Praying for Priest in Mortal Sin........St. Teresa of Avila..

Volume 1 of The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Chapter 38, parts 23 & 24 & 25:

23. "Once, while approaching to receive Communion, I saw with my soul's eyes more clearly than with my bodily eyes two devils whose appearance was abominable. It seems to me their horns were wrapped around the poor priests's throat, and in the host that was going to be given to me I saw my Lord with the majesty I mentioned placed in the priest's hands, which were clearly seen to be His offender's; and I understood that that soul was in mortal sin. What would it be my Lord, to see Your beauty in the midst of such abominable figures? They were as though frightened and terrified in Your presence, for it seems they would have very eagerly fled had You allowed them.

This vision caused me such great disturbance I don't know how I was able to receive Communion, and I was left with a great fear, thinking that if the vision had been from God, His Majesty would not have permitted me to see the evil that was in that soul. The Lord Himself told me to pray for him and that He had permitted it so that I might understand the power of the words of consecration and how God does not fail to be present, however evil the priest who recites them, and that I might see His great goodness since He places Himself in those hands of His enemy, and all out of love for me and for everyone. I understood well how much more priests are obliged to be good than are others, how deplorable a thing it is to receive this most Blessed Sacrament unworthily, and how much the devil is lord over the soul in mortal sin. It did me a great deal of good and brought me deep understanding of what I owed God. May He be blessed forever and ever.

Diary of St. Faustina...on helping a Struggling Soul..

Our Lord’s words to St. Faustina regarding the chaplet for the sick and dying:

"My daughter, help Me to save a certain dying sinner. Say the chaplet that I have taught you for him.” (Diary 1565).

“When I began to say the chaplet, I saw the man dying in the midst of terrible torment and struggle. His Guardian Angel was defending him, but he was, as it were, powerless against the enormity of the soul's misery. A multitude of devils was waiting for the soul. But while I was saying the chaplet, I saw Jesus just as He is depicted in the image. The rays which issued from Jesus' Heart enveloped the sick man, and the powers of darkness fled in panic. The sick man peacefully breathed his last. When I came to myself, I understood how very important the chaplet was for the dying. It appeases the anger of God.”" (Diary 1565).

Diary of St Faustina ...the power of the Angels and the Holy Rosary against evil

Diary No. 412

"There was no one in the chapel so I got up, picked up the pieces of the flower pot, repotted the flower, and tried to do all these before anyone came in. But I did not manage to do so, a Mother Superior came in at that moment, together with the sister sacristan and several other sisters. Mother Superior was surprised that I had been touching something at the altar and thus caused the flower to fall. Sister Sacristan showed her displeasure and I did my best not to explain or excuse myself. But, towards evening, I was exhausted and could not make my holy hour, so I asked Mother Superior to allow me to go to bed early. I fell asleep as soon as I laid down, but at about eleven o’clock Satan shook my bed. I awoke instantly and I started to pray peacefully to my Guardian Angel. Then I saw the souls who are doing penance in Purgatory. They appeared like shadows and among them I saw many demons. One of these tried to vex me, taking the form of a cat. He kept pawing on to my bed and on my feet and he was quite heavy, as if weighing a ton. I kept praying the Rosary all the while and, toward dawn, these beings vanished. And I was able to get some sleep.

When I entered the chapel in the morning, I heard a voice in my soul, You are united to me, fear nothing. But know, my child, that Satan hates you. He hates every soul, but he burns with a particular hatred for you, because you have snatched so many souls from his dominion."

St. Faustina's vision of Hell from her Diary

I, Sister Faustina Kowalska, by the order of God, have visited the Abysses of Hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence...the devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God, What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: That most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell." (Diary 741)


"Today, I was led by an angel to the Chasms of Hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw:


The First Torture that constitutes hell is:
The loss of God.

The Second is:
Perpetual remorse of conscience.

The Third is
That one's condition will never change.

The Fourth is:
The fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it. A terrible suffering since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God's anger.

The Fifth Torture is:
Continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own.

The Sixth Torture is:
The constant company of Satan.


The Seventh Torture is:
Horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies.


These are the Tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings.


