APOCALYPSE or not, there's great solace to realize that all of us humans will never cease to exist, that there is truly life after death. A modern witness to this fact is Maria Simma.
Simma was born on February 2, 1915, in the rural and small town of Sonntag in Austria. All her life, she devoted all to God. She later became famous, initially only in her small village and later worldwide, for her encounters with people (yes, you can call them ghosts) from the afterlife, mostly those from Purgatory. No, she had never engaged in necromancy, never engaged in any effort to communicate with the departed. The souls came to her, nay, despite her, mostly to seek her prayerful intercession for their deliverance from purgation or for some other favors.
It's good to know her life, not only because it is testimony to life after death but, more importantly, because it reiterates what the Church has been telling us: the need to pray for the departed. The bereaved console themselves with the thought that their departed loved ones are in Heaven, but there are good chances they have remained in Purgatory. Ay, the beloved departed probably cry with frustration when, on their birthday, we greet them on Facebook with "Happy birthday in Heaven," even as they languish in Purgatory.
We are fortunate that before Simma's death on March 16, 2004, she was interviewed by writer Nicky Eltz, whose book put on record her valuable experiences with souls, in a book titled Get Us Out of Here. The book is with the Church's imprimatur, meaning nothing in it conflicts with the official teachings of the Church.
Now to go on with Simma's ghostly experiences.
The first one happened one at about 3:30 a.m. in her small home in 1940 when she was only 25 years old. Here is how she recounted this as follows:
"The very first time I woke up because someone was pacing back and forth in my room. I was never scared easily and really wouldn't be unless someone actually jumped into my face. So I thought, 'Who's this?' It was a complete stranger walking impatiently back and forth at the foot of my bed and I called out, 'Hey! Who are you?'
"No answer. Then I jumped out of bed, ran at him and tried to grab him, calling, 'Now see to it that you get out of here. Get lost! There's nothing here of yours! But nothing was there! Then I thought, 'I wasn't dreaming. I saw him, I heard him.' And as soon as I was in bed again, there he was the same as before, pacing back and forth. Again I called out, 'Now tell me who you are and look to it that you take off!' Still he continued, as if he didn't hear me. For a while I watched him, thinking, 'As long as he doesn't come near me...'
"Then I got up again and tiptoed toward him thinking; 'Now I'll see if I can hold onto him.' Again, nothing there!"
Up to 1953, only two or three souls visited her each year, usually during the month of November. The visits came three or four times a week in the next years. To fast track the souls' entry into Heaven, Simma frequently expiated for them.
"At times, she felt as if her limbs were being pulled violently. Other times, it was as if she was being violently stabbed with sharp knives over her entire body. The sufferings in expiation for the pains caused by abortion or impurity consisted of terrible stomach pains and nausea. On other occasions, she felt as if she were lying among blocks of ice for hours. The cold penetrated her to the bone. These were the sufferings in reparation for lukewarmness and religious coldness," noted the website garabandal.it.
Noted the website; "All who knew her bore witness to the fact that Maria was always friendly to those who went to her to entrust all kinds of spiritual sufferings or trials until the day she died: March 16, 2004. She was exemplary in the practice of self-denial, with a spirit of sacrifice and poverty. When they asked her why God permitted the experiences she had, she replied, "God allows it so that, through my apostolate, other people may understand clearly that our time on earth is meant for gaining Heaven."
There's a bit of prophecy in Simma' encounters with the souls, particularly with reference to the Warning (this column dwelt on this many times) that was prophesied during the Garabandal apparitions in the first half of the 1960s. Asked whether the souls know the future, she replied : "Yes, they know something, but not everything. They told me that something very important is going to happen, and that it is approaching. For many years they said that it was 'in front of the door,' but since May 1993 they used the expression 'at the door. It will be something for the conversion of humanity."
Eltz also asked Simma a very serious question, "What could you tell me about Satan and the activity he carries out currently?" to which she replied: "He has never been so strong or active as he is nowadays."
Simma further said: "The 20th century is incomparable to any other insofar as apostasy, murder, greed for money and power, hatred, lack of mercy and prayer. It is his century! The fact that he has been so active is also due to Satan's knowledge of a great event that is going to take place and that will be for the conversion of humanity. He knows that soon his strategy will be noticeably weakened, and he always shouts the loudest before being defeated."
Simma also said: "The souls in Purgatory told me that the Church today is in a worse state than it ever has been before. The sin of apostasy reigns all over, and priests are considered the most responsible for it. Instead of praying and teaching the Word, it seems as if they run from one place to another to study psychology, rhetoric, accounting, or whatever to learn how to get closer to their public. They are the ones who have to show people how to get closer to Jesus and Mary through prayer and should not try to be conformed or be 'up to date' with this very secularized society."
Amid all prophecies that sound apocalyptic, Eltz asked whether there is reason to be afraid. Simma replied: "Only if we are very far from God and full of sin will we have reasons to be afraid, but if we strive to be with Him constantly, we have nothing to fear... We should never, ever become anxious, because fear comes from Satan alone. If we sincerely try to live with God every day, He will protect us from all that is to come. The people who pray will be safe, but those who do not pray will be surprised with their guard lowered and thus unprotected. It is that simple: we have to trust in God and in his Mother with a childlike trust."