Prior to my mother moving to Florida to be with my sister Pat, my mother lived in Southington, CT working for Pratt and Whitney aircraft. During this period I was stationed at NAS Brunswick, ME as a Naval Aviator with Patrol Squadron 23.
In 1969 my stepfather was admitted to Waterbury Hospital in CT and was dying from lung and throat cancer (he had been a very heavy drinker and smoker).
When I could, I made the four-hour trek from Brunswick, ME to Mom’s mobile home in Southington, CT and then further journeyed to Waterbury Hospital to visit him. I can still vividly remember the last time I visited. When leaving it appeared to me that he wanted to say something but did not.
A FAMILY NARRATIVE
AN AMAZING STORY OF GRACE
NEW LIFE, SALVATION, PURGATORY AND HEAVEN
Needing rest and recuperation from a very active schedule, I elected not to make the long trek to Waterbury on the following weekend.
On Friday night of that weekend, during a squadron event at the Officer’s Club, the Skipper of VP-23 (Thorny Smith) approached and informed me that the squadron Duty Officer had received a call from my mother and that my father had passed away. Overwhelmed, I fell backwards a bit against the wall behind me overcome by a wave of emotion. This surprised me—and for the first time I became aware that I still had a measure of love for my stepfather in my heart—despite the violence and trauma of my early childhood. After all, he was the father figure in my life and there were moments when the viper of alcohol and rage had not smitten him—albeit very few.
The next thing I distinctly remember is attending the wake and funeral for my stepfather where I was genuinely surprised at the small turn out of family and friends. Everything seemed cold and barren. I also remember looking at my stepfather’s corpse during the wake—indifferent and without any discernable emotion. Such was my own spiritual formation that I never considered whether my stepfather was saved or damned—as I did believe (in principle) in eternal life. Nor did I consider it my obligation to pray for his soul. As a good Catholic (actually, very nominal at best), I thought that the funeral Mass was sufficient and that I had—as they say, done my Christian duty.
After my coming to Christ in 1978 this hard-heartedness towards my stepfather began to soften and on at least three different occasions that I can remember I attempted to work through reconciliation with him. I did this by prayerfully forgiving him and asking the Lord to forgive me for the bitterness I held in my heart against him.
Yet, it never, never occurred to me that he would need my prayers. After all, he had died many, many years ago!
Time passes, it is the summer of 2005 and since 1989 I have resided in Rowley, MA. Eleven years have elapsed since the death of my mother and over thirty-six years have passed since the death of my stepfather. Yet, on this summer day I am about to be made aware of a profound and ominous spiritual truth:
Purgatory does exist and souls can spend decades, perhaps even eons in its environs, and my stepfather had not yet escaped its grasp. He was still in that place of purgation!
This is how it unfolds: I am in my upstairs bedroom preparing for church when I see in an open vision before me—just for a moment, a mass of bloody tissue suspended in the air before me at eye level:
And—I hear my mother say audibly and distinctly: "We want him where we are!"
Following this plea, I immediately realize that my stepfather required my prayers to be finally released from his long period of purgatorial suffering into the fullness of heaven.
There, his wife, his daughter Pat and his son Greg were now awaiting him. The plea was clear, so that he could be "where we are”.
Now I recognize that this will come as an implausible shock to many who read this!
First, that Purgatory exists but even more incredibly, that God would permit a deceased mother to petition her living son for prayers of release for her husband and that son’s long deceased stepfather!
This is an amazing grace and an stupendous miracle, but an even greater one was awaiting in the wings.
My reaction to this revelation was not one of skepticism, since from the time of my rebirth through the ministry of Billy Graham I had experienced many mystical events. It seemed to be part of my spiritual DNA and spiritual heritage and I had begun to move in the revelatory and prophetic. So, my reaction to this call for prayer and intercession was immediate and I began to pray for my stepfather.
Several weeks had gone by following this event and it is Sunday morning and I am preparing, along with wife Suzanne and another couple, to make the trip to Framingham, MA to attend a service at a new Bridge Church plant. The founder of Streams Ministries (John Paul Jackson) would be preaching, and it promised to be (and was) a powerful time in the Holy Spirit.
So, I, Suzanne and our friends make the drive to Framingham, MA for this service with great expectancy. Once there, during the service there was a time of powerful communal worship which drew the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit. In response I knelt on the floor bowing down to worship the Lord with thanksgiving and praise and with uplifted hands.
As I am bowing down worshipping in this manner, I once again clearly hear my Mother’s voice as she joyfully declares: "He is with us now!"
This was then confirmed by my witnessing a brilliant flash of white light to my left emanating from a supernatural spirit.
It was amazing!
In fact, it was Father's Day, June 19, 2005, the day of release that my stepfather was released from the pangs of Purgatory. Praise be to God!
Our God is indeed an amazing and wondrous God! There is none like Him!
Believe and be blessed!
My Stepfather Arthur
His Death & His Entry Into The Realm of Heaven
Arthur A. Carpentier
Born: July 31, 1909
Deceased: December 11, 1969
