The Hungry Souls of Purgatory

Recently I got myself a Kindle (ebook reader).  One of the first few ebooks I read on it was entitled 'Hungry Souls - Supernatural Visits, Messages and Warnings from Purgatory' written by Dr Gerard J.M. van den Aardweg, who is a Dutch psychotherapist in private practice.

From this book I learned about the 100-year-old Little Purgatory Museum in Rome (Piccolo Museo Del Purgatorio) which was set up by a French priest called Victor Jouet.  The priest collected relics.. proof left behind by the holy souls of Purgatory.  Finger prints burned into a prayer book, a handprint burned into a table, Similar marks on shirt sleeves, an apron, a night cap.  And all investigated thoroughly by critical personages.  You can read more here.

Face Burned Into The Wood

Relics Preserved In Glass Cases

As I read the book, I felt very moved at the information shared by people, who on the whole were reluctant at first to believe what they were experiencing.  After that, they were reluctant to share with others, for fear of being ridiculed or denounced as liars.  But how on earth would one explain a burn bad enough to sear the flesh down to the bone?  This was experienced by a lady who was visited by her lover on the same night as his death.  He came to tell her that there WAS a purgatory.

But as I read the book, and learned of the purgatory revealed to St Catherine of Genoa, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina and many others, this is what I understood.

Purgatory is a place of purification.  After death, souls will spiral towards a bright beautiful light (a Centre) from which they will feel an all-consuming desire to go to and to belong to.  But then they will sink down into the Purification.  This will happen according to their will for they will feel their unworthiness, their uncleanness to be with the magnificence of God and they WANT to be cleansed of the rust of sin.

The first phase of purification involves flames of cleansing.  One soul showed to his daughter (a nun) a cistern of smoke and flames.  From where he stood near the wll, the nun could feel the pain and overwhelming heat of the flames.  But after masses and Stations of the Cross offered for him, the soul was delivered.

Some souls were delivered from the flames to a place of contentment and peace, but not yet in Heaven.  They were still in Purgatory.  This depends on the sins borne by the souls.  But these souls still feel torment... the torment of longing to be with God that is like a physical pain.

There was even a soul of a man who lived his life far from God but he was saved from hell by the goodness and faith of his wife.  This gives hope to those of us who worry about loved ones.

These souls say that if only the living understand how terrible it is to be in Purgatory, the living would do all things possible NOT to sin.  They would do anything to expiate for their sins on earth.  For a moment on earth is an eternity in Purgatory.  The soul who beseeeched his daughter for help told her that he had been in Purgatory for six years when in fact, he had only died barely three months ago. 

Oh read this book if you can.  I promise you it will touch you and will change the way you think and the way you live.

Postscript :
On the 29th of May 2012, I visited this museum.

How Technology Helps Me In My Faith

I would say that I am quite proficient at using ICT... as I synchronize information between my PDA, my handphone, my notebook and my Google account.  I am also able to use word editors, spreadsheet apps, database managers, music & video editors.  Naturally, I also explore technological ways and methods to help me in my faith.  Now I'd like to share those ways with my readers.

e-Sword helps me in my daily Bible reading.

It's free and easily installed.  Just download, double click on what is downloaded and it will install itself.  e-Sword is very useful for anyone who wants to undertake Bible study.

You can specify what Bible you want to read (I personally read the Douay-Rheims bible and the King James bible). 
You can search for a particular scriptural verse or theme. 
You can also download dictionaries and commentaries to use with the Bible you are reading.  They can be viewed in the same page, without having to deal with tiles. 
You can also create a 'parallel' Bible with up to four translations. 
You can create your own commentaries and study notes, which can then be exported.
You can create handouts from the Study Notes editor.

Besides the bibles and other downloads you can get from the e-Sword website (which is mostly Protestant, according to a Catholic Forum user), you can also get other materials from Esnips Catholic Apologetics and Esnips e-Sword for Catholics.  If you wish to download the 'Catechism of the Catholic Church' for e-Sword, just download it from here.

Whatever you may download outside of the e-Sword interface, just copy it into the e-Sword folder and things should run well.  Zip files should be extracted into the same folder. 

Virtual Rosary is a small application I install into my laptop.  Just download and run it.  I like it for four reasons :

I can do my rosary while listening to soothing music and looking at the pictures which depict the current mystery I am meditating on.  Some people find it easy to just visualise the mystery or event in their minds but I find a picture very useful when I focus and meditate.