Indescribable Sufferings
There are special Tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings related to the manner in which it has sinned.

I would have died
There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me.

No One Can Say There is No Hell
Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like...how terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God's mercy upon them. O My Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, than offend you by the least sin." (Diary 741)
 
Today unfortunately there are some Religious, Priests and even Bishops who do not believe in the existence of Hell.  I just recently heard that a Priest said that he does not believe that a loving God could allow people to go to such a place.  But it is not God who sends anyone to Hell, the soul itself chooses to turn its back on God and His Mercy and if it persists in a state of sin deliberately he or she is endangering him or herself even more.  The Saints testify to the reality of hell, the seers of Fatima saw Hell and they were only children when they saw such a horrible sight.  Their lives were never the same after that as they embarked on a road of prayer and penance that would put many of us today to shame.  Evil is all around us but Gods Mercy is greater than all evil.  We must never forget to pray and do penance for those who are in danger especially those we see highlighted in the media and also those around us and we must pray very much for Priests and Religious.

Hell exists....Sr. Josefa Menendez

Sr. Josefa Menendez in her book The Way of Divine Love describes a scene from hell

"Some yell because of the martyrdom of their hands. Perhaps they were thieves, for they say: 'Where is our loot now?' ...Cursed hands... Others curse their tongues, their eyes...whatever was the occasion of sin... 'Now, O body, you are paying the price of the delights you granted yourself!...and you did it of your own free will...'" (April 2, 1922).

"I saw several souls fall into Hell, and among them was a child of fifteen, cursing her parents for not having taught her to fear God nor that there was a Hell. Her life had been a short one, she said, but full of sin, for she had given in to all that her body and passions demanded in the way of satisfaction..." (March 22, 1923).

"I heard a demon, from whom a soul had escaped, forced to confess his powerlessness. 'Confound it all... how do so many manage to escape me? They were mine' (and he rattled off their sins)... 'I work hard enough, yet they slip through my fingers... Someone must be suffering and repairing for them.'" (January 15, 1923). ("Repairing," that is, "making reparation" for them).

Diary of St. Faustina....on the Power of Gods Mercy

"Today I saw the glory of God which flows from the image. Many souls are receiving graces, although they do not speak of it openly. Even though it has met up with all sorts of vicissitudes, God is receiving glory because of it; and the efforts of Satan and of evil men are shattered and come to naught. In spite of Satan’s anger, the Divine Mercy will triumph over the whole world and will be worshiped by all souls" (Diary, 1789).

The Power of Holy Water against Evil Spirits - St. Teresa of Avila

St. Teresa of Avila wrote: “From long experience I have learned that there is nothing like holy water to put devils to flight and prevent them from coming back again.

They also flee from the cross, but return; so holy water must have great value. For my own part, whenever I take it, my soul feels a particular and most notable consolation.  In fact, it is quite usual for me to be conscious of a refreshment which I cannot possibly describe, resembling an inward joy which comforts my whole soul.

This is not fancy, or something which has happened to me only once it has happened again and again and I have observed it attentively. It is let us say, as if someone very hot and thirsty were to drink from a jug of cold water: he would feel the refreshment throughout his body. 

I often reflect on the great importance of everything ordained by the Church and it makes me very happy to find that those words of the Church are so powerful that they impart their power to the water and make it so very different from water which has not been blessed.”

“One night, too, about this time, I thought the devils were stifling me; and when the nuns had sprinkled a great deal of holy water about I saw a huge crowd of them running away as quickly as though they were about to fling themselves down a steep place.”

“I will only describe something that happened to me one night of All Souls. I was in an oratory: I had said one nocturn and was repeating some very devotional prayers which follow it — they are extremely devotional:
we have them in our office-book — when actually the devil himself alighted on the book, to prevent me from finishing the prayer. I made the sign of the Cross and he went away.

I then began again and he came back. I think I began that prayer three times and not until I had sprinkled some holy water on him could I finish it.

Keep your soul beautifully pure in God’s sight by making the Sign of the Cross carefully while saying, “By this holy water and by Thy Precious Blood wash away all my sins, O Lord.”

