Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
Today we commemorate all the deceased members of the Franciscan Order, as well as our relatives and benefactors who are deceased and still in purgatory in need of our prayers. Now, purgatory we know is a place of great mercy because nothing unclean can enter into heaven, and without purgatory even some of the canonized saints would not have gone to heaven because even some of them previous to entering into heaven had to pass, even though briefly, through purgatory because nothing unclean can enter into heaven directly. It's a place of mercy where we can make expiation for even the slightest faults that remain unexpiated in life. 
Padre Pio, as you well know, he himself a Franciscan, was a soul that was gifted with many charisms from God, and one of the gifts that he received from God was a particular understanding of purgatory, a compassion for the souls in purgatory, and an experience of the souls in purgatory coming to ask him for prayers. Padre Pio told one story once that happened when he was still relatively young as a Franciscan and happened in February of 1922 in San Giovanni Rotondo. He tells the story. He says, "I went down one evening to the common fire." So that's the fireplace where the friars can go and warm themselves up. Italian friaries, very damp, very humid, very cold. So I went to warm myself and I was surprised to find four other friars whom I had never seen before sitting around the fire with their hoods over their heads in silence. I greeted them saying, "Praised be Jesus Christ," but no one replied. Astonished, I looked at them carefully to see who they were, but I did not recognize them. I remained standing there for a few minutes and as I watched them, I had the feeling that they were suffering. I repeated my greeting and again received no answer. So I went upstairs to the father guardian's room to ask if any friars from outside had arrived. The superior at that time, Father Lorenzo of San Marco in Lamis, replied to me, "Padre Pio, who would dare come up here in this terrible weather?" San Giovanni Rotondo is on a mountain. It's about 3,000 feet above sea level. It's cold in the winter. It can snow. So who would dare come up here in this terrible weather? 
But Padre Pio goes on. I said to the guardian, "Father Guardian, down by the common fire, there are four Capuchin friars sitting on the benches around the fire with their hoods on, warming themselves. I greeted them, but they did not answer. I looked at them closely and didn't recognize them. I don't know who they are." So the guardian exclaimed, "Could it be that some friars from elsewhere have arrived without my knowing? Let's go and see." 
They go to check who these friars are, and the story has a rather anticlimactic ending. They go and they check who these friars are, and they're not there anymore. They're not there because Padre Pio comes to the conclusion they were souls in purgatory, souls of Capuchin friars in purgatory who had appeared to him in that suffering state, being unable to speak, unable to do anything except suffer there, asking him to pray for them. And Padre Pio says he came to the conclusion that's what this vision was about. 
They were friars who were expiating in that place, around the fireplace, the sins that they had committed there, perhaps little sins that can be committed and that even friars can commit, you know? Maybe just not even observing silence when they should be. And when already breaking silence, doing what? The things that even devout people can do, gossip, and criticism, and judgment, and maybe contempt, and maybe vainglory, and maybe boasting, and the like. These things, unfortunately, can happen even to friars and to devout people, to relatives of friars and benefactors. Small sins, yes, but sins that need to be expiated because nothing impure, nothing unclean can enter into heaven, and it's a place of mercy, purgatory, because nothing impure can enter into heaven. And if it wasn't for purgatory, not even some of the canonized saints would have gone to heaven. 
So what can we do for the souls in purgatory? Pray for them because they're helpless. A lot of times in these apparitions, they are completely helpless. They can't even make it clear who they are and what they're asking for. They're passive. They're helpless. They need our prayers. We can help them. They can't help themselves. 
Purgatory is a place of passive suffering, and we can pray for the souls there, and as far as we go, we can, of course, try to avoid purgatory, and what's a good way to avoid it? To become passive and docile already in this life by surrendering ourselves to the will of God and doing the will of God alone, and the best way, as we know, to do that is to consecrate ourselves to Our Lady, to surrender ourselves to Her, Our Mother, become Her possession, Her property, let Her do with us whatever She pleases, accomplish our purgatory already here on earth, thoroughly, to the last detail, to the last small imperfection, so as to then, hopefully, be able to enter into heaven directly. Our Lady can do these things. She's really an expert at making saints. God has given Her this power, and God loves to free souls in purgatory through Her intercession, and also to sanctify souls in life through Her intercession, so as to avoid purgatory altogether. 
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.