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Text Box: various filters and chemicals. Purgatory purification is purification of the spirit, of the soul, of the essence of the person, and requires individualized application to each person. It is not a matter of “presto chango” you are now holy. It is removal of all that is not fit to be in God’s house, and of fully establishing all that is necessary form one to be in God’s house. We do not know what this process is, but we do know that no one in Purgatory can assist themselves, for they are not a complete human, lacking their physical bodies. We do not know who other than those in this life can assist those in Purgatory, but we do know that we can. Imagine those who are in Purgatory, whose families and friends do not believe in Purgatory. Who is there to pray for them, and by those prayers, assist them in completing the purification process and leaving Purgatory, and thereby attaining Heaven? No one except us. Who will pray for us if we go to Purgatory, especially when all of our families and friends are dead? Those whom we assist in getting out of Purgatory will be deeply grateful to us for our help, and will assist us in getting out of Purgatory. So, for the sake of common decency, and out of your own self interest, pray for the dead. Ref: Lesson 1 Cor. 1:4-8; Gospel Mat. 9:1-8; 2 Machabees 12:43-46; Ecclus. 36:18 +

Text Box: IMITATION OF CHRIST By Thomas a Kempis BOOK THREE The Forty-Second Chapter Peace is Not to Be Placed in Men The Voice of Christ My child, if you place your peace in any creature because of your own feeling or for the sake of his company, you will be unsettled and entangled. But if you have recourse to the ever-living and abiding Truth, you will not grieve if a friend should die or forsake you. Your love for your friend should be grounded in Me, and for My sake you should love whoever seems to be good and is very dear to you in this life. Without Me friendship has no strength and cannot endure. Love which I do not bind is neither true nor pure. You ought, therefore, to be so dead to such human affections as to wish as far as lies within you to be without the fellowship of men. Man draws nearer to God in proportion as he withdraws farther from all earthly comfort. And he ascends higher to God as he descends lower into himself and grows more vile in his own eyes. He who attributes any good to himself hinders God's grace from coming into his heart, for the grace of the Holy Spirit seeks always the humble heart. If you knew how to annihilate yourself completely and empty yourself of all created love, then I should overflow in you with great grace. When you look to creatures, the sight of the Creator is taken from you. Learn, therefore, to conquer yourself in all things for the sake of your Maker. Then will you be able to attain to divine knowledge. But anything, no matter how small, that is loved and regarded inordinately keeps you back from the highest good and corrupts the soul. The Forty-Third Chapter Beware Vain and Worldly Knowledge

Text Box: The Voice of Christ My child, do not let the fine-sounding and subtle words of men deceive you. For the kingdom of heaven consists not in talk but in virtue. Attend, rather, to My words which enkindle the heart and enlighten the mind, which excite contrition and abound in manifold consolations. Never read them for the purpose of appearing more learned or more wise. Apply yourself to mortifying your vices, for this will benefit you more than your understanding of many difficult questions. Though you shall have read and learned many things, it will always be necessary for you to return to this one principle: I am He who teaches man knowledge, and to the little ones I give a clearer understanding than can be taught by man. He to whom I speak will soon be wise and his soul will profit. But woe to those who inquire of men about many curious things, and care very little about the way they serve Me. The time will come when Christ, the Teacher of teachers, the Lord of angels, will appear to hear the lessons of all -- that is, to examine the conscience of everyone. Then He will search Jerusalem with lamps and the hidden things of darkness will be brought to light and the arguings of men's tongues be silenced. I am He Who in one moment so enlightens the humble mind that it comprehends more of eternal truth than could be learned by ten years in the schools. I teach without noise of words or clash of opinions, without ambition for honor or confusion of argument. I am He Who teaches man to despise earthly possessions and to loathe present things, to ask after the eternal, to hunger for heaven, to fly honors and to bear with scandals, to place all hope in Me, to desire nothing apart from Me, and to love Me ardently above all things. For a certain man by loving Me intimately learned divine truths and spoke wonders. He profited more by leaving all things than by studying

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