Suffering Souls in Purgatory

For most of us, purgatory is a half-remembered word, something mentioned at funerals and then set aside. Yet the Church has always taught that the souls who die in God's friendship, but still carry the marks of sin, are made ready for heaven through a final purification. They cannot help themselves. They wait, and they hope, and they depend on the prayers of the living.

This short book gathers what the saints and mystics of the Church have seen and written about those holy souls. Their accounts are sobering and tender at once: a reminder that death is not the end of love, and that the bond between the living and the dead is real enough to carry mercy across it.

Above all, it is a book about hope and responsibility. If our prayers, our sacrifices, and the Mass can truly bring relief to those being purified, then remembering the dead is not sentiment. It is one of the great works of mercy, and it is within reach of anyone willing to pray.