Explaining the Faith — Why Purgatory Must Exist

hello and welcome to the national shrine of the divine mercy for our continuing talks every saturday that it will have an opportunity for explaining our faith i'm father chris aylar one of the marian priests of the immaculate conception and it's a joy to have you join us from around the world for our topic today which is purgatory as catholics we are challenged all the time about where is purgatory in the bible um jesus never said anything about purgatory we're going to talk about all that today this is part if you look up on your screen and you can see the slide this is a continuation of my talks part of my explaining the faith series which you can get a hard copy dvd on shopmercy.com or by calling our phone number at 1-800 the number four then marion m-a-r-i-a-n or by streaming it you can do this without having to buy a dvd you can stream it on thedivinemercy.org explaining the faith all right as i said today we're going to talk about a topic that has been part of church tradition since the beginning of its creation and this topic is purgatory so i want to start with a quick two and a half minute video don't get scared it is a little bit uh well eye-opening but it gives you some reality let us watch [Music] [Music] [Music] you know i would be remiss if i didn't acknowledge this is a beautiful opportunity to say thank you to our blessed mother who's here on my right with the beautiful flowers here on the feast of the assumption and so the 15th of august is a special day for our marian community um you'll be seeing live streaming as well with our vows and masses uh throughout the day so god bless all of you and mary is an important part uh the souls in purgatory call her star of the sea so we'll talk more about our blessed mother especially today on her feast day all right the first question let's take a look at this slide is what is purgatory all right we have to start with the basics here is it a physical place the sufferings and the answer to that is the sufferings are very real this is true but it's more of a metaphysical nature these sufferings are contained in the mind and the heart of the human soul okay there's no bodies that are there there's no physical bodies in purgatory so like a bad nightmare though such sufferings in purgatory exceed any here on earth and so this is important because we need to keep in mind that more than a place of suffering it's a place of preparation kind of like the bride before marrying her groom goes off to a place to get ready and the groom doesn't see her just like god i mean we don't see god our our groom before we are ready so this is what it's like although there are private revelations that obviously seem to show purgatory as a place john paul a physical place john paul said the term does not indicate a physical place the term purgatory but a condition of existence a state of being all right some private relation revelations involving purgatory visits um describe a number of levels and the suffering is deeper on the lowest levels when you get to the highest level there seems to be less suffering like it's described in one account with flowers and kind of like a waiting room for heaven you're getting closer right but what's important is that we know that a purifying condition of souls exists while it is true eternal punishment due to sin aka hell is gone in confession temporal punishment may still remain even after we're forgiven and we're going to talk a lot about that coming up now let's go to our next slide purgatory or purgare is to make clean to purify in accordance with catholic teaching is a condition of temporal punishment for those who departing this life in god's grace are not entirely free from venial faults and not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions okay protestants believe god just cleanses us but yet we catholics believe that there is some kind of suffering in this process of purification why why do we believe that's different because we believe like with adam and eve sin has consequences did god when adam and eve sinned did god just say okay snap i make you instantly clean again no there was consequences to their sin they were evicted from the garden so it makes sense that we have consequences to our sins but god does want to clean us right so to go directly to heaven the bible tells us we must be completely free from the stain of sin let's look at this what does it mean to have no stain of sin well our next slide tells us what does that mean this is what the bible says no stain of sin means to get to heaven we can't have this what is it all right first no unrepentant sin in your life how do you get rid of sin go to confession all right second you must have fully paid the penalty for all your sins this is doing your penance like doing the penance after your confession or doing some fasting or or or something like that and then third no attachments to the world this is hard and why most of us may spend some time in purgatory all right so hell is for those who die the only way you're lost to hell the only way your soul is lost is to die in an unrepentant state of mortal sin all right how does that happen well mainly if you don't go to confession because in confession you're guaranteed cleaning up and forgiveness meaning the sin is gone so the first purpose of purgatory is to purge all of the unrepentant venial sin the mortal sin is gone in confession then you might have venial sin and any that's unrepented you can get purged in purgatory then we have to atone for the big bad one which was the um unrepented mortal sins excuse me if you had unrepent mortal sins you're going to be in hell but if you go and you have let's say mortal sin that you haven't fully done satisfaction for maybe you've been forgiven but you haven't done maybe any reparation or expiation what does that mean like i said penances all right now we must atone for all the unexpected sin and those are for those people who didn't do their penances again good forms are surrendering your will skipping meals maybe fasting things like that finally we got to get rid of the worldliness so that we can fully love god and not the creature that's the definition of sin when you take your eye off the creator and you leave it only on the creature and we don't want that so once that time is done then we are ready for heaven once those things are cleaned up we're ready for heaven all right next slide who are the holy souls in purgatory who are they all right purgatory is the state of being of those who die in god's friendship okay but some people who die in the grace of god as his friends are still imperfect this makes logical sense they require a purification before entering heaven where nothing imperfect can go all right they are holy why do we call them holy it seems like they're suffering why would holiness bring about suffering all right they are holy because while they are not yet perfect they are on their way to heaven that's why we call them holy fact we also call them poor souls all right we call them poor souls well why father if they're on their way to heaven because they are still suffering to some extent so we call them poor souls as well that is they realize they must be purified and are still not in union fully with god because they have stain all right saint catherine of genoa she said that although purgatory is uncomparably painful because one sees all the horror of their sins one is also incomparably joyful because god is with them there are they are there learning to endure his truth and his light if you're not ready when you go before god with his blinding light you're going to be in pain and misery you know when you walk out of your house or out of your room let's say you're sleeping you're in a dead sleep it's been pitch black and somebody comes in and turns on a bright light you shudder you you you turn your head away your eyes burn because they're not adjusted yet purgatory is like getting those eyes adjusted