A letter from a woman in Hell

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The one thing that struck me,
After reading the letter, was how Claire freely said that
Hell is filled with hate.

An 82 year old believer told me -
that he thought “ the rich man” was in purgatory
and Lazarus was in Heaven - claiming - that the rich man -
Showed genuine deep concern for his remaining family still living -

He said Hell was filled with hate - and no way -
would someone express that type of concern - unless in purgatory.
 
I agree with you here. I’ve heard the same thing about Lazarus, too. I’ve also heard Purgatory is apart of hell, and though temporary, the same fire that punishes the damned purifies the righteous.
 
I never heard that Purgatory is part of hell.

I believe this idea may have come from Dante’s Divine Comedy, which many Catholics developed their idea of hell and purgatory.

Somehow they missed the fact that Dante’s work is fiction.

Jim
 
I recall that America Needs Fatima does some good work, but they have been oft-criticized for some of their more “out there” publications.
There were threads abotu them on the old CAF.
 
That letter has a lot of catechesis in it, but I suspect it was neither written nor dictated by someone in Hell. I think it was dreamed by someone who understood very well what Hell was and had very real concern for her friend and the others she imagines are like her. I think there is a reason it was not publicized during the nun’s life and that she wrote it out as what it was: a dream.

Let us pray that the friend and those like her have instead been given the grace of final repentance.
 
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No, I’ve never read Dante before. This comes from St. Thomas Aquinas
I answer that, Nothing is clearly stated in Scripture about the situation of Purgatory, nor is it possible to offer convincing arguments on this question. It is probable, however, and more in keeping with the statements of holy men and the revelations made to many, that there is a twofold place of Purgatory. One, according to the common law; and thus the place of Purgatory is situated below and in proximity to hell, so that it is the same fire which torments the damned in hell and cleanses the just in Purgatory; although the damned being lower in merit, are to be consigned to a lower place. Another place of Purgatory is according to dispensation: and thus sometimes, as we read, some are punished in various places, either that the living may learn, or that the dead may be succored, seeing that their punishment being made known to the living may be mitigated through the prayers of the Church.
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This revelation is prior to the existence of America needs Fatima. It received an impromptu from the diocese of Treves, Germany in 1953, basically an okay to let it be published because it has no doctrinal errors.
 
You can think what you want. But please don’t spread misinformation on here.

You distrust it, that’s okay. But as Thessalonians says,

“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test everything; retain what is good”

Take what is good from it and apply it to your life in a positive way.
 
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That sounds very Oriental! As I understand it, our Oriental brethren (by this term I mean the Coptic / Syriac tradition rather than the Byzantine) believe that almost everyone goes to Hades or Sheol, but through prayers, the righteous eventually leave Hades for Heaven. I had never heard of purgatory being identified with hell in a Western / Latin context.
 
This is when people thought of hell, purgatory and heaven as places, rather than states the soul is in, as Pope John Paul II wrote about. It’s not infallible doctrine as St Thomas Aquinas wrote, as he himself said, “Nothing is clearly stated in Scripture about the situation of Purgatory, nor is it possible to offer convincing arguments on this question.”

It’s probably how Dante wrote of hell, purgatory and heaven as he did.

Jim
 
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They are places. At least that’s what I’ve always been told.

I’ve never heard of the Catholic view of Heaven or Hell not being a place. Perhaps Purgatory (though I also think that’s a place.)
 
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Misstherese,

Thank you so much for posting this letter. I didn’t read the whole letter, but I will. I’ve read Dante’s Inferno several times, but I must say that Sister Claire’s Letter far surpassed the Inferno in description and horror. It’s making me take a hard look at the way I practice my Faith.

God bless you,

Stuart
 
misstherese said:
You can think what you want. But please don’t spread misinformation on here.

You distrust it, that’s okay. But as Thessalonians says,

“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test everything; retain what is good”

Take what is good from it and apply it to your life in a positive way.
Click to expand...
I said “I suspect” and that it has a lot of catechesis in it, so I fail to see how I am spreading misinformation…and about what? About a letter that is rumored to have been the account of a dream collected from someone who was purportedly a religious sister who died without ever telling someone about it, "it being a very detailed letter that in her dream disappeared into ashes the first time she read it?

Find me a source for this letter other than the single one that starts, “The following was found among the papers left by a nun who died in a convent in Germany. It is not completely clear whether this was a vision or just a vivid dream. It is remarkable that Sister Claire was actually able to read the letter…”

Otherwise, please do not accuse me of spreading misinformation. So far, this letter is not verified, and it is not “misinformation” to take note of that. It does not “quench the Spirit” to honestly question the provenance of things that are purported to come from the supernatural plane. I know of Our Lord’s parable of the rich man who ignored the beggar Lazarus, but do any of us know of the Church approving a single first-hand account of Hell coming out of the initiative of one of the damned themselves? They may exist, but I do not know of any. It does not see like a wise idea to be taking advice that purportedly comes from someone who characterizes herself as living eternally in hatred of God and everyone else. Yes, where it agrees with the teachings of the Church about the Last Things, think on that, but as the words Our Lord put into the mouth Abraham went:
[The rich man in the place of torment] said, "Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s house,
for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment."
But Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.”
He said, “Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.”
Then Abraham said, “If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.” (Luke 16:27-31)
 
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I’ve linked a source already.
St. Don Bosco seemed to have some very detailed dreams with remarkable memory…no one seemed to have issues with it.

It’s not technically approved, I suppose. But I don’t see any issue with taking it and applying it as a lesson.
 
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I read a lot of these “messages from people in Hell” or “in Purgatory” type stories and, while I tend to prefer the private revelations of saints as being to me a bit more reliable than “found in the papers of an anonymous nun”, the main point of these stories is not for us to sit around and determine their truth, but rather to think about the possibility of us going to Purgatory or Hell, what we might do to avoid Hell and avoid or minimize our time in Purgatory, and how to help souls in Purgatory.

This being Divine Mercy Sunday, we should be taking advantage of that grace, doing our best to live a good life and practice our faith faithfully, and trust in God and Mother Mary to do the rest.

I must say that the Hell and Purgatory stories from Don Bosco, Padre Pio, St. Faustina and others played a rather large role in motivating me to step up my prayer life. I was already practicing again for a year (Sunday Mass, getting the occasional plenary mostly by walking through Holy Doors ) when I read a few of these stories one night, scared myself but good and started praying in earnest, mostly for others. The Holy Spirit does work through these stories because a year’s worth of developing serious prayer habits has done me a lot of good and is probably helping keep me upright right about now.
 
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Hi, @misstherese ,
Just wanted to post on here to say “thank you” for posting this. It really helped my devotional reading and meditation. There is nothing really controversial about it-- and just one note: @Xanthippe_Voorhees , I don’t think this letter implied that “petty” sins like missing Mass send you to Hell - but they get you in the wrong habit, and pretty soon you’re committing bigger ones- like subtly lying about your romantic rival.
 
To me, the point of the story was not that the woman wanted to be treated nicely or have nice things, but that she rejected God, repeatedly.
It wasn’t just a case of somebody who was lukewarm. She expressed a real distaste for God all through the “letter”. When she sees God sitting in judgment, instead of throwing herself on His mercy, she runs away. This sounds to me like an example (possibly fictional, but like I said I don’t think it really matters) of “the unforgivable sin” as expressed in Scripture.
 
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