Association Of Catholic Bloggers

The subject of praying for those on the other side of the veil is close to my heart. I KNOW  personally, the agony of a soul who is desperate for my prayers. I have learned through personal experience, that souls in purgatory, although they cannot pray for themselves,  press in on the most sensitive of their relatives for prayer. It took years before I understood the emotional weight I carried like a rock in my chest was not mine, but I what I felt was actually my paternal grandmother’s guilt, shame and sense of unforgiven sin.I heard her negative words interiorly and again the words I heard seemed to condemn ME.These spiritual, emotional and even physical burdens were simply the only way my grandmother could get my attention.   After two years of interceding for her, a priest ( who in fact is the official exorcist of my diocese) was finally led by God to give this poor soul absolution in the name of the Church.Instantly,I mean  immediately,  I was f...

It is almost November and the feast of All Souls and All Saints. Before I give you all the official Church teaching on the souls in purgatory. I must tell you why this subject is close to my heart. I KNOW  personally, the agony of a soul who is desperate for my prayers. I have learned through personal experience, that souls in purgatory, although they cannot pray for themselves,  press in on the most sensitive of their relatives for prayer. My Ukrainian grandmother, who had been in Canada for barely 15 years, died accidentally under extreme duress as a young mother of three boys when her husband was at war. Since this occurred in the 1940′s, she was denied a Christian burial in the Catholic church. When my grandfather returned from the war,  the young family left the Catholic Church and my grandfather remarried a Protestant Presbyterian. In turn, I was raised in this church with no knowledge of any Catholic roots until I converted. My father pleaded with me to reco...