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Showing posts with the label Purgatory

Reminder: Indulgences Are Available During the Poor Souls Octave (November 1st through 8th)

One may obtain a plenary indulgence for a soul in purgatory by devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying for the departed (even if the prayer is only mental) each day between November 1st - 8th. Requirements for Obtaining a Plenary Indulgence During the Poor Souls Octave: ◗ Visit a cemetery and pray for a soul in Purgatory. ◗ Say one "Our Father" and the "Apostles Creed". ◗ Say one "Our Father" and one "Hail Mary" for the Holy Father’s intentions. ◗ Worthily receive Holy Communion (ideally on the same day). ◗ Make a sacramental confession within 20 days of All Souls Day. ◗ For a plenary indulgence, be free from all attachment to sin, even venial sin (or the indulgence is partial, not plenary). You may gain one plenary indulgence a day. A partial indulgence can be obtained when the Eternal Rest ( Requiem aeternam ) is prayed. This can be prayed all year, but especially during the month of November: Requiem aeternam dona ei

"The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace." — Wisdom 3:1-3 "On this day [November 2nd] is observed the commemoration of the faithful departed, in which our common and pious Mother the Church, immediately after having endeavored to celebrate by worthy praise all her children who already rejoice in heaven, strives to aid by her powerful intercession with Christ, her Lord and Spouse, all those who still groan in purgatory, so that they may join as soon as possible the inhabitants of the heavenly city." ( Roman Martyrology ) Monsignor Bernard Bourgeois explains this commemoration: "Eternity with God is the life to which each disciple of Christ aspires. The Second Eucharistic Prayer at Mass asks the Lord to 'welcome them [the faithful departed] i

In venerating the saints, remembering the souls of departed loved ones, and praying for those in purgatory, Catholics are often accused of praying to the dead. But the souls in heaven (the Church Triumphant) and those in purgatory (the Church Suffering) are not dead. They are very much live. In fact, they are much closer to the Throne of God than anyone on earth (the Church Militant). By virtue of the Communion of Saints, no Christian is an island, isolated or alone. We are joined together, spiritually united in love, through the Lord Jesus Christ and the divine economy of salvation, one family sustained by God across time. As members of Christ's mystical body, Christians are bound not only to Him, but to each other. Prayers to the saints for their intercession are efficacious for they see God now face to face. Hence, their petitions to Him on our behalf are powerful. Most of all, Christians pray to God: God the Father, God the Holy Spirit and God the Son, our Lord and Savio

Prayer for the Deceased Lord, God of holiness and light, You do not allow any shadow of darkness or evil in Your sight, and so in Your mercy You grant to those who have left this world burdened with sin, a time of purification, applying to them the spiritual treasurers of Your holy Church. Hear my prayer, and through the merits of Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin, the saints, and all Your faithful people bring to an end this time of waiting for our beloved dead, especially _____. In Your providence You have chosen Saint Nicholas as a special intercessor on behalf of the departed. Hear also his fervent prayer for those whom I recommend to You through his intercession. Amen. Prayer for the Deceased #2 Lord Jesus, our Redeemer, You willingly gave Yourself up to death so that all people might be saved and pass from death into a new life. Listen to our prayers; look with love on Your people who mourn and pray for their dead brother/sister. Lord Jesus, You alone are holy and

The practice of recommending to God the souls in Purgatory, that He may mitigate the great pains which they suffer, and that He may soon bring them to His glory, is most pleasing to the Lord and most profitable to us. For these blessed souls are His eternal spouses, and most grateful are they to those who obtain their deliverance from prison, or even a mitigation of their torments. When, therefore, they arrive in Heaven, they will be sure to remember all who have prayed for them. — St. Alphonsus Liguori ____________________________________ Prayer to Release Souls from Purgatory Our Lord told St. Gertrude the Great, that the following prayer would release 1,000 souls from Purgatory each time it is said. The prayer was extended to include living sinners which would alleviate the indebtedness accrued to them: Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Pu