so that you can see that light and endure it it is also joyful because they've already passed their particular judgment and that is a beautiful thing however they need help they need help and we're going to discuss that as we go on all right let's go to the next slide where is purgatory in the bible all right here we go this is a famous question many of us are asked as catholics not every truth we believe is explicitly stated in the scriptures well yeah it is father okay find me the word trinity do we as catholics believe in trinity of course we do is the word trinity in the bible no it's not all right but i tell you what is 2 thessalonians 2 15 says stand firm and hold to the traditions which i have taught you both oral and written this is an example purgatory the existence of purgatory logically follows from two things our imperfection on earth and our required perfection in heaven here's the thing everybody few people that i know are so evil that they deserve to go to hell for all eternity but so few people do i know that are so good and imperfect and without stain that they'll go straight to heaven it makes sense to have a purgatory let's go to our next slide the church gives the name purgatory to this final purification of the elect which is different from the punishment of the damned or hell the church formulated her doctrine on purgatory especially at the councils of florence and trent next slide the tradition of the church by reference to certain texts of scripture speaks of a cleansing fire and we're talking about first corinthians 3 15 and first peter 1 verse 7. let's get into scripture now oh father purgatory is not the bible i just had somebody comment father show me one verse where purgatory is in the bible i wrote back and said here's 25. all right in scripture the necessity as i said of absolute holiness in order to get to heaven is clear hebrews 12 14 says holiness without which no one will see the lord revelation 21 27 says nothing unclean shall enter there protestants they don't believe in again let me clarify when i say protestants i'm sorry i should always clarify i'm not talking all there are many i should rather say non-catholics because there are evangelicals there are um there are non-denominationals there are protestants so when i say press i apologize i should say non-catholics many don't believe in a purification process but there is evidence in the new testament of this of a purgatory type purification in first corinthians 3 13-15 this is an awesome evidence where saint paul gives us let's look at the next slide what does he say each man's work will become manifest for the day we'll disclose it because it will be revealed with fire and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done next slide if the work which any man has built on the foundation survives he will receive a reward if any man's work is burned up he will suffer loss though he himself will be saved but only as through fire what does this mean this is scriptural evidence for purgatory where's purgatory in the bible here just like trinity is without saying the word trinity why in this passage of these passages paul is talking about being tested by fire after death it's clear and clearly he is saying there is another level between heaven and hell did you read that passage the place of being tested by fire as he said cannot be heaven why father because there is no purifying fire in heaven you're already perfect well also it can't be hell why can't it be hell father because no one there can be saved paul said this person will be saved so it has to be something in between let's go to our next slide which gives us an example matthew 5 20 25. make friends quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court lust your accuser hands you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and you be put in prison truly i say to you you will never get out till you have paid the last penny tertullian and all the fathers said that this prison notice the word prison right all right is talking about purgatory he says the word prison since that prison we understand they said to mean the place of the departed and the last penny they said we mean even a small fault which must be expiated which means paid for before the resurrection no one shall doubt that the soul will pay something before the fullness of the resurrection upon after their death wow that i mean that's very clear powerful stuff of scriptural evidence of purgatory let's go to our next slide first peter 3 19 the place to which jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison whom formally did not obey all right let's look at this this place that christ visited all right and then departed from is clearly again neither heaven nor hell so where is it what is it christ did not preach to the dement to the damned so we know it's not hell it says jesus went there and preached we know it can't be hell why because jesus doesn't preach to the damned they're lost forever that's irrevocable but we also know that it can't be heaven why can't it be heaven because it says here the spirit's in prison heaven is not a prison so this has to be something in between it has to be something that is different and that's what purgatory is let's go to a famous passage our next slide second maccabees 12 44. this is a famous one it is a superfluous and vain to pray for the dead if the dead rise not again now it was not for those now it was not for those in paradise who had no need of it nor for those in hell who could get no benefit from it it was then for those in purgatory those are the words of saint francis de sales you know you can reference maccabees because maccabees is part of the catholic bible people say it's not my bible father well that's because martin luther removed it the catholics didn't add it well but father he only put the original hebrew books that were in the original hebrew and maccabees wasn't in the original hebrew that's why martin luther didn't include it no we're learning now that maccabees was in the original hebrew we know this from the dead sea scrolls all right now let's go to our next slide this is important passage philippians 2 10 that at the name of jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that jesus is lord to the glory of god the father all right this is another awesome example those in heaven and on earth are mentioned here every knee shall bend on heaven and on earth okay this is the church triumphant the heaven the church militant the earth but who are those referred to as under the earth all souls all knees on in heaven and on earth shall bend and under the earth what is under the earth the reference is certainly not to those in hell because they would not be praising god they would not take a knee to god they hate god so who else would they be praising god it's not those in heaven because they're already mentioned those in heaven those are praising god that's true but they've already been mentioned those in heaven and on earth and under the earth so this must be referring to a third category this is who we refer to as church suffering the purgatory it's kind of like the rich man in lazarus that story right it's the limbo of the fathers it shows that there is another state besides heaven and hell it is in scripture all right so now let's get to what the church teaches on this next slide is church teaching and the holy souls all right catholic tradition has always been to pray for the souls of the recently departed this is something that's always been part of our tradition this is found early in christian writing right long before the new testament was codified or canonized even martin luther did not condemn purgatory although he did have some varying opinions he actually in a way believed in it non-catholics you should take note of that but he did not accept the church's methods of obtaining indulgences that was his problem not the fact that he had no belief in purgatory he didn't believe in the paying for