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In several apparitions, Mary alludes to heaven, purgatory and hell. On several occasions, she even takes seers with her on a mystical journey in which visions of these three places provoke happiness, fear or terror. One of the "strong points" of Our Lady's teachings is that she reminds us of what the Church no longer emphasizes:
Yes, the individual judgment that directly follows death - called "particular judgment" in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) - does exist; yes, this judgment inevitably commits us to watch over the state of the only thing that survives after we pass on, which is our soul: "All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven," paragraph 1030 reads.
"The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned," the next paragraph states, to avoid any confusion with hell.
Without presuming on the mysteries of life after death, purgatory seems, as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI reminds us, to be the obligatory stage for the majority of souls. For Father Jean-Marc Bot, a priest in the diocese of Versailles, France, purgatory is like "a great hope, the masterpiece of God's mercy…It is the beauty parlor of the Holy Spirit. I also define it as a mystical experience of passive purification, because everything is accomplished and it is God who now finishes what needs to be done."
Far less well known than Lourdes or Lisieux, the shrine of Our Lady of Montligeon, in La Chapelle-Montligeon, France (Orne department, diocese of Séez) bills itself as a "the world center of prayer for the deceased." "At Montligeon, we pray for the dead, for the souls in purgatory, so that the work of purifying love may be completed in them," the website of the shrine explains.
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