November 16th is the optional memorial of Saint Gertrude the Great. A 12th century Benedictine nun of the monastery of Helfta, in Saxony, she is regarded as one of the great mystics of the Middle Ages. Our Savior favored her with visions. Her book Revelations is her marvelous account of them. St. Gertrude introduced the devotion to the Sacred Heart which, four centuries later, Saint Margaret Mary spread throughout the Church. She died at the beginning of the 13th century. One of the most lovable German saints from medieval times, Gertrude, through her writings, will remain for all ages a guide to the interior life. She was born in 1256 at Eisleben and at the age of five taken to the convent at Rossdorf, where Gertrude of Hackeborn was abbess. Similarity in name has caused confusion between the two Gertrudes. St. Gertrude the Great never functioned as superior. In spite of much ill-health, Gertrude used her exceptional natural talents well, such as her fluency in Latin. In 1281,

Padre Pio was a man of immense spiritual gifts and insight. As a Capuchin priest, his ministry was marked by prayer and piety. His suffering was constant. He bore the stigmata of Our Lord’s Crucifixion with their attending agony, and was beset by demonic manifestations. He was graced with the ability to read souls and see his guardian angel. He was also visited by souls seeking release from Purgatory. We must empty Purgatory with our prayers. — St. Pio of Pietrelcina ____________________________________ Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen. [Poor souls, upon attaining heaven, pray that I may also experience holy beatitude at the close of my earthly life.] Prayer for St. Padre Pio’s Interc

The brilliant theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas thought deeply about the ends of Christian life, including and especially on the "Last Things". His comment on the souls' longing for God in Purgatory reminds us that to live virtuously is our duty. The more one longs for a thing, the more painful does deprivation of it become. And because after this life, the desire for God, the Supreme Good, is intense in the souls of the just (because this impetus toward him is not hampered by the weight of the body, and that time of enjoyment of the Perfect Good would have come) had there been no obstacle; the soul suffers enormously from the delay. — St. Thomas Aquinas ________________________________ Prayer for St. Thomas Aquinas' Intercession Almighty ever-loving God, who made Saint Thomas Aquinas outstanding in his zeal for holiness and his study of sacred doctrine, grant us, we pray, that we may understand what he taught and imitate what he accomplished by his witn

St. Catherine of Genoa was a 15th century Italian Franciscan tertiary and mystic. She wrote treatises about her altruistic and mystical experiences. The later often centered on Purgatory. Pope Benedict XVI said of her, “With her life St Catherine teaches us that the more we love God and enter into intimacy with him in prayer the more he makes himself known to us, setting our hearts on fire with his love.” Apart from the happiness of the saints in heaven, I think there is no joy comparable to that of the souls in purgatory. — St. Catherine of Genoa _________________________________ Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen. [Poor souls, upon attaining heaven, pray that I may also experience holy beati

A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls in Purgatory is granted to the faithful who devoutly visit a church or oratory on All Souls Day (November 2nd). Requirements for Obtaining a Plenary Indulgence on All Souls Day: ◗ Visit a church and pray for souls in Purgatory. ◗ Say one "Our Father" and the "Apostles Creed" in the visit to the church. ◗ Say one "Our Father" and one "Hail Mary" for the Pope’s intentions ( those intentions designated by the Holy Father each month ). ◗ Worthily receive Holy Communion (ideally on the same day). ◗ Make a sacramental confession within 20 days of All Souls Day. ◗ For a plenary indulgence, be free from all attachment to sin, even venial sin (or the indulgence is partial, not plenary). You may gain one plenary indulgence a day. These partial indulgences are applicable only to the souls in Purgatory: ◗ A partial indulgence may be obtained by devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying for

Editor's note: We present this post from last November for your consideration. The time frame for obtaining the indulgences discussed below has passed, however, our prayers for the poor souls in purgatory are always efficacious. November is when Holy Mother Church prays especially for the faithful departed who are in Purgatory (the Church Suffering). Below are various links on the state of purification that is Purgatory, beginning with a reflection by Father James Kubicki, " The Process of Purgatory ", in which he quotes Pope Benedict XVI. (What follows is a transcript of the video): November begins with the Feast of All Saints and is followed by the Feast of All Souls on which we remember all those who have died and are in Purgatory, but the whole month is dedicated to prayer for them. ... As we pray for those who have died, it’s important that we have a better understanding of this process that we have traditionally called Purgatory. It’s not a physical place, be

