“What is most distressing in Purgatory is having had all the means to save oneself at one’s disposal and not having known how to take advantage of them.”
Newsroom (11/02/2023 09:42, Gaudium Press): The Church teaches that “those who die in God’s grace and friendship, but are not entirely purified, although assured of their eternal salvation, suffer a purification after death in order to obtain the necessary holiness to enter the joy of Heaven. The Church calls this final purification of the elect ‘Purgatory,’ which is absolutely distinct from the punishment of the damned.”
In these distressing moments, it is natural for the souls to seek compassion, turning to the living who can intercede for them. Indeed, God is pleased with mediations.
Flipping through the history of the heroes of Israel, we read that after the victorious assault on Gorgias’ army, Judas Maccabeus and his companions returned to the battlefield to collect the bodies of those who had fallen, to give them a proper burial. However, under their tunics, they found amulets consecrated to the idols of Jamnia, indicating the supernatural reason for their demise. Judas, in addition to exhorting the crowd about the seriousness of sin, had a sacrifice offered for the sins of his deceased brethren.
“What a beautiful and holy way to act, resulting from his belief in the resurrection! For if he did not believe that the dead would rise again, it would have been pointless and superfluous to pray for them. But if he believed that a beautiful reward awaits those who die piously, then this was a good and religious thought,” comments the sacred author (2 Maccabees 12:43-46).
The Divine Master Himself teaches us that some sins are forgiven in this world and others in the world to come, saying: “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:32).
Also, St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, warns that the fire will test the quality of each person’s work because, on the foundation that is Christ, everyone builds with different materials, some with gold and silver, others with straw and hay: “If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Corinthians 3:14-15).
This is why from its earliest days, the Church commemorates the memory of the faithful departed, recommending suffrage for them, especially in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, so that they may be freed from their sins. On certain occasions, the souls themselves, by divine permission, seek help from people in an extraordinary way to alleviate their suffering. This is what happened with Eugenia von der Leyen: God invested her with a mission of mercy to suffer in a very unique way for the souls.
“Why do the souls come to me?” This was the great dilemma of the visionary and, consequently, the question she always asked them. When they could answer her, they invariably said that their souls were drawn to her, and by God’s permission, the path to her was clear. There was no remedy but to accompany them in their always agonizing sufferings.
Among the accounts of the apparitions, we find lines dedicated to expressing various states of the soul: desires for greater perfection, weaknesses, and enormous fatigue, interspersed with profound graces that made her experience the divine presence in her soul; they were drops of dew to refresh and console her in the midst of suffering.
How can the souls suffer? By God’s clear disposition and will, many souls appeared with animal-like forms, signifying the sins they had committed. A large monkey, for example, caused her great suffering in the last months of 1925. Its repulsive appearance was horrifying, and enduring it was almost impossible. Its wet and dirty skin had purulent sores from which worms devoured it. It was truly the symbol of the passions and sins of lust that this soul still needed to purge.
Another soul, named Catherine, appeared with a swollen, deformed, and repulsive mouth, causing true disgust. After a few weeks, she confessed, “I always caused division among people.” This is the price to pay when the senses turn to worldly things to promote evil. The Church calls this purification the penalty of the senses, in which a real but mysterious fire punishes the spirit for having subjected itself to the disorders of the flesh.
On another occasion, when Eugenia asked a soul about the nature of its suffering, it approached and, before the princess could prevent it, touched her hand, causing her to scream in pain and leaving a red burn mark.
However, this is not the greatest suffering of a soul in Purgatory. There is something incomparably more painful: to be prevented from contemplating the Creator, and this purifies the soul in the depths of its loving relationship with Him.
While the penalty of the senses refines the soul for turning to creatures, the penalty of loss punishes the person for having turned away from the Lord. Divine rejection, the feeling of abandonment, and the fervent desire to see God’s face consume the souls in indescribable and inconceivable pain. “The devouring longing to see it [the Divine majesty] is our torment,” another soul confessed to her with groans.
The relief of the souls in Purgatory
What they invariably asked of her was much mortification of the will and the senses, along with forgetting herself and being generous. She sought to unite herself with Christ, completing in her flesh what was lacking in the sufferings of the Redeemer (cf. Colossians 1:24). She even flagellated herself when they asked her to and endured sleepless nights in a true martyrdom.
The Eucharistic Banquet was undoubtedly the greatest source of comfort for the souls, especially for those who had shown sincere and profound devotion to the Holy Mass during their lives. “The current of the Sacrifice flows ceaselessly. It is the salvation of those who have believed in it,” one of them explained. However, those with minimal Eucharistic devotion did not benefit as much: “Not all receive the fruits; God is just.”
Holy water was both a consolation for the souls and protection for Eugenia. It relieved their sufferings and satisfied the demands of some who threatened to harm her. Interestingly, despite being spirits, the princess saw no drops of holy water on the ground after she sprinkled her visitors.
The souls in Purgatory suffer terribly, but they have a great advantage over us: the assured hope of Heaven. Therefore, the commemoration of the Faithful Departed is a joyful occasion that the Church provides for us to alleviate the suffering of those in Purgatory. But it also carries a lesson for our spiritual benefit: we have a responsibility, and if we do not act as we should, we may hear this terrible sentence from the Divine Judge: “You are not prepared!”
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj
