Images From The Other Side?

As the month of the souls passes its mid-point, one wonders about those many cases whereby souls of the departed seem to manifest.

We treat the notion of “purgatorial” and “earthbound” souls as legitimate only if it occurred to some mystic centuries ago, yet reports of such manifestations — ironically, due to technology — are exploding in our time. We need not be mired in the past.

The Church does not pronounce either way on “ghosts,” but such are certainly in both testaments and Christ’s apostles mistook Him for just such a manifestation (“supposed that it was a ghost”) when Jesus walked on the sea (as distinct from an unclean spirit or demon: Mark 6:48-50). The Lord even uses this term (at least in some translations): “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (Luke 24:39).

There are so many photographs and videos showing uncanny forms or even faces that they could fill volumes. Not all are “photo-shopped.” We must reflect on those in need of prayers because their passage to Heaven is not yet complete: souls in purgatory and also those who still roam the earth, perhaps afraid of the Light, of “judgment,” overly attached to the world, or earthbound by emotion or addiction. They manifest, it seems, to remind us; to seek help. Yes, sometimes, to afflict (which is why we must be very cautious about all this; they can also be deceptive spirits).

Says Our Blessed Mother in a credible apparition: “There are in purgatory souls who pray ardently to God, but for whom no relative or friend prays on earth. God makes them benefit from the prayers of other people. It happens that God permits them to manifest themselves in different ways, close to their relatives on earth, in order to remind men of the existence of purgatory and to solicit their prayers to come close to God Who is just, but good.”

Below is a “selfie” taken by a girl, Harper Jurtz, 13, who was bored as her mother drove on a road in Maitland, Florida. It is an area, especially near famous Interstate 4, known for strange events. Later, looking at the selfie, her mother, Melissa, spotted what seemed like “the ghostly face a young boy lurking on the back seat appearing to reach towards Harper — despite no one else being in the car with them,” as the Daily Mail in London (which carried the photo) phrased it. “Researching the stretch of road they were travelling on, Ms. Kurtz discovered that the apparition’s appearance coincided with the anniversary of a death in a road accident that she believes was possibly the same child,” said the report (for our discernment).

Mother Melissa Kurtz, 48, from Florida, has been sharing this picture with paranormal experts after her daughter started taking selfies and the ghost of a boy (circled) was captured in the shot

Below is another photo, this recently over AOL, a 1925 shot that shows a girl visiting the grave of her twin who had died in a fire a year earlier. “It certainly seems,” noted the report, “like her sister was with her in spirit…”Perhaps, little reminders — to pray.

Never should we seek out such souls — trying to spot them or worse conjure them, out of curiosity. We pray and move on. Some are negative, for sure. Disturbances in our homes and lives can be caused by them. Ask God to bring then to the light. Many are in purgatory, and even pray for us.

When we help them, they help us.

When we pray for them, they are there, someday, on the other side, to greet and perhaps even assist us.

[Note: Tremendous insights into the souls can be found in two booklets, The Secrets of Purgatory (an astonishing work) and An Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory. There is also a fascinating book about a woman who saw souls (Amazing Secrets of the Souls in Purgatory).]