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Q&A with Mystic Alicja Lenczewska, Part 2
On May 18, as the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception marks the birthday and liturgical memorial of its founder, St. Stanislaus Papczynski, it is fitting to reflect on this. One of the Congregationโs three principal aims is to help the dead suffering in Purgatory, especially the victims of wars and epidemics.
Living in a war-torn period, St. Stanislaus witnessed thousands of casualties on battlefields, and from raging plagues and natural disasters. One day, among those graves, he had a vision of many souls who, with groans and urgent pleas, begged him never to cease helping them because they endured unspeakable pains in Purgatory.
We also witness recurring armed conflicts in which many civilians and soldiers lose their lives. For that reason, the subject of the Holy Souls seems especially timely.
Our sins incur temporal punishment in ways known fully by God and partly by our own limited, and often not properly formed, consciences. We commend a soul to God because we presume that those who die in a state of grace still require purification for all the reliquiae peccatiโthe remnants of sin, the effects of forgiven mortal sins, and current venial sins, from which no one is immune. That is the point of Purgatory, as its name implies, to cleanse us of our faults, even our hidden ones.
Nearly all our fellow Christians do not believe in Purgatory, because the doctrine calls for praying for the departed souls, and they hold that salvation through good works is unbiblical. What a pity, since the Holy Souls desperately need our help, sometimes leaving tangible signs of their presence.
Let us now journey through what God advised mystic Alicja Lenczewska in this regard.
WHERE IS PURGATORY?
(Saturday, November 4, 1989)
โ Purgatory is not a place of residence, but a state of the soul.
THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS
(Saturday, April 11, 1987)
โO God, teach me zeal for the faith!
โ Exclamation points are unnecessary; what matters is loving attachment to Me, with the trust of a child.
โHow seldom, at yesterdayโs gathering, did we pray for the dead. At one point, I sensed someoneโs presence, so I had to begin such a prayer. While we were still together after the prayers, D. called with the news that K.โan acquaintance of oursโhad died.
โ My child do not ask for details. But know that the souls in Purgatory are greatly in need of help, especially at the beginning. And they turn to those from whom they can receive it. Blood ties then matter less than spiritual understanding when help is needed.
AN UNEXPECTED VISIT FROM PURGATORY
(Monday, March 16, 1987)
โI sighed with regret that I was not where the souls are whom I invite to pray with me.
*Do not envy us. You do not know how precious every moment of life is, when you can serve the Lord. Many of us would like to return even for a momentโto adore His hidden love and to show Him gratitude before knowing the whole Truth.
Now we suffer because of His wasted graces, and we feel compassion for you, who squander those graces so thoughtlessly.
โWhat should I do?
*Give yourself entirely to the Lordโs disposal, with boundless love and gratitude. Desire only His glory.
You will be clothed in His Love, and it will protect you like a garment from the blows of evil, like a shield.
Give Him everything; remain naked and defenceless, and He will clothe you and shelter you with His power.
He desires this and wants to take you in His arms […] so that you may share in His work of salvation. He wants to give you the grace of sharing in His sacrifice. Do not be afraid. You are in His armsโat His heart.
โWhat is the theme of todayโs retreat, Lord?
โ Following Me on the Way of the Cross.
PURGATORY ON EARTH
(Thursday, February 8, 1990)
โ If you wish to follow Me and imitate Me, you do not need to invent mortifications for yourself. You must accept the evil that existsโthe evil you encounter every dayโand the toil that fills human life and burn it away in Love.
Each station of My Way of the Cross refers to your life, and their sequence to the path of Loveโs growth and self-denial within you. Reflect on this and know that at the end there is the Resurrectionโyours and that of those whom you embrace in brotherly love. Your resurrection will be measured by the extent of your sacrificial love for your brothers.
โ The way of the cross in human life is purgatory on earth. Whoever accepts it will be taken to Heaven like Mary. She is the model for every person: her โfiatโ to the Eternal Fatherโs Will, her maternal love for My children, and her spousal union with Me.
THE EFFECTS OF SIN
(Sunday, September 1, 1991)
โ Mortal sin kills Me in the sanctuary of the soul of the person who has sinned. If he persists in sin, I am dead in his soul, and his soul is dead. This is a state like the one after My death on the Cross, because by crucifying Me within himself, he crucifies his own soul.
But as long as he remains in the world, he still has the possibility of the soulโs resurrection through reconciliation with Me. When he longs for Me, I will rise in his soul and save him for eternal life.
โ Salvation may also come through someone elseโs prayer or sacrifice because it may help him think of Me and desire Me before he is taken from this world.
The soul lives by Love. When it rejects Love, it enters a state of dying in fear and suffering. After leaving this world, the soul knows the Truth and is fully aware of its condition.
Purgatory is suffering caused by knowledge of oneโs own state and of God, with the hope of returning to Him. Hell is such knowledge without that hope.
The degree of a personโs hardness determines how many prayers and sacrifices, and of what kind, are needed for that intention, so that he may receive the grace of contrition and conversion. Great hardness can be broken by great sacrifices!
Purgatory is a concrete manifestation of Divine Mercy, and we are all called to help pour forth that Mercy on others through prayers, sacrifices, and indulgences that we can offer on their behalf. (Diary, 748)
We trust that the author of these journals, Alicja Lenczewska, was spared that state of bitter torment and misery, and we can indeed place our own hope so firmly and entirely in God’s Mercy that we will be able to grow in the likeness of the Crucified Christ in this earthly life and may not have to pass through the cleansing fire of Purgatory.
Authorโs Note: Excerpts taken from Alicja Lenczewska, A Word of Instruction (Slowo Pouczenia), Testymony, (ลwiadectwo) published by Wydawnictwo Agape (Poznaล, 2016).
Editorโs Note: This article is part of a CE original series on a twentieth-century Polish mystic, entitled Q&A with Mystic Alicja Lenczewska. Follow along here, and catch up on previous articles on Alicjaโs writings here.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