indulgences we'll talk about that later for a time he believed purgatory was true and even taught it to his followers he even allowed prayers for the dead in his church directory that surprises a lot of people all right devotions to the saints and purgatory are now denied by our non-catholic brothers and sisters they claim that these are catholic inventions but these doctrines have been taught by christians since long before the reformation listen to this the martyrdom of perpetua and felicity which was in 202 a.d includes perpetuous prayer for her brother who already died why pray for the dead we don't believe in praying for the dead well this one did perpetua did she had visions of her brothers suffering in purgatory and then his release tertullian writing around a.d 211 around the same time mentions quote we offer sacrifices for the dead on their birthday anniversaries which that usually means the day they died and they were born into eternal life saint john chrysostom let's look at our next slide what did he say our next slide saint john chrysostom said if job's sons were purified remember job he's the suffering guy in the old testament if job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice that's job 1 5. why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation he's basically saying don't doubt that let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them good stuff right church father saint augustine wrote repeatedly of the doctor of doctrine of purgatory 40 passages in his books make mention of praying for the dead as a work of mercy let's look at saint augustine next slide there's a picture of him what did he say but by the prayers of the holy church so now we bring the church in and by the salvific sacrifice and by the alms which are given for their spirits there is no doubt that the dead are aided that the lord might deal more mercifully with them than their sins would deserve all right these are the ancient church fathers these were saying making these statements long before the protestant reformation or any other christian faith besides catholicism all right saint caesar of arles articulates what purgatory is and how god uses it to purify us let's look at what he says next slide if we neither return thanks to god in tribulation nor redeem sins with good works we shall stay in the purgatorial fire until our small sins be consumed like wood hay and stubble next but someone says i don't mind how long i stay there if at length i shall arrive at eternal life let no one say this he says because that purgatorial fire shall be severer than any punishment that can be either thought of or seen or felt in this world whoa some say purgatory was invented because it wasn't codified until the middle ages and the catholic church made it up didn't you just read it these are from ancient second third fourth century writers all liturgies by the end of the fourth century included prayers for the dead again over a thousand years before the protestant reformation or any non-catholic denomination all right next slide why do the holy souls need our help this is a great question because of that suffering we just talked about and because those souls can't pray for themselves we must have faith and practice good works in hope of attaining reward in heaven the book of james tells us all about this matthew 25 the sheep and the goats they tell us all about this once we die we can no longer merit we can't do anything to help our own cause help yourselves now on earth after we die we can't do that we must await purification in purgatory and then you're at the mercy of everyone else's prayers on earth all right i want to show you a video it's about four minutes long right now and this is a saint mary magdalena that is a vision that she had that is wow it shows that we can help our fellow brothers and sisters in purgatory stay with me it's about four minutes but it's a doozy let's watch [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] wow um i don't know about you but every time i watch that video uh it's kind of a wake-up call isn't it um yeah you might wanna play that video again sometime if if you ever want to get uh straightened back out right but that's not the point it's not to scare us the point is that we be purified and sometimes we need to break those attachments now we can help these souls in purgatory by our suffrages what's the suffrage is father it is our prayers our sacrifices our penances from the living in honor of the dead we should help them because we want to not just because we fear punishment if we don't even though that'll come up in a minute next slide what can we do to help the holy souls all right god is willing to accept our offering in payment of another's debt this has always been look at the four men in the paralytic in the gospel uh the four men's work of faith helped that man to be healed we can do this because like us they are part of the body of christ the souls in purgatory they are the church suffering we are the church militant and the souls in heaven are the church triumphant so we can offer our sacrifices prayers fasting and almsgiving what's almsgiving taking care of the poor given to those in need you know the great jewish leader judas maccabias discovered a number of slain jews right they had worshiped the idols of jamnia this is that famous passage second maccabees 12 verse 39 trusting in god's mercy judas not not judas is scary iscariot the betrayer but judas macabeeus and his army took immediate action to help them let's look at the next slide and see what that says turning into supplication they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out what was the deed worshiping idols he then took up a collection among all his soldiers which he sent to jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice what does that mean it's a payment let's go to the next slide in doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way thus he made atonement for the dead and that sound like the chaplet he made atonement for the dead that they may be absolved from their sin again ii maccabees 12 42-4 through that this is awesome even to this day the jewish people pray for their dead martin luther had this book removed from the bible we didn't add it martin luther removed it because he didn't like those ways they prayed for the dead so from the earliest days of christianity the christian faithful have done this now this is also church teaching how father it's in the catechism 10 32 let's read what that says our next slide catechism 10 32 from the beginning the churches honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them prayers and penance above all the eucharistic sacrifice so that thus purified they may attain the beatific vision of god the church also commends almsgiving indulgences which we'll talk about in a minute and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead all right the jews believed that it was a quote holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins again ii maccabees 12 46 praying for the dead is one of the seven spiritual works of mercy as i said all right let's go to our next slide now tell me what can we do for them how can you make a difference i want to talk about these in a little more detail but let's look at the summary one have a mass said for them very powerful you can go to your local church stipends are usually ten dollars ask the church office to have a mass set second enroll the deceased in a spiritual benefit society our association of marian helpers is an example i'll say a few minutes uh something about that in a few minutes third offer an indulgence for the deceased again we'll talk about that number four offer sufferings for them please never let a headache or a stubbed toe go unwasted go and give that beautiful offering to god for their atonement for their sins and pray five pray for the chaplet of divine mercy the rosary and other prayers for them all right let's take a look at a few of these in more