4 Sufferings of Purgatory (Every Catholic Needs to Know!)

What really happens in purgatory? In this powerful video, we explore the four major sufferings of purgatory—the deep spiritual pain that Catholic saints and mystics have described for centuries. From the privation of God to the torment of flames, remorse of conscience, and the pain of unrealized holiness, this episode brings clarity to what souls endure and why our prayers are so urgently needed.

Transcript

What if the deepest longing of your soul was just out of reach the deepest part of your being is longing for God imagine glimpsing God the Fulfillment of all your desire and then being separated from him so my question is I know what Purgatory is I know there's suffering involved what exactly happens I guess that's the first great suffering of purgatory and that's just the beginning we first released video in the fall but we are re-releasing it because it fits so perfectly with our current series on Purgatory so the stories the reflections I think you'll really appreciate it stay tuned for our closing comments at the end of this video Welcome Back everybody it's great to have you hey thanks for joining us Outdoors beautiful day here in Saskatchewan and it's November November in the church is dedicated to the holy souls in purgatory I think Janelle has a deeper Devotion to the holy souls of purgatory oh yeah I I really do well I no I can't say have a greater devotion but I know I have a devotion I just feel like we can't forget those holy souls nor can we assume that we don't have any loved ones not in purgatory correct and so today we're going to talk about the sufferings of purgatory the Pains of purgatory the first one the privation of God so the soul in Purgatory is being purified and what causes its first pain it can't see God now if you think about the different things that bring us comfort in this life even just to our bodies we got the five senses we see so we see things that are beautiful and it brings us great comfort like a sunset or your wife you you touch so that's also a great comfort in life you know do you remember the first time we held hands um no there's a lady by crawling on my finger oh yeah the very first time the very first time what did you say uh I think I said I like the way your hand feels in mine yes touch can bring us great joy by the way silly call your hand mine that's good so we see we we touch we we taste uh you made me hot chocolate today with five scoops of I did not put five Scoops in there oh you did four glad you enjoyed four so was more than enough Plus Cream yeah it was it was good thank you that brought me joy oh good uh and then we we smell be what are the things that you smell to bring joy to you the thing uh I like oh I love the smell of like homemade cooking homemade baking bread yeah bread flowers I love well flowers yeah depends what kind of flowers as long as it's not lies those give me really bad headings the point is that our bodies get pleasure and satisfaction through the senses and it brings us joy and that's that's good all experienced in moderation in right order but when we die the soul is separated from the body and none of these things can Comfort the soul there is only one thing that can Comfort the soul after death the one want the one desire and that is God and that is the one thing that the souls in purgatory can't have in fullness yet because they're being purified because a soul and patory has died state with imperfect charity they've been attached to the world they may have sins uh venial sins that they need to atone for the temporal Punishment Due the sin hasn't been uh atone for and so they're in purgatory they're being purified and the very thing that they want they cannot have and some might think well what's the big deal about that well what is a person made for we're made for God think about your lungs what are your lungs made for they're ordered to Air and what if your lungs do not get air you suffocate I imagine sometimes purgatory is a soul suffering gasping for what it cannot have yet and that is God St ambrosus said their eyes beheld a great spectacle God showed himself to them with all his adorable Perfection he imprinted His Image so vividly in their Spirit he infused them so fiercely with the glory of his infinite Majesty that they think of him continually and love him with a love that is pure and complete complete this insatiable love this deprivation this hunger this thirst for God torments and tortures them they are continually dying without dying and the church calls this condition a death and rightly so Lord deliver them from Death so I just found that really interesting because it's like the the souls are given the opportunity to see God which is what they what they desire and then he's removed from them yeah and that particular point comes from private Revelation so we move on to the second pain of purgatory which is the Flames what I find interesting about the Flames though too is that it's from the reading that I've done it's it's different than the Flames that we find here on Earth and like you think you think the Flames here on Earth would be bad enough right like could you imagine like you just burn yourself a little bit like you've touched a really hot pan or you've touched the lid of something or or your kid grabs the marshmallow stick where it's too hot and how that can leave an imprint on your hand um and cause pain for for a long time but what um the reading that I've done has shown is that this type of fire is very different than the fire that we have on Earth so St Augustine and St Thomas called us the torment by fire that mere word is frightening to be completely immersed in a penetrating flame what a cruel torture material fire acts only on the body and how terrible are its effects who could could hold a glowing coal in his hand for only a minute but the flame in purgatory acts on the soul itself it affects the intelligence the memory the senses all of our faculties are seized and permeated St Thomas said the most roaring furnaces the most Ardent Flames to which Martyrs were condemned are a mere Shadow when compared to the devouring Flames we must endure in purgatory okay so I read this story about St Stannis laas Costa he's from Poland