Sunday

*This week’s readings are about the departed souls.   St Alphonsus, the source, is Catholic, so the term purgatory is used for the place where those souls worthy of salvation are being purified for heaven are located, a division of hell.  The Orthodox Church has resisted defining a separate part and simply says the souls are in ‘hell’ until they are cleansed.

All men—the saints in Heaven ,
we upon earth, the souls in Purgatory,—are
members of one great family. By this
“bond of perfection” which unites the
Suffering and Triumphant Church with the
Militant Church upon earth, incorporating
them into one body, mutual charity becomes
an obligation. This reciprocal love, being
the duty of all men, renders it imperative
that all should pray for one another, for in
this general prayer, offered mutually,
Christian charity is most beautifully and
eloquently expressed.
From this general obligation we derive
the special duty to pray for the suffering
souls in Purgatory, who are unable in their
extreme distress to do aught for their own
relief. It has always been the belief of
Holy Church that the faithful, united in
the Communion of Saints, can mutually
assist each other. As the saints in Heaven
pray for us, so must we also offer our
petitions for the suffering souls in Purga
tory, that God in His goodness and mercy,
may mitigate and shorten their punish
ment, and hasten their entrance into
Heaven.

*This and all quotes this week from the Manual of the Purgatorian Society, a month of daily meditations

Prayer:  We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee, for by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

 

Monday

Heaven, Hell and Purgatory are
the three places into which the souls of the
departed are received. Heaven is the hap
py destination of perfectly pure and holy
souls only ; Hell the final doom of the rep
robate ; Purgatory, temporarily for the just,
who are not, as yet, entirely purified.
There God completes the punishment due
to their faults, which were not sufficiently
atoned for on earth ; there He submits these
holy souls to the last purgation, to cleanse
them from the least stain, and, by fire, to
bring them to that degree of perfected
purity, which is necessary for them before
being admitted to eternal bliss.
Hence there are two classes of souls in
Purgatory : 1. Those who depart this life,
stained by venial sins and imperfections.
2. Those who have repented, and if
possible, confessed their mortal sins with
16 THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY
out, however, having done sufficient pen
ance for them. Judging from our lives,
experience teaches us that most men deserve
Purgatory for both causes.

Prayer:

O Lord and Master of my life, a spirit of idleness, despondency, ambition, and idle talking give me not.

 

Tuesday

From those souls, upon
whom God has bestowed great and special
graces, He demands a faithful co-operation,
and the least infidelity to such grace is
punished with extreme severity: the pur
gation or cleansing of these favored souls
must be perfect in proportion to the high
degree of glory to which they are to be ex
alted. In reference to prayer for the suf
fering souls, who are in Purgatory for venial
sins and imperfections, we must observe
that, though their time of suffering is com
paratively short, and their punishment less
rigorous, their pain and agony is more in
tense, owing to their yearning desire of
perfect union with God. They are in ut
most need of our fervent prayers, and will
show their gratitude by their petitions for
us before the throne of God, according to
the speedy assistance we have given them
iuring our earthly lives.

Prayer:

But rather a spirit of chastity, humble-mindedness, patience, and love bestow upon me Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord King, grant me to see my failings and not condemn my brother; for blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Wednesday

The sufferings of Purgatory are twofold .-
the pain of loss, and the torture of the
senses; both in proportion to temporal
punishment unremitted. Having commit
ted sin, the soul has turned away from God,
thus increasing the pain of loss, or accord
ing to our ideas, God departs from that soul
and deprives her of His beatific vision. By
sin, the soul has been attached to creatures,
making improper use of them, displeasing
to God, hence the severe punishment, con
sisting in the pain of the senses. God per
mits that those who have abandoned their
Creator, and bestowed their affections upon
creatures, are chastised, by the same, for
we read in the Book of Wisdom: “By
what things a man sinneth, by the same
also is he tormented.” ( Wis. xi. 17. ).

” Therefore,” says St.
Chrysostom, “this pain of being deprived
of God is far greater pain for them than
the pain of the senses. The fire of Hell
increased a thousand times would not
cause them such great suffering as does
this pain of the loss of God.”

 

Prayer:

Yea, O Lord King, grant me to see my failings and not condemn my brother; for blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen.

 

Thursday
The souls in Purgatory have entered in
to the realm of Divine Justice. The pen
ance and satisfaction due for their faults
must be made, either by the pain of Pur
gatory itself, or by the suffrages of the
faithful, consisting in prayer, good works
and the spiritual treasure of indulgences
bestowed upon them; for the suffering
souls can no longer merit and are entirely
unable to assist themselves. A sick man
and a beggar have a tongue to ask for help,
and the very sight of their misery will
move others to compassion. The suffering
souls, however, have no resource but that
of patience, resignation and hope. To all
their moans there is but one answer, ” the
night hath come, in which no man can
work.”
Hence in their extreme desolation and
distress, they incessantly cry out to us for
relief and assistance.

Prayer:  O Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. O Lord, blot out our sins. O Master, pardon our iniquities. O Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Thy name’s sake.

Friday

Concerning the duration of Purgatory,
the Church simply tells us that it is not a
place of everlasting pain, but will end at
the last judgment ; neither are we informed
of the length of time required for the puri
fication of a soul. According to St. Thomas
Aquinas, the soul, to be reunited to her
Creator in Heaven, must be in the state of
primitive innocence which adorned her
when she proceeded from His hand. The
image of God must be entirely restored
within her, commensurate with the degree
of glory awaiting her in Heaven.
From this it is evident that the suffering
souls cannot enter Heaven until perfectly
cleansed, either by their pains or by the
suffrages of the faithful.

Prayer:  Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3X)

Saturday
Besides prayer and other acts of devotion
there are practical good works we can per
form for the relief of the suffering souls.
Alms-giving is one of the most prominent,
for this, being a work of mercy, is especially
efficacious in obtaining mercy for the holy
souls. Not the rich alone are able to give
alms ; the poor can do so as well ; since it
is not the value of the gift, but the good
intention with which it is bestowed, that is
acceptable in the sight of God. We also
shall one day be numbered among the suf
fering souls, and who is in greater need
and poverty than they ? The most miser
able beggar in this world can at least com
plain of his wants and ask others to assist
him. But the souls in Purgatory cannot
do even this, for the instances in which
they are permitted to implore aid of the
living are exceptional cases and very few
are on record.

 

Jesus Prayer:  Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have Mercy on me a sinner.