Saint Faustina’s Visions of Purgatory
In 1925, as a postulant, Sr. Faustina fell ill and while recuperating in Skolimow she asked Our Divine Lord who else she should be praying for. His reply was that on the following night He would let her know for whom she should be praying. She writes in her diary:
“[The next night] I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames, which were burning them, did not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory. The souls call Her “The Star of the Sea”. She brings them refreshment. I wanted to talk with them some more, but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave. We went out of that prison of suffering. [I heard an interior voice which said] ‘My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it. Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls.’” (Diary, 20)
Is it not significant that this vision of Purgatory was experienced so early in Saint Faustina’s ‘mystical journey with Christ’? Jesus called Saint Faustina His ‘Apostle of My Mercy’, and yet one of her earliest visions should be that of Purgatory. And so there is a link with the Divine Mercy prayers and with Purgatory.
Divine Mercy Prayers for Conversion of Sinners
Saint Faustina writes:
"The Lord said to me, The loss of each soul plunges Me into mortal sadness. You always console Me when you pray for sinners. The prayer most pleasing to Me is prayer for the conversion of sinners. Know, My daughter, that this prayer is always heard and answered." (Diary, 1397)
People who pray for the souls in Purgatory do so for their brothers and sisters in the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church Suffering. We need to be always conscious of our brothers and sisters in the Church Militant too – those of us here on earth.
There's a huge link between praying for the Holy Souls and praying for God's Divine Mercy. When we pray for the Holy Souls we pray them out of Purgatory and into Heaven. When we pray for God's Divine Mercy on sinners we pray for conversion of hearts thus praying souls into Purgatory and away from the gates of hell! Then we can pray them out of Purgatory and into Heaven!
Hardened sinners need the Grace of God to be able to change their hearts. God will never impose His will on anyone but all He needs is the smallest inkling of remorse to open the floodgates of His Mercy. We can provide that tiny inkling through our prayers for conversion of sinners, even at the point of death.
Our Divine Lord promised that the Divine Mercy Chaplet offered up for anyone on their death-bed who is in great need of God's Mercy will be saved. Imagine it, by just taking about 10 minutes a day to recite the Chaplet we can save souls from hell.
He also gave Saint Faustina a lovely short prayer to be recited at three o'clock, as He said Himself - 'the time of My greatest Mercy' - His death upon the cross. Jesus said to her:
“I desire that you know more profoundly the love that burns in My Heart for souls, and you will understand this when you meditate upon my Passion. Call upon My Mercy on behalf of sinners; I desire their salvation. When you say this prayer with a contrite heart, and with faith on behalf of some sinner, I will give him the grace of conversion. This is the prayer:
‘O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a Fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You’”
We all have prayers of intercession, asking God for conversions – for our children, spouse, friends, neighbours, work colleagues etc. The most important focus for our prayers is that we, and our own, will get to Heaven, worldly needs take second place
But there is a larger group of people, too, who needs prayers for conversion – sinners the world over, government leaders who defy the laws of God; decision-makers whose decisions affect the most vulnerable - the poor and the weakest citizens of the world; those in international organisations whose policies adversely affect the poor, the weak the vulnerable and the elderly; those in the world of finance whose economic policies leave devastation in its wake; those in corporate business whose sole purpose is to use people as production units forgetting their dignity as human beings; those in the world of armaments supplies who sell to both sides of conflicts; those in the commercial world whose only purpose is to increase profits at huge human cost; those whose life's work is to destroy God's creatures’ those who justify the destruction of life by 'finding cures', - the list is endless.
While on this earth we will never know the benefits of our prayers, both for conversions and for the Holy Souls. That joy awaits us when we reach Heaven. And not one of our prayers is ever wasted on ‘lost causes’, our Merciful God re-directs them to where they are most needed.
11 comments:
"We all have prayers of intercession, asking God for conversions – for our children, spouse, friends, neighbors, work colleagues etc. The most important focus for our prayers is that we, and our own, will get to Heaven, worldly needs take second place."
This struck me as very profound! Salvation first, all else is less important. Thank you! Cathy
I suppose most of us tend to think short-term, and nearly all our concerns are in the here and now - and yet eternity waits everyone- and we know not when.
So many saints and mystics have had visions and visitations etc; and attach much importance to the
conversion of sinners, the mercy of God and Purgatory itself.
All this emphasis, repeated down the centuries drives the message home to those who have ears to hear.
Thanks, Cathy.
Thank you for posting this. You have reminded me that her writings are sitting on my bookshelf, waiting for me to decide that I am no longer too busy
Timothy, it's good to hear from you!
The St Faustina diary link at the end of the post brings up a single entry on a reloadable page - so each time the page is refreshed a new entry comes up.
It's just amazing to read of the intimacy of her relationship with God, and the absolute trust she placed in her spiritual director, also now a saint.
Thank you for this post, Ann. On Tuesday next week some of our homeschooling moms will gather at the house of one HS mom who has cancer. We will pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet that day with some scripture passages. Her name is Kathy. Please inlcude her in your prayers. I thank you, Ann.
Blood of Jesus, cleanse her heart and heal her. Amen.
Easter, I'll pray for Kathy today. I've started to recite the chaplet daily - it takes such little effort on our part to help bring about something so wonderfully compassionate as Divine Mercy.
At the Holy Souls Crusade page, V, I read of the huge list of indulgences, and realized that I've been totally underestimating an enormous gift and underpinning of the whole Faith: Between those indulgences and now, the Divine Mercy Chaplet/Novena, and Abbot Joseph's "Save-a-Soul" and now, his "mop-up ministry" it really is not mandatory for us or our loved ones or (other) sinners living now, to be helplessly purged in justice only beyond this life. Certainly these prayers all, in a manner of speaking, spring from the Gospels. The only analogy that comes to mind is that the Gospels are Jesus' Head, the Beatitudes are His Heart, and these prayers are His Legs walking among us. These prayers are His emissary into Purgatory as well.
This is one reason I cannot abide Traditionalists anymore, for I've seen these alleged Catholics besmirch or downplay the significance of even the Divine Mercy, and also, when they tear apart our Holy Father(s), they ruin one of the only three constants of indulgences: Holy Confession, Holy Communion, and praying for the Holy Father. For God's sake, we've known to be loyal to Rome since we were children, but it's myself I'm indicting today -- other than praying the 3 o'clock prayer for years (at 3 a.m., too) for the Holy Souls, and asking in that holy hour for the conversion of vile sinners (even more vile than I), surely the living and suffering have had the lion's share of my prayers, and I must rearrange things inwardly now, because the hard hearts here and the souls in Purgatory are in just as great need.
Thank you for all the insightful (and poetic) reminders, here in the month of remembrances.
Carol, My concern for Holy Souls started with a recurring dream, that led to a poem, that led to my reading about purgatory and the writings( some) of St Gertrude and St Faustina and St Nicholas of Toledo and St Alphonsus.
The good news is that the dream has never come back leading me to believe that one more soul is enjoying the beatific vision.
And it is our gifted role in all of this that has really hit home - the fact that we can pray for others beyond this life and God can put that prayer to such good use as to bring about their release from Purgatory - something they themselves cannot do.
Abbot Joseph's Save a Soul and Mop-up Ministry are sure to do great good - knowing our living loved ones are being prayed for day in, day out, by monks whose lives are dedicated to prayer is reassuring to say the least.
Oh, those souls which long for God, how painful it must be. Let us always keep them in our hearts. May they be sustained during their purification until they may take part of the beatific vision.
Amen. Thanks, Lisa.
Thank you, dear Ann, for your prayers. The Lord has heard them already.
God bless you abundantly for all you.
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