detail let's start with number one the mass the catholic mass that's the next slide here we see the picture of the most beautiful thing you could ever do on earth that is the mass more souls are released by the mass than any other means you probably don't even think of that when you go to church when you go to mass do you really think about that do you really walk into that church and as you're waiting for the mass to begin are you praying for the souls of all your loved ones your grandma your grandpa your aunts your uncles who have passed away do you really realize sitting in that pew that you're about to intake or embark in something that is absolutely the greatest thing in the world to release those loved ones like your mom and dad that are suffering tremendously possibly to completely relieve them through the power of the mass and are you offering the graces that you receive in the mass for the release from purgatory maybe you're on you aren't but you should be this is powerful saint john vna said the mass is greater than any works that we could do all good works he said quote taken together cannot equal the value of one holy mass because they are the works of men whereas the holy mass is the work of god the gregorian mass let's take a look at this next slide the gregorian mass that's saint gregory the great right what is a gregorian mass 30 days of consecutive masses masses every day for 30 straight days all right through gregorian masses we pray for the deliverance of a soul from purgatory they're named as i said after saint gregory the great a pope who did 30 masses once for a monk the monk then appeared to his brother who didn't know these masses were said for him and said that he was released from purgatory then the masses can only be said for one person at a time and this monk received those masses and so he let it be known that that was the reason he was released from purgatory that then became the tradition that we know today of having 30 consecutive masses said for somebody who has died they can only be said for one person at a time in their every day for 30 days so this custom of praying 30 days for the dead goes all the way back even to the old testament the jews prayed for 30 days after the death of moses i don't know if you even knew that all right let's go on to our next slide i mentioned that spiritual benefit society this is the beautiful example of who we are the association of marian helpers look at the screen that's an outside shot of our mirian helper center which is the headquarters of the association of miriam helpers the association of marian helpers is a spiritual benefit society which means you can share in the graces with all of us all our miriam priests and brothers if you become a mirian helper and there is no cost just visit it's easy to remember m i c prayers dot com m for marion i immaculate see conception prayers dot com it takes ten seconds to enroll it it's it's easy there's no cost but when you do you share in the spiritual benefits of our rosaries our masses our prayers our penances just like you were a marian priest of the immaculate conception incredible all right now this has happened because uh you know there's traditions um i won't tell all the stories there but basically by decree of the holy see the holy see can dedicate certain organizations spiritual benefit societies and he did ours so praise be to god all right now the next one the big one plenary indulgences this look at your screen plenary indulgences this is a big one to help our loved ones who have died uh biggie in confession here's what you got to remember when you go to confession the sin is forgiven all right you are forgiven of your sin guaranteed as long as you have a valid confession but what about the punishment does the punishment remain or is the punishment gone father it remains father it's it's gone both are correct the punishment eternal punishment for sin aka hell is gone forever as long as you have a valid confession and you don't mortally sin again if you do fall into mortal sin again just go back to confession but what about the temporal punishment due to sin all right unless you have perfect contrition the possibility is that it remains even though we are forgiven in the confessional the stain of our sins remains on the body of christ in other words the wound heals but the scar remains and we must repair the damage we did to the body of christ it's kind of like the boy whose dad says don't play baseball in the yard and he ends up playing ball and the ball breaks the window dad comes home and says son i forgive you and he says i'm sorry dad and he says son i forgive you but you're grounded for two weeks and you're gonna have to pay for it out of your allowance in other words he's forgiven of the sin like we are in confession but the temporal punishment remains he's grounded and he has to pay out of his allowance that's expiratory paying back every penny as the scripture says now an indulgence is the forgiveness of even that penalty that sin that penalty due to the sin which you confessed in confession a plenary indulgence not only in confession as your sin wiped away but the plenary indulgence wipes away the punishment this is incredible you can do it for yourself or for a holy soul remember this is different than the grace of divine mercy sunday which is only for yourself and also wipes out away all the sin and punishment but that's a different topic god gave his church the power to forgive the sin why wouldn't he give his church the power to forgive the punishment it makes perfect sense all right saint faustina next slide she said jesus said the souls in purgatory are greatly loved by me they are making retribution to my justice it is in your power to bring them relief these are the words of jesus draw all the indulgences from the treasury of my church boy you can't get any more clearer than that that's diary of saint faustina number 1226. all right like anything indulgences can be used for good or bad martin luther had a problem that indulgences were sold and he was right that's not good they were misused but it doesn't make them bad i can use my computer for something good like uh sending prayer requests or i can use it for something bad like going to an improper website sorry all right purgatory actually exists as a result of god's mercy and this is what we're going to look at with the indulgences i started to talk about plenty of indulgences let's look at the next slide i always talk about the big four plenary indulgences the big four plenary indulgences that you can see on your screen you could do them in any order okay they are praying a rosary inside a church or chapel or with another person um a half an hour of adoration in front of the blessed sacrament a half an hour of reading scripture and uh or a half an hour or excuse me or walking the stations of the cross you could see those i'm doing them in no particular order because it doesn't matter all those can be plenary indulgences what do i mean by can be that means if you do one of those things you have the possibility of getting a plenary indulgence but look at our next slide in order to do or receive the full plenary indulgence you have to do the four conditions all right first of all you have to do the plenary act like i just said praying the rosary with someone walking the stations of the cross reading half hour scripture half hour of adoration all right you first have to do that but then you have the other conditions one get to confession the church now teaches within 20 days before or after you do the indulgence act so that what does that mean father that means if you're not in a state of grace you got to go to confession before if you're in a state of grace you can go up to 20 days after you also have to receive holy communion you also have to pray for the intentions of the holy father which is a heart our father hail mary glory be usually and finally the last condition that sinks most all of us ha no attachment to