Diary of St. Faustina.......On the Power of Holy Water....

Notebook 2

601 Once, when one of our sisters [126] became fatally ill and all the community [127] was gathered together, there was also a priest [128] there who gave the sister absolution. Suddenly, I saw many spirits of darkness. Then, forgetting that I was with the sisters, I seized the holywater sprinkler and sprinkled the spirits, and they disappeared at once. However, when the sisters came to the refectory, Mother Superior [Borgia] remarked that I should not have sprinkled the sick sister in the presence of the priest, as this was his duty. I accepted the admonition in the spirit of penance, but holy water is indeed of great help to the dying.

602 My Jesus, You see how weak I am of myself. Therefore, You yourself direct my affairs. And know, Jesus, that without You I will not budge for any cause, but with You I will take on the most difficult things.

The Reality of Hell & Satan - St. Teresa of Avila ..........

"A long time after the Lord had already granted me many of the favors I've mentioned and other very lofty ones, while I was in prayer one day, I suddenly found that, without knowing how, I had seemingly been put in hell. I understood that the Lord wanted me to see the place the devils had prepared there for me and which I merited because of my sins. This experience took place within the shortest space of time, but even were I to live for many years I think it would be impossible for me to forget it. The entrance it seems to me was similar to a very long and narrow alleyway, like an oven, low and dark and confined; the floor seemed to me to consist of dirty, muddy water emitting foul stench and swarming with putrid vermin. At the end of the alleyway a hole that looked like a small cupboard was hollowed out in the wall; there I found I was placed in a cramped condition. All of this was delightful to see in comparison with what I felt there. What I have described can hardly be exaggerated.

"What I felt, it seems to me, cannot even begin to be exaggerated; nor can it be understood. I experienced a fire in the soul that I don't know how I could describe. The bodily pains were so unbearable that though I had suffered excruciating ones in this life and according to what doctors say, the worst that can be suffered on earth for all my nerves were shrunken when I was paralyzed, plus many other sufferings of many kinds that I endured and even some as I said, caused by the devil, these were all nothing in comparison with the ones I experienced there. I saw furthermore that they would go on without end and without ever ceasing. This, however, was nothing next to the soul's agonizing: a constriction, a suffocation, an affliction so keenly felt and with such a despairing and tormenting unhappiness that I don't know how to word it strongly enough.

To  say the experience is as though the soul were continually being wrested from the body would be insufficient, for it would make you think somebody else is taking away the life, whereas here it is the soul itself that tears itself in pieces. The fact is that I don't know how to give a sufficiently powerful description of that interior fire and that despair, coming in addition to such extreme torments and pains. I didn't see who inflicted them on me, but, as it seemed to me, I felt myself burning and crumbling; and I repeat the worst was that interior fire and despair.

"Being in such an unwholesome place, so unable to hope for any consolation, I found it impossible either to sit down or to lie down, nor was there any room, even though they put me in this kind of hole made in the wall. Those walls, which were terrifying to see, closed in on themselves and suffocated everything. There was no light, but all was enveloped in the blackest darkness. I don't understand how this could be, that everything painful to see was visible."

Diary of St. Faustina .....Torment of Soul & Peace of Christ........

673 I was tormented by terrible temptations all day; blasphemies thrust themselves upon my lips, and I felt an aversion for everything that is holy and godlike. Yet I struggled throughout the day. In the evening, my mind became oppressed: what's the use of telling this to the confessor? He will ridicule it. A feeling of aversion and discouragement filled my soul, and it seemed to me that I could by no means receive Holy Communion in that condition. At the thought of not receiving Communion, such a terrible pain seized my soul that I almost cried aloud in the chapel. But I suddenly realized that the sisters were there and decided to go to the garden and hide myself there so as to be able to at least cry out loud. Then suddenly, Jesus stood by me and said, Where are you intending to go?

674 I gave no answer to Jesus, but poured out all my sorrow before Him, and Satan's attempts ceased. Jesus then said to me, The inner peace that you have is a grace, and suddenly He was gone. I felt happy and unaccountably peaceful. Really, for so much peace to return within a moment-that is a thing only Jesus can do, He, the most high Lord.

