The commerce between the natural and supernatural worlds is very beneficial: on the one hand, it facilitates the suffrage of the suffering soul if we intercede for it; on the other hand, it stimulates in us the practice of the sacramental life and piety, the reason for our own salvation.
Newsroom (22/06/2023 10:47, Gaudium Press) When one commits a sin, one offends not only God but also the order He placed in the universe. Thus, sin has a double consequence: first, when it is a grave sin, it deprives us of eternal life and communion with God – its consequence is the “eternal penalty”; second, even if it is a venial sin or a mortal sin already confessed, it generates a “temporal penalty”, because every sin causes a disruption in the order of creation, which requires purification, either here on earth,[1] or, after death, in Purgatory (cf. CCC, n. 1472).
By this, we see that even the souls of those who depart this life without being in mortal sin, but who have not completely satisfied the accumulated temporal penalty, spend a period, greater or lesser, of purification in the flames of purgatory.
Who to ask for help?
The custom of praying for souls goes back to the early Church and continues until our days, as a result of this concern for the deceased. It is through faith in the communion of saints, – as we affirm in our Creed – that we are able to help souls who are in eternity, by means of prayers, intentions, penances, or indulgences, and that it is possible to lessen their pain, and anticipate their arrival in Heaven.
Therefore, as there is among us, the living, the initiative to pray for the faithful departed, there is also on their part the interest to ask us for help, so that they may see themselves as soon as possible in beatitude.
For this reason, God allows some souls from purgatory to visit us. And the cases of these apparitions, often confused with “ghosts” or something similar, are not rare…
In reality, according to reliable testimonies, such spirits can make themselves felt, manifesting not the qualities they had on this earth, but, on the contrary, the vices that characterized them, which is why they need to be purged.
As Princess Eugenie von der Leyen, for example, tells us in her book “Talking with the Souls in Purgatory”, some of these souls appeared to her almost daily in the most diverse and sometimes frightening forms between the years 1921 and 1929.
For certain people chosen by Providence, the “veil” that separates the natural world from the supernatural, in these cases, is as it were removed, for the benefit of the souls in Purgatory, “anxious” for a suffrage. To those who receive this gift, called “private revelation” by the Church,[2] there is a special trade between the Church militant and the Church suffering.
From the account of Princess Eugenia von der Leyen, one can see how she possessed a special God-given mission to help suffering souls, whose apparitions often appeared to her in the forms of grotesque animals.
In her diary, we read:
“February 19[3]-In the center of the fire an indefinable dark mass has just formed, out of which comes a fearful roar. The flames do not spread heat. The initial storm has weakened. I spent a lot of holy water.
“February 21 – And the worst thing that could happen to me happened. That dark mass is a snake. The next thing I knew, I was like paralyzed with dread. I have an unspeakable fear because a simple blind snake makes me tremble with fear. This snake looks huge to me, maybe three meters long. […] For now, the snake is quiet.
“March 3 – During the night the worst happened: it passed through the ceiling and went down, down, down and closer… I don’t know anymore, because I was struck by dread and lost my senses.
“March 5 – Suddenly I saw, in a pale hand, a wedding ring like those nuns usually wear. […] I asked, ‘Are you that snake?’ – ‘I am. – ‘And who are you?’ – ‘You knew me and despised me’. – ‘Tell me your name!’ – ‘You will recognize me. Now help me. So I prayed a little with her. Suddenly, I myself became as if enveloped in mist, and she said softly, ‘You hated my lie.
“March 19 – [I asked her:] ‘Why did you come in the form of a snake?’- ‘It was the figure of my life: broken oaths, for everything in my behavior, was a lie and pretense. – ‘And just like that you were saved for eternity?’ – ‘Before I died, I received worthily the holy sacraments.'”[4]
Throughout this apparition, the nun was telling Eugenia that it was necessary for her, too, to purify herself, as she could thus better help souls. Therefore, only after the princess had received some sacraments, the “ancient snake” could appear to her with human but primitive features.
So this commerce between the natural and the supernatural world is very beneficial, for, on the one hand, it allows us to suffrage the suffering soul if we intercede for it, and on the other hand, it stimulates us to practice the sacramental life and piety, which is the reason for our own salvation when we will give an account to God.
* * *
May this close bond of union with the souls in purgatory – independently of any kind of private revelation – help us to understand that tangible reality is but a small part of the whole creation and that the supernatural world constantly surrounds us, although our limited eyes cannot see it.
So let us commit ourselves to helping the souls in Purgatory!
By Denis Santana
[The Christian must strive to accept these temporal punishments of sin as a grace, bearing patiently the sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the time comes, serenely facing death: he must apply himself, through works of mercy and charity, as well as through prayer and the different practices of penance, to completely strip himself of the ‘old man’ and put on the ‘new man’ (cf. Eph 4:24)”. (Catechism, n. 1473).
2] “Throughout the centuries there have been so-called ‘private’ revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. However, they do not belong to the Deposit of Faith. Their role is not to ‘perfect’ or ‘complete’ the definitive Revelation of Christ, but to help us live it more fully at a particular time in history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the feelings of the faithful know how to discern and guard what in these revelations constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.” (Catechism, n. 67).
[3] The soul manifested itself for the first time on February 8, not directly, but by noises on furniture, storms, and roars. And it stopped appearing on March 30, when it was already clearer and in a form more similar to when it lived.
[4] LEYEN, Eugenia von der. Conversing with the souls of purgatory. Translation. Alphons Gilbert. São Paulo: Paulinas, 1994 p. 164-167.
Compiled by Kate Iwuc