sin even vino that's a hard one and that's why divine mercy sunday is so great because that condition doesn't apply you get the same forgiveness of all sin and punishment on divine mercy sunday but you can be faulty you can be defective and still get that grace that's why divine mercy sunday is so powerful but here in a plenary indulgence we need to work on that no attachment to sin now what happens if you have some attachment to sin let's look at our next two slides they're what we can call a partial indulgence which means some of the punishment for us or a holy soul most likely a holy soul but you could do it for yourself too for what you're owed are also possible some partial indulgences which means some of the punishment is remitted are making the sign of the cross praying the rosary by yourself raising one's thoughts to god in a pious way adoring jesus in the holy eucharist for but a moment let's go to our next slide teaching or attending a catechism class fasting venerating a saint on his or her feast day or giving alms which is basically helping poor souls or homeless these are all great ways that we can help relieve the suffering souls in purgatory but father um what if do i do them for holy solar myself well it doesn't matter i usually do the first 29 days of the month for holy souls and i do the last day of the month the 30th day of the month for myself or the 31st day all right next slide is suffrages we talked about this what is a suffrage basically again an offering i keep saying offer it up you always hear that term my mom used to say uh chris offer it up i never knew what that meant what does that mean it's suffrages aquinas talks about alms giving alms which is giving gifts to the poor he said those are more important than even fasting or prayer or penance that's amazing almsgiving possesses more complete the virtue of satisfaction than even prayer wow saint james he said a person can be justified by works and not by faith alone so we must do these works of good will like alms giving giving in love not works of the law but works of love people think romans 3 28 says you are you are saved by faith alone no it doesn't martin luther added the word alone romans 3 28 says you are saved by faith we believe that as catholics and not by works of the law we believe that as catholics but what you do need works of is love all right next slide the rosary this is a powerful tool the word rosary actually comes and is derived from the word rosarium which is latin for rose garden isn't that beautiful the word rosary means a crown of roses did you know that many people pray the rosary they don't even know that it's just presented to our lady in prayer like she's right here to my right pray the rosary for our lady present presented to her mary said i shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the rosary what a beautiful way saint alphonsus liguri said this is the best way to help the souls in purgatory after the mass all right let's look at the next one the chaplet of divine mercy all right this is an extension of the mass because we're offering sacrifice the rosary is like the first part of the mass the liturgy of the word because you're meditating on scripture but the chaplet of divine mercy is like the other part of mass the liturgy of the eucharist because you're offering sacrifice eternal father i offer you the body blood soul and divinity people say father how can i do that i'm not a priest actually you are by virtue of your baptism you share in the offices of christ priest prophet and king you are a priest the common priesthood not ministerial like me you can't hear confessions but you can offer sacrifice all right there are many other great prayers for the holy souls let's look at just one there's many many please understand there's many i'm just going to put one up famous prayer of saint gertrude you should i pray this every night that i can remember your eternal father i offer you the most precious blood of your divine son jesus and that sounds like the chaplet in union with the masses said throughout the world today for all the holy souls in purgatory for sinners everywhere for sinners in the universal church those in my own home and within my own family powerful stuff it's through the body and blood of jesus that we receive salvation so like i said it's just like the chaplet offering the father in heaven body and blood of jesus christ an atonement for the sins of those in purgatory in the chapel we say for those for our sins and the sins of the whole world but you can also offer it for those in purgatory once souls in purgatory reach heaven they become your personal patron saints isn't that amazing you can have an army of saints praying for you you get an army of saints who want to return the favor to you someday when you pray to help them get out all right let's look at a very interesting next slide you see a jack-o'-lantern right this is all hallows eve or below what we call halloween which means hallowed evening or holy evening well father this is a bunch of budget devil worshipers that isn't anything but holy in fact our church bans halloween well let's talk about that first you got to do is look at what november 1st and november 2nd are in the church calendar they are dedicated to all the dead the first is dedicated to the saints the second of november is dedicated to all other souls all souls day who are not yet in heaven all right so october the 31st is the vigil of that first feast november 1st which is all saints day a very holy day it's a holy day of obligation so what is hallows eve or holy evening is the vigil of the night before all saints day which is a very holy day of obligation all saints day most saints have a particular feast day which is usually the date of their death we talked about that but not all are observed there are many saints in heaven who don't have feast days so knowing on november 1st we honor the saints who have not yet been canonized and halloween is all hallows eve is the night before that the vigil so it's part of a holy day the next day as i said november 2nd is all souls day where we remember those who are not yet in heaven but are in purgatory all right non-catholics ban the celebration of all saints day which is november 1st so therefore they also banned its vigil halloween now this is not because it was pagan but because it was catholic now yeah it's true that some satanists and atheists have hijacked halloween to become what they call the devil's holiday but that wasn't what it originally meant why it was originally created was the vigil of a saints day a holy day all hallows eve holy evening so just because the devil and his followers hijacked it doesn't mean it was created that way to be bad irish catholic immigrants came back and revived halloween as a way of celebrating the vigil of all saints day people don't get this halloween is not banned by the church this is a big misconception halloween is not was not created as a pagan religious event it's a christian celebration almost 1500 years old wow father i didn't know that catholic colonists in maryland recognize all hallows eve in their church calendars but what about occult aspects um you know the hijack yeah there's been some people that have used it for bad sacrifices to satan and all that stuff but that's not what it was intended for what about occult things like ghosts and goblins and demons these are rooted believe it or not the demons and ghosts in catholic belief there's good spirits and there are evil spirits the jack-o'-lantern that you saw on your screen there was originally represented the souls of the dead that's what a jack-o'-lantern is it actually also was to be a demon to scare away demons they say demons are scared when they see their own reflection that's why when you go to europe and you see the churches on the big buttresses up above you see gargoyles don't you ever wonder why the church has these evil looking demonic figures on the outside of its churches