I can also join the prayer request program which is part of the application.  Praying with others, for their requests and for your own, is a wonderful experience.

I can do the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and its Novena which is also part of the app.

I no longer forget to do my Rosary as it is always on my desktop.  It is easily minimized, in case you have no time for the Rosary at that very moment.

Synodia Holy Rosary for the Pocket PC is a rosary app I installed into my Pocket PC.  Useful for times when you are on the go.  But this rosary does not have the Fatima Prayer that is supposed to be said at the end of every decade.  So I usually need to remember to do the prayer.  On the link, it says the cost is $3.99 but it is freeware.  Trial and full version are the same.

For those how use the Iphone, I read that they can download the iRosary.  Not sure about Symbian users.

Bible Verse Popup is another freeware that can be installed into a computer.  I noticed that the default verses (there are no many) are from a bible I do not use.  So every time it pops up, I edit the verse and replace it with a verse from the Douay-Rheims bible I have in e-Sword.  Very easy, just copy and paste.  I can add my favourite verses.  Over time, the app on my computer should be a powerful one :)

So far, those are the basic apps I have.  I'm not listing the ones I use to help me create my ebooks of prayers and stories of saints that I like to carry in my Pocket PC.  For that, I use Microsoft Reader and Calibre.  I also use Audacity for sound editing (music and prayers) and Free Video to MP3 Converter for all the songs and prayers I have in my Mediafire folder.

Pray, Pray, Pray!

After reading Dr Kelly Bowring's book (Secrets, Chastisement and Triumph of the Two Hearts) and countless other articles, I see so clearly that prayer is a very powerful means to salvation. 

Not only my own salvation but also that of my brothers and sisters.. my neighbours, my friends, my enemies...!

We are being called back to a life of prayer... but how many will respond to this call?

I remember feeling heavy-hearted about praying... I had so many excuses... I was sleepy, tired, sick, exhausted etcetera etcetera.  But knowing the importance of praying and feeling desperate about not being able to pray, I pleaded with God for the strength and grace to pray.  Amazingly, my pleading was answered.

Now, I wonder why I am so amazed.  I wonder if perhaps I no longer had faith in God's responding to my prayer. 

But now I know.  God DOES answer prayers.  But I had to learn how to pray properly.  I had to have the right state of mind and the right sort of request.  I didn't bother to ask for riches, rank or other material things.  I asked for graces, strength and faith.  I asked for protection and mercy.  Not only for myself but for others.  I asked for the clearing of clouded minds, the righting of confused minds and the brightening of darkened hearts.

And now I cannot NOT pray.  Not when I can hear the clock ticking the moments away and the sand in the hourglass sifting away.

Out Of Sync With The World

Thus far in my journey, I have come to realize that in following the tenets of my religion, I will find myself more and more out of sync with the world.

The world worships materialism, yet the practice of charity doesn't encourage hoarding of riches.  How can you store wealth when you have so many brothers and sisters in need?

The world rewards aggressive and assertive people, yet we Christians are to turn the other cheek and to be humble and lowly.

The world lauds openness and freedom of speech and act and proclaims such things as 'cool' and 'to be proud of'.  Yet how can we as Christians accept 'openness' such as living together without the benefit of matrimony, use of recreational (?) drugs, hurtful sarcasm aimed at others etcetera?

The world accepts the use of astrology and fortune-telling.  Yet our Bible clearly states that these are the creations of the devil. 

My dressing has changed (less form-fitting and revealing) and I'm automatically pigeonholed as 'old-fashioned' and 'conservative'.  The terms are clearly not meant as compliments.  So far, they have refrained from labelling me 'boring'.

Even when I pray, especially in public, I am sometimes teased for being 'holy' and 'overly Christian'.

Sometimes I wonder if I have to withdraw from certain societies and spend my time only with people who understand me. 

But then this has also made me realize how much the world has 'changed', how far it has gone down the road of accepting so many things God doesn't want us to be involved in.  No wonder it has been said that souls are falling into the abyss by the millions....  I think the majority of them don't even realise that their lifestyles are 'wrong'. 


But then they'd know it, if they read the Bible, don't they? 


Well, recently I discussed some things with someone... and I was gently informed that many things in the bible was only relevant to the times of long ago.  However, didn't Jesus say that He is always the same, then and now?  Wouldn't that make God's commandments true, then and now?  Wouldn't that make the lessons in the bible true, then and now as well?

The Divine Mercy Chaplet In Action!

