Virgo Potens

2 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 29th 2. We should also be careful to say as many indulgenced prayers as we can for them. Every prayer offered for them benefits them; every indulgenced prayer has a double efficacy. It has a satisfactory value in itself, and has a further power to obtain relief for them by reason of the indulgence attached to it. In this way how much we may do for the Holy Souls! (Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year.) ~ Rev. F. X. Lasance, Holy Souls Book: Reflections on Purgatory (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 29th Chapter 20 How to Help the Holy Souls in Purgatory 1. We should make it our practice to offer each day some special prayer or work for the Holy Souls. We may not do much, but by constancy in laboring on their behalf we shall gradually accumulate a treasure for their benefit. We should never miss saying a De Profundis for them every night, and we should offer up holy communion for them from time to time. In our morning oblation we should pray that God may accept our labors, our sufferings, our penances for them. (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 28th 2. We may also hope to avoid Purgatory if we pray God to give us our purgatory in this life. It requires some courage to do so, as, if God hears our prayer, we must expect to suffer greatly before we die, and perhaps to spend our lives in intense pain. How small will be the price paid in comparison with the advantage gained! All the sufferings of this life are small compared with the sufferings after death; and moreover here we can merit, we can go on increasing our eternal reward, but not in Purgatory. 3. Purity of intention in all our actions is another of the most efficacious means of attaining the same end. Any one who does all his actions purely for God’s sake will have nothing for the searching fire to lay hold of. It is self that has to be burnt out of us; self-will, self-love, self-indulgence. He who is rid of these may hope to go straight to heaven. Pray that by one or other of these means you may avoid separation from God after your death. (Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year.) ~ Rev. F. X. Lasance, Holy Souls Book: Reflections on Purgatory (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 28th Chapter 19 Means of Avoiding Purgatory 1. A great devotion to the sacred passion of Christ is one of the surest methods of escaping the penalty due to our sins. He is always touched by any compassion shown Him in His sacred sufferings. He is said to have revealed to some saint that He would remit the temporal punishment due after death to any one who for fifteen years should say every day seven Paters, seven Aves, and one Gloria in honor of His sacred passion. It seems very likely that such perseverance in honoring Him in what He suffered for us would exempt from Purgatory altogether. What do I do in this respect? (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 27th 2. Our Lady, too, comes also with the same merciful design, especially on a Saturday, on her great feasts, and, above all, on the feast of the Assumption, when she releases not a few holy souls every year, and carries them with her to heaven. What a delight it must be to them to be thus comforted by the holy Mother of God! How they must rejoice in having gained this privilege by their devotion to her while they were yet alive! 3. The angels, too, are often sent by God to assuage the pains of the Suffering Souls. Our Lord does not forget the angel who consoled Him during His sacred agony, when He took upon Himself the intolerable weight of the sins of the whole world, and He knows what it is to be suffering for sin that has no hold on the soul, but nevertheless drags it down, like some heavy weight attached to it by the divine justice. Hence there are angels appointed to comfort the Holy Souls, to refresh them amid the devouring flames. Ask your guardian angel never to let you fall into sin, that so you may not need his help after life is done. (Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year.) ~ Rev. F. X. Lasance, Holy Souls Book: Reflections on Purgatory (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 27th Chapter 18 The Alleviations of Purgatory 1. Our Lord does not forget the souls that He loves. As at the time of His death He visited Limbo, so He from time to time manifests Himself to the holy souls in Purgatory, to comfort and cheer them. What a day of joy must it be for the Holy Souls when their Lord and King vouchsafes, if it be but for a moment, to illumine the dark prison-house with the light of His divine presence! How they must sigh after Him when He departs! for what joy is there like the joy that comes of the presence of Jesus? (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 26th 2. Happiness consists in union with God. If the soul is united to God by supernatural charity beneath every kind of sorrow and misery there is an underlying joy. Now the Holy Souls are perfect in their charity. They have made an act of fervent charity at their judgment, and the habit of charity is in them as strong as ever. Hence in spite of all their sufferings they are intensely happy, and cry out, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” 3. Happiness is not incompatible with intense suffering. A man may be light-hearted while he is shrieking with physical pain; he may be light-hearted even when separated from one whom he loves better than all the world beside. He is happy by reason of his internal dispositions, and in spite of the bitterness of the separation or the fierceness of the physical pain. So it is with most Holy Souls. Their dispositions are perfect, their will is God’s. They are full of hope and love; how can they fail to be happy? Pray for an unceasing union with God by charity. (Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year.) ~ Rev. F. X. Lasance, Holy Souls Book: Reflections on Purgatory (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 26th Chapter 17 The Happiness of Purgatory 1. The happiness of Purgatory is a happiness of prospect, not of actual enjoyment. It is in spe and not in re, hoped for, not already possessed. But the hope is something more than hope, it is a certain expectation which the Holy Souls know cannot be disappointed. This is their support and strength, their joy and consolation, amid their unspeakable anguish. They can look forward to the long years of eternal bliss when they will repose in the bosom of God. O happy prospect, to us always uncertain, so certain to those Holy Souls! (continued)