non-catholics will say it proves it that the church is evil no those gargoyles are are to scare away the demons because they'd see their own reflection they would think it was themselves and they get scared away now in france they believe that once a year on halloween the dead of the church yards would rise for one wild carnival so people dressed up as corpses to participate in this from various levels of society and many have said that this is the origin of the modern day halloween costume party interesting huh others believed it came from the pagan practice of dressing in disguise so that the evil spirits which came on this night would not recognize them and wouldn't be able not be able to torment them all right but many of us hear that halloween as i said is pagan and evil i said that's actually anti-catholic in post-reformation england all saints day was banned therefore they banned halloween because it was the vigil of all saints day they claimed catherine doctrine of purgatory is a modern form of babylonian worship of the dead that's what they claimed the reformation said purgatory was incompatible with predestination all right so all hallows eve was redefined without the doctrine of purgatory problem is it shouldn't be you all hear like knocks and noises that might be coming in your house i remember um you know a lot of people asking father are there ghosts and everything these could be souls in purgatory reminding us to pray for them good spirits and bad spirits roam the earth we have to know if the good or they're bad there are spirits that god allows to roam the earth all right i was in steubenville my postulant summer i came in july 2006 my very first night in the steubenville house i heard footsteps outside my door in the hallway the next morning i asked who was upstairs outside my room last night three in the morning nobody answered the next night i heard the footsteps go right up to my doorknob and the doorknob started to turn i was scared to death i had the door locked i was afraid to open and the next morning again i demanded to know who was outside my door the night before nobody answered then the third night there were footsteps came to my door the doorknob started to move i got the courage to grab a rosary and a crucifix and i whipped open the door and there was nobody there i explained this to father don calloway he decided to have a mass said for this house was over 100 years old that we lived in and after he had a mass said for the soul that whoever would have died in that house which we found out a woman did die in the house it all went away there were no more of the knocks or the bumps so have a mass set if you're getting what you think is bothered by maybe a spirit it could be simply a spirit or a soul in purgatory allowed to come to manifest to you to ask for prayers this is powerful stuff all right let's go to our next slide all souls day this is november the 2nd all right november the second the official name of all souls day is the commemoration of all the faithful departed this is basically what we celebrate after honoring all the saints in heaven on the first we now pray for the rest of those who have died on the second so the souls in purgatory are actually saints why are they saints because they've already won their eternal reward they're destined for heaven all souls in purgatory will eventually get to heaven all right a soul actually wants to go to purgatory before seeing god doesn't a bride want to go and hide from the groom before her wedding day so she could get her hair right her makeup right her her clothing right her dress right she wants to look perfect it makes perfect sense that the soul wants to go to purgatory to get ready before they meet god most are delivered on believe it or not christmas day then on all hollows tied which is what we just described between november 1st and 2nd then good friday then the assumption which we celebrate today then the ascension so this feast bears this november 2nd all souls day much spiritual fruit by allowing us to assist in god's work of redemption all right through mercy and i know god though he's merciful god owes it to his justice not just to deliver them until the scriptures say that they have paid the last penny they have paid their debt but the debt sometimes was contracted through us when our loved ones are now dead uh my grandma you know passed away my relatives have passed away i have super close my three best friends ever in my life when i was real real young steve middleton was like a big brother to me when i was in grade school middle school nick rafko god bless i miss that guy amazing family his sister was miss america he was the starting linebacker on the university of wisconsin football team played under barry alvarez credible guy got killed in an auto accident coming home from his fiancee's house my best friend in the whole world after that was bob brandt died of the heart failure now when i think of those three guys i think we probably did some stupid things probably watched some movies we shouldn't have watched looked at some magazines we shouldn't have looked at we were kids doesn't excuse it but i probably helped contribute to some of the pain they now have in purgatory so i need to help relieve that show offer up sacrifices prayers masses penances in fact it reminds me i need to have more masses said for those three wow that's a revelation that i just had right now all right so it is to us that they turn for help therefore we the church militant must help these souls but let's ask the next question next slide can the holy souls help us this is a fascinating question saints have said that while they cannot pray for themselves meaning the holy souls they can intercede for us saint john vna said if one knew what we may obtain from god by the intercession of the poor souls they would not be so abandoned let us pray for them and they will then pray more for us that's john dna saying the holy souls can pray for you we keep thinking about praying for the holy souls do you realize the holy souls can intercede for you so you can pray for your loved ones to help you not just canonize saints and they in turn can help you we keep thinking that we just pray to the saints no pray to your loved ones ask the holy souls to intercede for you especially your loved ones so i can pray grandma intercede for me nick rathco intercede for me bob brant intercede for me steve middleton intercede for me let's go to the next slide can saints pray for the holy souls can saints pray now here we're talking about saints saints can do anything father well not so fast according to father mcnamara we can get a saint to intercede for a holy soul we have a duty not only to pray for the holy souls directly but we also have a duty to ask the saints to help them too so i should be asking saint faustina to please help my friend nick rafco bob brandt and steve middleton that's amazing intercede for them saint faustina this is part of our rule in the communion of saints we can all help each other the church triumphant in heaven can help the souls in purgatory the church suffering who can help the souls in um in in on earth the church militant saints cannot help the poor souls without our request however to intercede for them this is interesting they are fully poor because they totally depend on our prayers that's why we call them poor souls the church triumphant militant and suffering can all intercede for each other but the saints can't hear us people say father i'm not catholic you're crazy catholic don't you know the saints are dead they can't hear you well jesus spoke to moses and elijah on mount tabor didn't he what about god saying he's the god of the living not the dead the god of ibrahim isaac and jacob who had long passed away but because with communion with jesus our prayers are joined with theirs those saints in communion it's not just about me and jesus it's about me and the whole body of the church militants suffering and um and triumphant