If you were to collect all the passages about death and the afterlife in Sacred Scripture, you would still not have a clear picture about what the experience of death is like, or what we can expect after we have died. Obviously, God has no intention of revealing very much about these two basic experiences, even though humans have contemplated and written much about them. Death is an unknown abyss between ourselves and the afterlife, as far as our knowledge is concerned. We are, however, asked to meditate deeply on what precedes and what follows the experience of death. With regard to what precedes death, we are encouraged to reflect on God's mercy and goodness, not on our failures, torments, and trials of the past. The prophet Jeremiah rejects the thoughts that bring despair, regret, and depression; instead he fills his heart with the positive qualities of God: "His mercies are not spent; they are renewed each morning." (Lamentations 3:22-23) We ought to think thes

A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls in Purgatory is granted to the faithful who devoutly visit a church or oratory on All Souls Day (November 2nd). Requirements for Obtaining a Plenary Indulgence on All Souls Day: ◗ Visit a church and pray for souls in Purgatory. ◗ Say one "Our Father" and the "Apostles Creed" in the visit to the church. ◗ Say one "Our Father" and one "Hail Mary" for the Holy Father’s intentions (see Pope Francis' prayer intentions for November 2016 ). ◗ Worthily receive Holy Communion (ideally on the same day). ◗ Make a sacramental confession within 20 days of All Souls Day. ◗ For a plenary indulgence, be free from all attachment to sin, even venial sin (or the indulgence is partial, not plenary). You may gain one plenary indulgence a day. These partial indulgences are applicable only to the souls in Purgatory: ◗ A partial indulgence can be obtained by devoutly visiting a cemetery and prayi

Here is the testimony of a French nun who died, February 22, 1871, at the age of 36. In November 1873, she began appearing to a fellow nun in her convent. This private revelation is not the infallible Word of God. Nonetheless, those who deny or ignore the existence of Purgatory do so at their own peril. "I can tell you about the different degrees of Purgatory because I have passed through them. In the great Purgatory there are several stages. In the lowest and most painful, it is like a temporary hell, and here there are the sinners who have committed terrible crimes during life and whose death surprised them in that state. It was almost a miracle that they were saved, and often by the prayers of holy parents or other pious persons. Sometimes they did not even have time to confess their sins and the world thought them lost, but God, whose mercy is infinite, gave them at the moment of death the contrition necessary for their salvation on account of one or more good actions whi

Death does not herald the end of personal existence but rather a new triumphal beginning. Although we are faced with the certainty of death, we are at the same time consoled by the promise of a glorious bodily immortality. What Christ, the Head of the Mystical Body, did for Himself He will also do for His members. The same divine power is always operative within Him. As we continue to pray especially for the souls of the faithful departed in November, I present to you this reflection by Saint Alphonsus Liguori (pictured). Praying for the Poor Souls in Purgatory The practice of recommending to God the souls in Purgatory, that He might mitigate the great pains which they suffer, and that He may soon bring them to His glory, is most pleasing to the Lord and most profitable to us. For these blessed souls are His eternal spouses, and most grateful are they to those who obtain their deliverance from prison, or even a mitigation of their torments. When, therefore, they arrive

November begins with All Saints Day and All Souls Day. It is therefore fitting that the Catholic Church designates November as the month of the holy souls in Purgatory. Then we especially remember those who have died in a state of grace, but who have not yet atoned fully for their venial sins. Such souls must undergo temporal punishment to expiate any imperfections and disordered attachments that remain. The punishment is really a purification. There is material fire in Purgatory that purifies the immaterial soul. The soul's union with these flames is both the means of sanctification and a source of suffering. The principal cause of suffering for the soul in Purgatory is its longing for God. Many Catholics who misunderstand the doctrine of Purgatory, downplay its significance. As a result, the poor souls in Purgatory suffer. Purgatory is not a final test or trial. The souls in Purgatory are assured of their salvation and will one day be in Heaven. The Church teaches that Purgat

Two and 1/2 days left to earn indulgences for the faithful departed in Purgatory: A partial indulgence can be obtained by devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying for the departed, even if the prayer is only mental. One may obtain a plenary indulgence by visiting a cemetery each day between November 1st - 8th. You may pray for a friend or loved one who has died. You may also offer prayers for those forgotten souls with no one to remember them. We can be sure that there is no such thing as a superfluous or useless prayer. No prayer is lost. No sacrifice wasted. God in his goodness will put our prayers, petitions and worship to the most efficacious end. Also... Every time you attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: ◗ Piously hearing Mass affords souls in Purgatory the greatest relief. ◗ You shorten your Purgatory by every Mass. The poor souls, upon attaining Heaven, will intercede on your behalf.