgatory for the purging we knew we are need of?

One quote in this book that struck me was of the priest who collected and made the museum for Purgatory artifacts. Fr. Jouet said, "...the teachings on Purgatory are at the same time so grave and so consoling." Purgatory is a state that is dichotomous in that way - as I read, I feared but I was also relieved. It's the stage of life after death that exists because of both mercy and justice. And if we are to believe His words to St. Faustina, "My Mercy does not want this, but justice demands it," then we know that justice demands that anything sinful cannot enter heaven, but mercy has the power to burn away sin and attachments to it out of love. We could not enter heaven as a house - a temple - divided.

The last thing I want to touch on is how important it is for us to believe in Purgatory not only for our own sakes but for those who have gone before us. The museum talked about in this book exists because it's a sign of souls there crying out for our mercy. Making sacrifices for their sake helps soothe and hasten the time they spend in purification after death. When we decide not to believe in this state between life on earth and life in heaven, we are forgetting our loved ones. These souls are forced to reach out to perfect strangers at times because their own family blinds themselves to their state of pain. It is more painful for the soul for his or her family to believe s/he's automatically in heaven than it is for us to believe in Purgatory. Even if we won't be able to see them, we can still offer acts, prayers, Masses, embarrassments, sufferings, etc. for them. Even if Purgatory weren't real, wouldn't we be blessed in praying for the good of their souls?

Anyway, highly recommend reading!