and he had a Holy Soul come and visit him and he was asking the Holy Soul about the the Flames of purgatory and the the soul told him like you cannot handle what we experience in purgatory and he allowed St Stanislas to have a drop of his sweat fall upon his hand and that's just that mere drop of sweat created such an intense pain that he screamed and passed out and then the other um brothers or Friars from the monastery came rushing in to find out what happened only to have him wake up and then recount the story of this encounter with his holy soul and he shared about um exactly what the Holy Soul had told him and that pain that he got from that little drop lasted for over a year on his hand so that wasn't even the fire that was just a drop of hot sweat that would be a reminder to pray for the souls in purgatory yeah that's what yeah EXA could you imagine I'm sure he continuously prayed for them after that so we we are left with the story as the reminder yeah I'd rather the story than the experience nonetheless we will pray so another suffering in purgatory is the pain of remorse so when we think about the sins that we have committed on Earth often like sometimes we don't even realize some of the things that we're doing are sinful or hurtful towards other people and so I think that all of that is brought to our mind and then we have to be purified because of that and there's such a remorse that comes with that I think often like even of our kids if they do something and they feel really bad about it and how it's like you're in this little suffering right well how much greater is that suffering when you're in purgatory knowing the offenses that you've caused God and I think there's also the element of seeing more clearly than we see now so we're not often aware of How Deeply our venal sin offends God but then we will see clearly and we will know and so they actually say that um the pain of remorse and the guilt that is experienced in purgatory is even greater than the suffering that is experienced by the flames in purgatory what is the book that you're getting this from okay so which you you really okay I love this this is actually the second time that I do this it's called a month with our friends the souls in purgatory and I this is one of the reasons why I love the month of November I love going through this this book my cousin he often gives me great ideas great things to do ways to grow in Holiness and this was one of his suggestions and so I I just really enjoyed this book and every single day there's they go through a little teaching about purgatory a lot of it is private Revelation stories experiences that Saints have had with um holy souls coming to visit them and then they um and then they just you know it finishes with prayers that you can do to help alleviate some of the suffering and then hopefully um allow some of these Saints to experience a beautific vision in heaven and I like how it also shares about how so we have such great guilt for all the sins that we've committed but it also we then also discover the millions of sins that we we had never perceived or that we had never even confessed possibly because clearly everything will be made known to us there so another suffering in purgatory go for it okay is the good that we should have done you know all those sins of omission all the things like I often think Lord what should my life have looked like according to your will like would it look really different what would my character look like how would I have responded in this situation if I was completely unified with your will that can be a little bit of a scary thought in some ways because I think that I fall short a lot well I think we can understand that pain even now where we can recognize had we made a different decision life would be different and in fact the pain of regret now can really eat a person but the when we live there now that's not a healthy thing and really our hope is to do Purgatory on Earth cuz I don't want to do Purgatory in purgatory that's why you're married to me so on our Channel there's many traditional Catholic prayers some of them Center on praying for the souls in purgatory one in particular is the choplet of St Gertrude which you have been making use of I've noticed playing in the kitchen in the back yeah it you can release so many Souls by praying the Chaplet of St Gerard and we say uh the St Gerard prayer in the morning too right now yeah with the kids I feel like that's something that we should just be able to just you know Say by heart yeah so if you've never prayed it we highly encourage you to pray it's going to be linked here at the end of this video that's a beautiful prayer we also have seven prayer another video called seven prayers for the souls in purgatory I'll link at the end of this video as well for your benefit there to pray for the holy souls well something that it's not on our Channel but something that we do and that we committed to quite a while ago is just to pray for the holy souls every single day of your life because they need our prayers and they are completely dependent on the prayers of others and so um the after we say our Grace after after meals we say and may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace and I think that's so important to do and to not forget to pray for them yeah so we made a life commitment to do that yeah we're lifers yeah okay closing comments Janelle a couple of things for you well if you just so happen to be watching this video you may have noticed that I was pregnant um in it and that's because in the fall I was pregnant and we had our baby in January so I'm currently no longer pregnant and we have a fairly newborn baby as well something that we haven't mentioned very often all these episodes are a podcast so if you prefer the audio you can find it on your favorite streaming platform and regarding YouTube uh if you'd like to help get this video out to a larger audience we'd appreciate if you just hit that like button or subscribe and then YouTube sees that and pushes it out to a new audience so thank you and with that let's end with a

prayer Eternal Father I offer Thee the most precious blood of thy Divine son Jesus 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 family amen