✧❁✧✿✧❁✧✿✧❁✧ THE MIRACULOUS NOVENA OF GRACE Fr. David Nix has requested that this Novena be prayed beginning today for Mr. Will Goodman and Mrs. Shagufta Kiran. For details please click the link below. May God bless you for your charity. Begins today at Christus Regnat ~ https://t.me/RexUniversi ✧❁✧✿✧❁✧✿✧❁✧

✧❁✧✿✧❁✧✿✧❁✧ THE MIRACULOUS NOVENA OF GRACE Fr. David Nix has requested that this Novena be prayed beginning today that Mr. Will Goodman and Mrs. Shagufta Kiran be released from prison. Click on the link for more details, and to join in praying. May God bless you for your charity. Begins today at Christus Regnat ~ https://t.me/RexUniversi ✧❁✧✿✧❁✧✿✧❁✧

2 of 2 Prayers for the Poor Holy Souls (continued) MY Jesus, by that cruel scourging which Thou didst suffer, bound to the column, have pity on the souls of my other relations and friends who are suffering in purgatory. Pater, Ave, Requiem aeternam. MY Jesus, by that crown of sharpest thorns which pierced thy sacred temples, have mercy on that soul which is most neglected and least prayed for, and on that soul which is furthest from being released from the pains of purgatory. Pater, Ave, Requiem aeternam. MY Jesus, by those sorrowful steps which Thou didst take with the Cross on thy shoulders, have mercy on that soul which is nearest to its departure from purgatory; and by the pains which Thou didst suffer together with thy most holy Mother Mary, when Thou didst meet her on the road to Calvary, deliver from the pains of purgatory those souls who were devout to this beloved Mother. Pater, Ave, Requiem aeternam. MY Jesus, by thy most holy body stretched on the Cross, by thy most holy hands and feet pierced with hard nails, by thy most cruel death, and by thy most holy side laid open with a lance, have pity and mercy on those poor souls; free them from the awful pains they suffer, call and admit them to thy most sweet embrace in Paradise. Pater, Ave, Requiem aeternam. O HOLY souls, tormented in most cruel pains, as one truly devoted to you, I promise never to forget you, and continually to pray to the Most High for your release. I beseech you to respond to this offering which I make to you, and obtain for me from God, with whom you are so powerful on behalf of the living that I may be freed from all dangers of soul and body; I beg both for myself and for my relations and benefactors, friends and enemies, pardon for our sins, and the grace of perseverance in good, whereby we may save our souls. Set us free from all misfortunes, miseries, sicknesses, trials and labours. Obtain for us peace of heart; assist us in all our actions; succour us promptly in all our spiritual and temporal needs; console and defend us in our dangers. Pray for the supreme Pontiff, for the exaltation of holy Church, for peace between nations, for Christian princes, and for tranquillity among peoples; and obtain that we may one day all rejoice together in Paradise. Amen. 100 Days, once a day. Leo XIII, December 14, 1889 ~ The Raccolta (1910)

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. May their souls, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. 1 of 2 Prayers for the Poor Holy Souls MY Jesus, by that copious sweat of blood with which Thou didst bedew the ground in the garden, have mercy on the souls of my nearest relations who are suffering in purgatory. Pater, Ave, Requiem aeternam. (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 25th “As you measure others,” says our blessed Saviour, “it shall be measured to you again.” Now, what would you wish to be done for you if in Purgatory? Surely you would not like to be forgotten—to have no longer a share in the prayers of the faithful. To escape so great a misery, which is often an effect of Divine justice on such as have had no charity for the deceased, be very earnest to-day in your supplications for those poor souls who have none to pray for them. (Forget-me-nots from Many Gardens) ~ Rev. F. X. Lasance, Holy Souls Book: Reflections on Purgatory (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 25th The Origin of All Souls’ Day (continued) If ever we entertained for some of those hapless Prisoners of the King sentiments of tender affection; if ever we rejoiced in their presence and experienced the bliss of their unfailing sympathy; if ever we vowed undying remembrance of their manifold kindnesses, and proffered them the tribute of our enduring gratitude—now is the time to make good our protestations, now the time to prove the genuineness of our love.—Rev. A. B. O’Neill, C.S.C., in the Ave Maria. (continued)