all right thomas aquinas says that saints have the power to intercede but they cannot do things to gain satisfaction for the holy souls such as offering suffrage is like we can wow there's something a say can't do that you can do yes if they had that power they could easily empty purgatory this is why yes we can all intercede for each other but to different degrees you have a very powerful part of intercession ask the saints to pray for particular souls and then do your part by offering suffrages only you can do that suffrages again what are they the masses the prayers fasting act security offering for a soul very powerful mary is the greatest saint to intercede because she is the mother of the church suffering she is at the cross all right let's keep going we're almost done it's all about mary how can she help all right we find our lady's image in the very beginning of our faith in the catacombs in the second century and placing her image next to a tomb indicated that the people who did it had a desire that the deceased be put under her care in the fourth century both the east and the west had tombstones inscribed asking for her intercession apparitions of mary many times show her in purgatory as a me as a mother bringing them help they call her the star of the sea saint faustina said she is the mother of the mystical body of christ and the holy souls are member of that members of that all right now what mother would not want to take care of her children our lady is actually looking for us to be willing to offer up our sufferings and prayers then she can do something with them she distributes those graces to lessen our brothers and sisters suffering in purgatory she can take what you place into her hand your prayers your sufferings your penances your rosaries your chaplets your fasting and she can do something with it this is marian consecration marian consecration is actually using mary to help you make your prayers more powerful look at the next slide marian consecration and the holy souls this is a picture of the 33 days of morning glory book by father mike gately he did this and in the book he said that we should have two main concerns regarding purgatory one that we should do everything to avoid it so don't say i'm going to just aim for purgatory as father benedict rochelle said you might miss but one avoid it two help souls get out of it one of the best and easiest ways to do that is marian consecration all right first it can help us to avoid purgatory which is a gift of god's mercy how marrying consecrations allows us to pay for the punishment due to our sins before we even die because you're giving yourself to mary and she can help clean you up what did your mother do for you when you were a kid when you got dirty she cleaned you up i hated it when my mom licked her finger and then licked my face but man i was clean it may not be sometimes happiness but you're cleansed and it may be our best shot of getting directly to heaven after we die all right what about mirroring cross consecration being the best way to help souls get out of purgatory so first it helps you avoid it because she cleans you up but it can also help to get souls out how because part of marine consecration means that we give mary all the value of our good works not works of the law but works of love whenever you do something nice this includes all of our merits that we offer up again you hear that term offer up put it into mary's hands for the souls in purgatory give it to her hand remember when our merits pass through mary's hands they have much greater power and she can do that all right next slide we're getting close here this is a picture of saint faustina this is a fabulous saint in sister faustina's diary saint faustina's diary the word purgatory appears two dozen times st faustina i want to read you one paragraph from diary 20. this is the words of saint faustina 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 remember i said they can't help themselves only you can help them 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 in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for god i saw our lady visiting the souls in purgatory the souls call her star of the sea because she brings them refreshment i wanted to talk with them some more but my guardian angel beckoned me to leave since that time i am closer in closer communication with the suffering souls diary number 20. all right her confessor michael cepochko actually said the reason why one woman was in purgatory for so long is that she failed to show charity towards the souls in purgatory to whom she was obligated to pray because she hadn't done the works of charity she should have done for them when she died all the charity that was done for her and all the prayers that were done for her were shifted to other people to whom she should have prayed that's why she had a greater debt to pay in purgatory wow powerful stuff all right next how do we avoid purgatory that's one of the things of mirroring consecration every sin leaves a stain that remains even after we repent and receive forgiveness to avoid purgatory is to deal with that primary cause that gets you into a mess in the first place and that stain that gets you in your mess is sin there are two types of sin we've talked about this mortal and venial paul says you know i once got a written comment that says father sin is sin no paul says it isn't saint paul says there are some sin that is deadly and there is some sin that is not deadly the deadly sin is mortal we call it the non-deadly sin is vino all right most people do not consider the consequences of our little minor venial sins like getting a little frustrated or impatient or saying something a little snippy towards somebody many people don't confess that but after all a small lie or a distasteful joke ah father that's not going to prevent me to get into heaven is it well let's look here these stains will keep us in purgatory until they've been fully expiated or paid for remember you will not get out till you have paid the last penny matthew chapter 5 verse 25. so even venial sins cause us to spend some time in purgatory all right but forgiven mortal sins require much greater expiation in purgatory a mortal sin we can lose our salvation if we're not careful so it's understandable that we have to pay more in penance we can purify our souls on earth by this penance or we can do it more painfully in purgatory all right now a soul most often goes to purgatory for sins against charity love so gossip criticism judgment lack of forgiveness these are the deadly ones sins against charity and all our rejections of certain people are hard they're going to hurt us people we don't like our refusal to make peace bitterness that we have for someone that we store inside our refusal to forgive the greatest weapon against going to purgatory or hell is humility to suck it up and say you know what i'm going to reach out to that person to avoid purgatory we need to help the holy souls because they can help us in return often souls complain that people go to funerals and they're never praying for the dead person they canonize mother already in heaven so nobody prays the mystics tell us at funerals they shed many tears but that's useless that's not what's helping the people all right purgatory next slide why must purgatory exist nothing with any stain can enter the kingdom of heaven as i said so we need to be purified we've made this point purgatory then is essentially a process of purification i made that point but where am i going with this john paul 2 his catechesis on purgatory does not emphasize punishment but purification quote he said for those who find themselves in the condition of being open to god but still imperfectly the journey towards full beatitude requires a purification which the faith of the church illustrates in the doctrine of purgatory all right according to even the old testament whatever is destined for god must be perfect all right last page