A letter from a woman in Hell

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Crocus said:
It’s just a dream. But a strong message nonetheless.
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The reality of the Last Things is not heard often enough. The mercy of God is being sold by some as “everyone has an excuse, so everyone passes.” That is not what mercy is about. Our Lord did not die on a Cross so everyone could have an excuse, to erase the concept of sin. He died for us to put us in a position to turn to mercy, to take us out of our debt owed to the wages of sin.

Sometimes, there is an excuse for mistakes that appear the same as rebellion, but mercy is not making excuses for willfully rebellious behavior. Mercy is forgiving the offenses of the truly repentant who really reject their sin.

We have to remember that we are to show the kind of mercy we hope to receive. When we face up to how cold-hearted we can be towards God and how easily we take offense at the slights of others, we realize how much we need the mercy of God. We cannot afford to put ourselves at risk of either presumption or despair about the Last Things.
 
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Read it today, amazing! Perfect for divine mercy Sunday. So what is the back story, was this nun canonized or beatified?

Did it get the imprimatur? Or any official recognition?

It does sound like she is tooting her own horn a bit in the letter, but if the “friend” in hell actually said that, then I could see how she might chastise her for being holy.
 
I don’t think any certain pronouncements should be made yet, either for it or against on the matter of truth. It might confuse others on here.
 
Hi @anon65111186. Your questions are answered in post 4, 74, 89. 🙂

Yes, some have mentioned this. I never thought this when I first read it, mostly because there were several “compliments” given, with little sly jabs snuck in. I’ve read elsewhere from looking up sources that Claire had taken it upon herself to try and convert her friend. I could see that as you can tell she most likely took her faith seriously, and subsequently became a nun.
 
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misstherese said:
I don’t think any certain pronouncements should be made yet, either for it or against on the matter of truth. It might confuse others on here.
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I read it was a dream. Is it otherwise? submitted for authentication as a supernatural vision?
 
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It hasn’t officially been approved (and most likely never will as it mentions a specific person in Hell). It is supposed to be read as a dream-vision, similar to St. Don Bosco’s or St. Gemma’s dream-visions.
 
no1special said:
She started off by saying NOT to pray for her. But what was the message she was sent to convey exactly?
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You bring up an interesting point. The bible clearly states that it is good to pray for the dead…and that no prayers are ever lost even if one prays for someone who is in Hell. So I think that that alone should of been a flag that it is not legitimate.
 
I don’t know about the authenticity of this.
The mention of not praying for her doesn’t sound right.

Also she says “I hate the devil, and yet I like him”

If she’s full of pure hate why would she hate the devil?

Also would someone who was pure hate and pure evil talk about hating everyone and God in such a “conversational way”?
Ie:wouldn’t they just do it?

It just seems to me to be quite unsophisticated.
 
Prayer has a good effect on the person who does the praying, even if nothing can bring a person out of Hell
 
I’m not saying that it’s OK to miss Mass on Sunday… The omission of an act you are ethically obligated to do is a sin in itself… But there was no particular reason why Anne should have skipped Mass in the first place- there was no dramatic temptation like, oh, it’s going to be super-fun to skip Mass. Reminds me of another Screwtape quote (paraphrasing here): you can take away the blessings in a human’s life, Wormwood, and give him/her NOTHING in return. Sometimes humans really are that stupid.
 
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Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
no prayers are ever lost even if one prays for someone who is in Hell
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Unless God shows to someone that that person is in Hell. This isn’t entirely uncommon. There is a saint, St. Francis Jerome, where this happened.
In the year 1707, St. Francis Jerome was preaching, as was his wont, in the neighborhood of the City of Naples. He was speaking of Hell and the awful chastisements that await obstinate sinners. A brazen courtesan (prostitute), who lived there, troubled by a discourse which aroused her remorse, sought to hinder it by jests and shouts, accompanied by noisy instruments. As she was standing close to the window, the Saint cried out: “Beware, my daughter, of resisting grace; before eight days God will punish you.” The unhappy creature grew only more boisterous. Eight days elapsed, and the holy preacher happened to be again before the same house. This time she was silent; the windows were shut. The hearers, with dismay on their faces, told the Saint that Catherine (that was the name of the bad woman) had a few hours before died suddenly. “Died!” he repeated. “Well, let her tell us now what she has gained by laughing at Hell. Let us ask her.” He uttered these words in an inspired tone, and everyone expected a miracle. Followed by an immense crowd, he went up to the death chamber, and there, after having prayed for an instant he uncovered the face of the corpse, and said in a loud voice, “Catherine, tell us where art thou now.” At this summons, the dead woman lifted her head, while opening her wild eyes; her face borrowed color, her features assumed an expression of horrible despair, and in a mournful voice, she pronounced these words: “In Hell; I am in Hell.” And immediately, she fell back again into the condition of a corpse.
“I was present at that event,” says one of the witnesses, “but I could never convey the impression it produced on me and the bystanders, nor that which I still feel every time I pass that house and look at that window. At the sight of that ill-fated abode, I still hear the pitiful cry resounding: ‘In Hell, I am in Hell.’”
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I have a feeling that St. Francis Jerome didn’t pray for that soul afterwards, for he knew of their end.