My sister is attending a course that may decide her future... but it all depends on her performance in four assessments.  Truth be told, she didn't fare very well in her interview.  Especially in the part where she was supposed to show how she'd sell certain products.  I found this very perplexing as my sister has the so-called gift of the gab.  She can talk and talk and talk.  Plus she'd sold software for an ICT company and also homes for a property developer.  It didn't make sense that she couldn't even do a demo on selling a product.  Interview nervousness?  Perhaps.

Anyway, I asked my mum to tell me the times of her assessments.  The first one was yesterday (Friday).  During the time of her assessment, I was in a car and did one cycle of the Chaplet.  Well, at least that was what I planned to do.  I planned to do a cycle as I picked my little niece up from playschool and brought her home.   The process was supposed to take only about 15 minutes.  However, traffic was extra bad and instead of 15 minutes, it took me more than an hour.  Somehow or other, I ended up doing uncounted cycles in the space of an hour plus.

Later when I called to check on her,  I heard that she did so well, she was held up as an example to the others.  She told me that she felt light and confident.  Unlike her experience during the interview.  By right, if she truly had a problem with nerves, she would've performed worse in front of an audience than in front of a single interviewer. 

I firmly believe that the chaplet helped in keeping her mind clear and her delivery focused.  She's got three more assessments to get through. So I will be doing the chaplet again.

Some may scoff and shake their heads... but please don't do it in front of me.  For I will pity your lack of faith in God.  Well, who knows... if I pity you enough, I'll add you to my list of people to pray for.  LOL.  That can be scary.

Let me explain why I use the word 'scary'.

Previously I mentioned a friend who had a problem with a jealous colleague.  Well, let me tell you the ending to that story.  Over months, that colleague tried to undermine the bosses' belief in her integrity and performance in the office.  She actually fell ill under all the stress and tension.  She suspected him of being the one behind a poison letter that led to an investigation of her office.  All the while, another friend had been counselling her to 'radiate loving kindness.'  In the beginning, she would just shake her head and say,"I can't.  I just can't."  But towards the end, she just caved in under all the pain and just offered all her sufferings up to God.  Let it be.  Thy will be done.  AND she began praying the Divine Mercy chaplet for that colleague.  I was so happy that she had made the journey from anger to forgiveness. 

And you know what?  The man fell sick.  The day she began praying for him, he fell ill and took three days off. 

Well, she was only human, so she doubled her prayers for him.  LOL.

After that, things turned around for her in the office.  The people who supported this man began deserting him.  The investigation turned up many great things that made her star shine even more, while it made him and his cronies look execrably bad.  He was so busy plotting that he neglected to do his job properly.  Stupid man.  Didn't he realise that a poison pen letter would spark off an investigation?  Now he just sits in the office, more alone than ever and gives her perplexed looks.
What I found interesting was that in the beginning, when he was using magic and she responded with prayers, he was informed by his witch doctor that her witch doctor was really powerful.  That was when he stepped up the hostilities.  HOWEVER, the only 'witch doctor' she had was God.

How did she know all this, you may ask?  Well, when rats abandon a sinking ship, they open their mouths really wide.

What I learned from her sharing is that when we call upon God to help us, He responds.  Otherwise what 'presence' was that, that the witch doctor detected??

The further I go on this journey, the more evidence I uncover about how much God loves us and wants to protect us.  So when I come upon a person who questions the existence of God, I really feel sad at the lack of glory in his or her life.

E, S, Z : As I type this, my chest is hurting.

Reviewing The Secrets, Chastisement and Triumph of the Two Hearts of Jesus & Mary

I finished reading Dr Kelly Bowring's book last month.  And now I am waiting for a further 5 copies that friends have requested.

This book is GOOD.

If you are a Catholic who wonders what is going on in this world nowadays, what the apparitions in Fatima, Lourdes, Medjugorje etc collectively mean and what needs to be done, then you MUST read this book. Especially when it has been given an imprimatur. Dr Kelly Bowring pulls together statements, messages from various sources (approved by the Catholic Church) and distils the main themes into an easily-understood book as well as provides a manual of sorts. This book is not a book foretelling doom and armageddon... it is one of hope and of optimism. It is one which calls us all to return to God and bring about a wondrous future. 

The ebook version is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

100% Beeswax Candles

I am wondering where I could find 100% beeswax candles. 

If you've been doing a lot of strategic reading into Catholicism and saints' prophecies, you'd know why I ask this.