1 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 24th The Origin of All Souls’ Day (continued) To the truly fervent Catholic, the Church’s calendar is ever replete with the most beautiful symbolism. He who unconsciously classifies the successive seasons of the year in accordance with the ecclesiastical rather than the civil division; he who habitually thinks of Advent and Lent instead of winter and spring; and in whose vocabulary May, June and October are not more familiar terms than are the months of Mary, of the Sacred Heart, and of the Holy Rosary—such a one discovers in the physical characteristics of each season much that harmonizes wonderfully with the special devotion which Holy Church has associated therewith. (continued)

A Short and Efficacious Prayer for the Faithful Departed O MOST compassionate Jesus, have mercy on the souls detained in purgatory, for whose redemption thou didst take upon thee our nature and endure a bitter death. Mercifully hear their groans, look with pity on the tears which they now shed before thee, and by the virtue of thy Passion release them from the pains due unto their sins. O most pitiful Jesus, let thy precious Blood reach down into purgatory, and refresh and revive the captive souls which suffer there. Stretch forth unto them thy strong right hand, and bring them forth into the place of refreshment, light, and peace. Amen. ~ Preces Gertrudianae (1861)

A Short and Efficacious Prayer for the Faithful Departed O MOST compassionate Jesus, have mercy on the souls detained in purgatory, for whose redemption thou didst take upon thee our nature and endure a bitter death. Mercifully hear their groans, look with pity on the tears which they now shed before thee, and by the virtue of thy Passion release them from the pains due unto their sins. O most pitiful Jesus, let thy precious Blood reach down into purgatory, and refresh and revive the captive souls which suffer there. Stretch forth unto them thy strong right hand, and bring them forth into the place of refreshment, light, and peace. Amen. ~ Preces Gertrudianae (1861)

2 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 24th And if ever such symbolism becomes strikingly manifest, it is assuredly during the month of November, when the age-stricken year is being hurried to its dissolution. A spirit of sadness and gloom invests the leafless trees, the bare brown fields, and sodden meadows; ashen clouds sweep across the unlovely firmament, and the desolate soughing of the November winds is incessantly wailing the sad plaint of each suffering soul in Purgatory: “Miseremini mei, miseremini mei, saltem vos amici mei.”—“Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends.” The depressing aspect of the physical world during this dreary month must typify to every sympathetic child of the Church the cheerless and wretched condition of hosts of our brethren detained in sad and lonely exile from the heavenly home they long to enter, doomed to wear out a tedious probation of keenest pain and keenest sense of loss before they may hope to stand “before the throne, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands” (Apoc. vii). . . . (Forget-me-nots from Many Gardens) ~ Rev. F. X. Lasance, Holy Souls Book: Reflections on Purgatory (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 24th The Origin of All Souls’ Day (continued) To the truly fervent Catholic, the Church’s calendar is ever replete with the most beautiful symbolism. He who unconsciously classifies the successive seasons of the year in accordance with the ecclesiastical rather than the civil division; he who habitually thinks of Advent and Lent instead of winter and spring; and in whose vocabulary May, June and October are not more familiar terms than are the months of Mary, of the Sacred Heart, and of the Holy Rosary—such a one discovers in the physical characteristics of each season much that harmonizes wonderfully with the special devotion which Holy Church has associated therewith. (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the The Holy Souls in Purgatory ~ November 23rd They expressed an especial hatred against Abbot Odilo of Clugny and his monks. Upon his return, the Religious, in accordance with the wishes of the hermit, communicated this information to the Abbot of Clugny, who was the more incited thereby to continue this work of charity; and to spread it more widely, he introduced in the year 1030, on the 2d day of November, in all the monasteries of his Order an annual commemoration of all the faithful departed. Pope John XIX, after conferring with Abbot Odilo, extended the practice to the whole Church. Tertullian, even in the third century, mentions that the Christians of his time celebrated an annual commemoration of the departed; and Bishop Amalarious of Treves had introduced an All Souls’ Day in his diocese two centuries before Odilo. (Help for the Poor Souls in Purgatory) ~ Rev. F. X. Lasance, Holy Souls Book: Reflections on Purgatory (19 22)