I’m sure that a person who receives such a vision would know with confidence that it’s from God by discernment of spirits and a good spiritual director, just as St. Teresa of Avila knew her visions came from God.
 
misstherese said:
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Xanthippe_Voorhees:
no prayers are ever lost even if one prays for someone who is in Hell
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Unless God shows to someone that that person is in Hell. This isn’t entirely uncommon. There is a saint, St. Francis Jerome, where this happened.
In the year 1707, St. Francis Jerome was preaching, as was his wont, in the neighborhood of the City of Naples. He was speaking of Hell and the awful chastisements that await obstinate sinners. A brazen courtesan (prostitute), who lived there, troubled by a discourse which aroused her remorse, sought to hinder it by jests and shouts, accompanied by noisy instruments. As she was standing close to the window, the Saint cried out: “Beware, my daughter, of resisting grace; before eight days God will punish you.” The unhappy creature grew only more boisterous. Eight days elapsed, and the holy preacher happened to be again before the same house. This time she was silent; the windows were shut. The hearers, with dismay on their faces, told the Saint that Catherine (that was the name of the bad woman) had a few hours before died suddenly. “Died!” he repeated. “Well, let her tell us now what she has gained by laughing at Hell. Let us ask her.” He uttered these words in an inspired tone, and everyone expected a miracle. Followed by an immense crowd, he went up to the death chamber, and there, after having prayed for an instant he uncovered the face of the corpse, and said in a loud voice, “Catherine, tell us where art thou now.” At this summons, the dead woman lifted her head, while opening her wild eyes; her face borrowed color, her features assumed an expression of horrible despair, and in a mournful voice, she pronounced these words: “In Hell; I am in Hell.” And immediately, she fell back again into the condition of a corpse.
“I was present at that event,” says one of the witnesses, “but I could never convey the impression it produced on me and the bystanders, nor that which I still feel every time I pass that house and look at that window. At the sight of that ill-fated abode, I still hear the pitiful cry resounding: ‘In Hell, I am in Hell.’”
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I have a feeling that St. Francis Jerome didn’t pray for that soul afterwards, for he knew of their end.

I’m sure that a person who receives such a vision would know with confidence that it’s from God by discernment of spirits and a good spiritual director, just as St. Teresa of Avila knew her visions came from God.
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I’ll take the Bible over privae revelaion any day.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Well, if a person in hell wants to drag others down to their level and propagate evil, she’ll say “stop praying”.
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She didn’t say “stop praying altogether” just “for me”
steamboatp2 said:
Prayer has a good effect on the person who does the praying, even if nothing can bring a person out of Hell
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Which is my point. It seems very counter to Catholic teaching for it to be acceptable that someone was told not to pray for another.
 
The Catholic teaching is that praying for the dead, or those in Purgatory is good. We don’t pray for saints and we don’t pray for those in Hell.

The “dead” in the Bible is always meant to be understood as those in Purgatory because they can gain from our prayers.
 
misstherese said:
The Catholic teaching is that praying for the dead, or those in Purgatory is good. We don’t pray for saints and we don’t pray for those in Hell.

The “dead” in the Bible is always meant to be understood as those in Purgatory because they can gain from our prayers.
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It’s Catholic teaching based off of a Bible verse about praying for the dead. Purgatory is our interpretation of what happens after death prior to heaven.

For a layperson–to say “don’t pray for me” is an intensely strong command. Prayer is about communication with God. It helps in our relationship with God and helps us to grow in love for our fellow man. There is a reason that the Catholic Church has never declared that a specific person is in Hell. Praying for someone is so much more than about them.

We are part of the communion of Saints. It is not a burden that we need to carry that perhaps we could have done more to prevent someone from going to Hell. It would be enough to drive anyone to the brink.
 
I like Howard Storm NDE of going to a hell like place.
It ends on a positive
 
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