When I was very young, about 4 or 5 years old I remember at the prayers for the dead I had no one else to pray for whom I knew of except my grandfather Patrick who died just a few months before I was born. So I used to pray for him at every mass regular as clockwork. However I got the message back from Jesus that my grandfather was in the place beyond mercy and my prayers could not reach him there. Innocently I asked my mother about this and her face turned white and she seemed to go into shock. I did not find out until years and years later that my grandfather seems to have been a very bad man indeed. Very bad tempered and nasty and he treated his family appallingly. I knew nothing of this , but my mother did. No wonder she turned white.
Here is a lovely little video of the devotion to the Holy Souls that Sr. Josefa Menendez practiced during her short life. Besides being dragged down into hell over 50 times, she was also visited by the suffering souls in purgatory. Sometimes I’m dumbfounded at the lengths this dear sister would go to to please her Jesus. Sr. Josefa, pray for us!
Wonderful. "Purgatory is the proof that God's love pursues every soul to the end". A lovely quote of St. Josefa in the video. I remember St. Faustina said in her diary (I can't remember the diary number) that once she was praying for a woman who had died. But the soul appeared to her and told her not to pray as her prayers were of no use for her deliverance. However, St. Faustina continued to pray. The next day she saw the soul in heavenly light ascending into Heaven. I can't remember clearly but I think the soul thanked her for releasing her. So it may be best to pray anyway. Just imagine though, there may be some in Purgatory who do not know if they are saved or not. That could be another form of purification in Purgatory - to experience the pain of eternal loss. "It is through prayer that Mary and Martha obtained the resurrection of Lazarus and it is through prayer that we will obtain the deliverance of our loved ones. Let us pray with all our heart! Let us pray unceasingly for them! Let us often say: Good and merciful Jesus, grant them eternal rest! Oh Mary, our Mother and our Consolation, come to their aid! All saints of Paradise, intercede for them! (Fr. Berluoux, A Month with Our Friends the Souls in Purgatort)
The thing about Purgatory is that we will not all be judged the same. Those to whom many graces have been given will be judged differently than other. There are nine choirs of angels. We are all of called to join a different choir, no other choir will do. St Therese described this best when she talked of flowers. Jesus has been gracious enough to teach me a lesson about the mystery of the differences in souls, simply by holding up to my eyes, the book of nature. I understood how all the flowers God created are beautiful- how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not take away from the perfume of the violet or the simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty, and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wildflower. And so it is in the world of souls… Jesus’ garden. He willed to create great souls comparable to lilies and roses, but he created small ones as well… and theses must be content to be daisies or violets destined to give joy to God’s glances, when he looks down at His feet. Perfection consists in doing God’s will… in being what He would have us be.
Once I was amazed to discover a tiny delicate little flower which was completely hidden. I only discovered it by accident when I was rooting in the long grass growing beneath a hedge on my land. I was inspired to appreciate how this little flower was giving glory to God and singing His praises despite being hidden from all eyes. There is a profound mystical and spiritual lesson in this somehow.
I like to sing and it's been one of my joys learning hymns with my children from the rich tradition of Mother Church. Here is a little gem. Ye souls of the faithful! who sleep in the Lord; But as yet are shut out, from your final reward! Oh! would I could lend you, assistance to fly; From your prison below, to your palace on high. O Father of mercies! Thine anger withhold; These works of Thy hand in Thy mercy behold; Too oft from Thy path, they have wandered aside: But Thee, their Creator, they never denied. O tender Redeemer! Their misery see; Deliver the souls that were ransomed by Thee; Behold how they love Thee, despite of their pain: Restore them, restore them to favour again. O Spirit of grace! O Consoler divine! See how for Thy presence they longingly pine; Ah, then, to enliven their sadness, descend; And fill them with peace, and with joy in the end. O Mother of mercy! Dear soother in grief! Lend thou to their torments a balmy relief; Temper the rigour of justice severe; And soften their flames with a pitying tear. All ye who would honour the Saints and their Head, Remember, remember, to pray for the dead; And they, in return, from their misery freed, To you will be friends in the hour of need. Ye patrons who watched o'er their safety below, Oh ! think how they need your fidelity now ; And stir all the angels and saints of the sky To plead for the souls that upon you rely. Ye friends who, once sharing their pleasures and pain, Now perhaps ready, in Paradise reign, Oh ! comfort their hearts with a whisper of love, And call them to share in your pleasures above.
This reminds me of the De Profundis: Psalm 129 * De profundis. A prayer of a sinner, trusting in the mercies of God. The sixth penitential psalm. Out of the depths I have cried unto Thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark our iniquities: O Lord, who can abide it? For with Thee there is mercy: and by reason of Thy law I have waited on Thee, O Lord. My soul hath waited on His word: my soul hath hoped in the Lord. From the morning watch even unto night: let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is mercy: and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (Eternal rest or “Requiem aeternam”) Eternal rest give to them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. V/. Lord, hear my prayer. R/. And let my cry come unto Thee. Let us pray. O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful; grant to the souls of Thy servants departed the remission of all their sins, that by our devout supplications they may obtain that pardon which they have always desired. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen. V/. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord. R/. And let perpetual light shine upon them. V/. May they rest in peace. R/. Amen. *Psalm 129 in Douay Rheims Bible
There must be the most massive indulgence with it. https://traditionalcatholicprayers.com/2019/08/23/de-profundis/ FYI, prior to 1968: Pope Clement XII. was the first who, in order to move the piety of Christians to pray for the souls in Purgatory, granted, by a Brief of Aug. 4, 1736, Coelestes Ecclesiae thesauros – i. The indulgence of 100 days to all the faithful, every time that at the sound of the bell, at the first hour after the evening Ave Maria, they say devoutly on their knees the psalmDe profundis, with a Requiem aeternamat the end of it. (The evening Ave Maria in Rome varies with the season; it is commonly taken as 6 o’clock.) ii. A plenary indulgence to those who perform this pious exercise for a year at the hour appointed, once in the year, on any one day, after Confession and Communion. Those who do not know by heart the De Profundis, may gain these Indulgences by saying in the way already mentioned for the De profundis, one Pater noster and one Ave Maria, with the Requiem aeternam. Observe also, that the aforesaid Clement XII. declared, Dec. 12, 1736, that these Indulgences might be gained by saying the De profundis,&c., as above, although, according to the custom of a particular church or place, the “signal for the dead,” as it is called, be given by the sound of the bell either before or after one hour after the evening Ave Maria. Pope Pius VI., by a Rescript of March 18, 1781, granted the above-named Indulgences to all the faithful who should chance to dwell in any place where no bell for the dead is sounded, and who shall say the De profundis or Pater noster, as aforesaid, about the time specified above.
The first day we had about 4-5 stay after Mass. Now we have almost 15-20. Its very moving to be praying for souls. God is Good!
Wonderful. The old priest did special prayers after Mass on Sunday/ I never saw that in Ireland before.