The Works of Mercy in Those Beatified by Bl. Pope John Paul II

BL.  FATHER PAOLO MANNA

(1872-1952)

Missionary in Burma (Myanmar)

Superior General of the P.I.M.E.

Founder of the Pontifical Missionary Union

Blessed Father Paolo Manna was born in Avellino on January 16, 1872. After primary and technical education in Avellino and in Naples he went to Rome for higher studies. While studying philosophy at the Gregorian University he followed the call of the Lord and entered the Theology Seminary of the Institute for Foreign Missions in Milan. On May 19, 1894 he was ordained a priest in the cathedral of Milan.

On September 27, 1895 departed for the mission of Toungoo in Eastern Burma. He worked there for a total of ten years with two short repatriations until 1907, when his illness forced him to come back to Italy for good.

Beginning in 1909, through writing and a variety of other activities, he dedicated all his energy for the next forty years to fostering missionary zeal among the clergy and the faithful. In 1916 founded the Missionary Union of the Clergy on which Pius XII bestowed the title of “Pontifical” in 1956. He saw the Union as “a radical solution to the problem of involving Catholics in the apostolate.” His assumption was that a mission-minded clergy would make all Catholics missionaries. Today the Union has spread throughout the world and the membership includes seminarians, religious and consecrated laity.

By 1909 he became the director of Le Missioni Cattoliche; and in 1914 he launched Propaganda Missionaria – a popular broadsheet with a large circulation; in 1919 he started Italia Missionaria for young people.

In an effort to foster the missionary vocations in Southern Italy, the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith asked Father Manna to establish a seminary for foreign missions. He opened Sacred Heart Seminary at Ducenta in the province of Caserta – a foundation he had long encouraged and promoted.

In 1924 was elected Superior General of the Institute of Foreign Missions of Milan. In 1926 at the instigation of Pope Pius XI the Institute united with the Missionary Seminary of Rome to form the Pontifical Institute for the Foreign Missions (P.I.M.E.).

The P.I.M.E. General Assembly of 1934 gave him mandate to establish the Society of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate. He played a primary role in the foundation of this institute in 1936. From 1937 to 1941 Father Manna was in charge of the International Secretariat for the Missionary Union of the Clergy .

The Italian Southern Province of P.I.M.E. was established in 1943 and Father Manna became its first superior and launched the family missionary magazine Venga il tuo regno.

Father Manna wrote quite a number of well-known books and booklets. Several of them had a lasting effect such as: Operarii autem pauci; I Fratelli separati e noi; Le nostre Chiese e la propagazione del Vangelo; Virtù Apostoliche. He envisioned innovative methods of missionary work that foresaw developments at the Second Vatican Council. But Fr. Manna’s greatest legacy is the example he left behind: he was driven by an overwhelming passion for the missions that sickness, suffering and setbacks could never diminish. Tragella, his first biographer, called him “A burning soul”. Until his death his motto was: “All the Church for all the World”!

Father Paolo Manna died in Naples on September 15, 1952. His remains were laid to rest at Ducenta, “his seminary”. On December 13, 1990 Pope John Paul II visited his tomb.

His Beatification Cause began in Naples in 1971 and concluded in Rome on April 24, 2001 with a Papal Decree on a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Servant of God.

Diary of St. Faustina - On Obedience and Talkative Souls.......

1005 Let the glory and praise to The Divine Mercy rise from every creature throughout all ages and times.

1006 + O my Lord and God, You command me to write about the graces You grant me. O my Jesus, were it not for a clear command from my confessors,[178] that I am to write down what goes on in my soul, I would not, of my own choice, write a single word. And so, if I do write about myself, it is at the formal command of holy obedience.

1007 + Praise and glory be to You, O Holy Trinity, Eternal God. May the mercy springing from Your very bowels protect us from Your just anger. Let the praise of Your incomprehensible mercy resound everywhere. All Your works bear the seal of Your unfathomable mercy, O God.

1008 March 1, 1937. The Lord gave me to know how displeased He is with a talkative soul. I find no rest in such a soul. The constant din tires Me, and in the midst of it the soul cannot discern My voice.