god bless you you've been hanging in with me i think this is one of the greatest things ever the next slide it's called the great exchange if you're tired you're listening to me long enough i'm going to say wake up for this slide this is the best one the greatest suffering of the souls in purgatory saint faustina said to us we just read it in diary 20 is longing for god all right they are tormented by that it's like standing in a line for ice cream seeing everybody else get to eat the ice cream but you can't have any your mouth begins to water you long for it but there's another great pain suffered by the souls in purgatory and that sorrow for their sins when they finally realize through an illumination of conscience that they've hurt god in a big way so once a soul is in purgatory it sees clearly that because of its sins it is separated from god so the two great pains they have are longing for god and their sorrow for sin i want you to remember that because it comes real important here in a minute longing for god and sorrow for sin now here's what's ironic and father mike galey wrote about this in his book ironically those two pains longing for god sorrow for sins is actually the signs of holiness in the saints indeed they are that's why souls in purgatory are saints because they have a longing for god and sorrow for sin the saints all experienced great longing for god on this earth and sorrow for their sin on this earth they were saints because they did it in this earth souls in purgatory do it after they die and they're being purified i hope all of you listening today want to be saints and this is the sure-fire way to get there to have a longing for god and sorrow for sins so here's the point everybody the holy souls have something we want to be holy by longing for god and sorrow for sins now they have something and we want that yet we have something they want our suffrages our sufferings because suffering is redemptive our sorrows are are offered up fasting so why not put these two together this is called the great exchange let's ask god for a kind of transfer spiritual transfer in prayer this is this is amazing ask god to transfer some of the suffering of the holy souls in purgatory and give it to you what is that again longing for god sorrow for sins god will do this because he is happy to relieve the suffering of the souls in purgatory of some of their pain and he's happy to give you something in the form of grace that will make you more holy longing for him more and being more sorry for your sins in that way you become more saintly and you become an absolute way to heaven that is mind-boggling let's look at the next slide lord you see how terribly the souls in purgatory suffer from their longing for you and from their intense sorrow for their sins we just talked about this this is saint faustina well then in your mercy i ask you to give them some relief by transferring to my heart meaning their sufferings their longing for you and their sorrow for sins let my heart burn with longing for you my god and please give me a deep contrition for my sins amen holy mackerel there is an example of somebody becoming a saint by doing this ex great exchange with the holy souls in purgatory phenomenal not only will the souls of purgatory in gratitude pray more fervently for you but the pain and longing of god and the contrition for sin will help you make become more holy also it's not a scary kind of pain but a sweet kind longing for god is a sweet kind of pain and remember our merciful lord will never give us more than we can carry so by doing the spiritual transfer we can enter into purgatory while still here on earth because you're experiencing the sufferings they experienced wow and then not have to do so much after you die all right jesus said to saint faustina next slide enter into purgatory often because the souls need you there this is exactly what i am talking about all right last quote pope benedict the 16th in his work spay salvi said in which he writes about purgatory the souls of the departed can however receive soulless and refreshment through the eucharist prayer and alms giving as christians we should never limit ourselves to asking how can i only save myself we should also ask what can i do in order that others may be saved and that for them to the star of hope may rise then i will have done my utmost for my own personal salvation as well wow what is he saying there that when you help them you're going to get yourself to heaven that's why our founder stanislaus papchinsky said praying for the holy souls in purgatory is the greatest form of charity and how do you get to heaven charity wow it's a two-for you help them it helps you grow in holiness and helps you get to heaven so help them and it will help you you know all of this is in my book with brother jason lewis and god bless you all you stayed with me this is the last slide this is it we're done this slide is my book although yes it's called after suicide it's not just about suicide this book is about anybody who has passed away through any kind of loss suicide accidents natural causes cancer and what i talked about here is in this book you can get this book to help summarize things like the great exchange things like how to help the souls once they die to give hope for their salvation so please visit suicideandhope.com and there you can get a copy of the book and resources to help anxiety depression whatnot and god bless you because when you help others it will help you and when you go to that website please memorialize your last loved ones because i personally pray for each and every one of them and i have masses said for them well god bless all of you this is the longest presentation i have had but i think it justifies because this is one heck of a topic our catholic belief in purgatory hopefully you now have a little better understanding of it hopefully now you can little better answer it i know there's a lot here but god bless all of you and we're thankful that you could join us and join us again next week as we continue our series called explaining the faith and may almighty god bless you and your loved ones the father the son and the holy spirit amen and god bless you why be a marian helper because we mary and father celebrate a mass for you and all our members each and every day you can share in all the prayers good works and merits of all the miriam priests and brothers around the world and now you can share the graces just as if you were a marian priest or brother every all souls day we see a mass for all the deceased members of the association of marian helpers again there's no way that after we die we can help ourselves but we have to rely on the prayers of those here on earth and we members of the marian fathers will be praying for you as a deceased member of our association you can share in the graces of the perpetual novena to the divine mercy remember jesus told saint faustina that the chaplet of divine mercy is one of the most powerful prayers we can make and every day here at the shrine of divine mercy we pray it and you can share in those graces so if you have any questions or you want to learn more how to be a marian helper please visit micprayers.com or call 1-800-462-7426 and let me personally pray for you and your loved ones thank you and may almighty god bless you the father the son and the holy spirit amen you

Channel: Divine Mercy

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Keywords: Divine Mercy, Divine, Mercy, Divine Mercy Official, Shrine of Divine Mercy, National Shrine of Divine Mercy, Shrine, Rosary, Chaplet, Catholic, God, Jesus, Christ, Mary, Mother of God, St. Faustina, Faustina, Marian, Marians, Immaculate Conception, priest, catholic teaching, spiritual, eternity, live, life, grace, pray, prays, praying, spirituality, Purgatory, Biblical, Alar, Chris Alar, Fr. Chris Alar, Father Chris Alar

Id: U6gjb634Zf4

Length: 89min 52sec (5392 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 15 2020