HOW TO AVOID PURGATORY By Fr. Paul O’Sullivan O.P.
For those who have not read this little book and to refresh myself, I will be posting the entire book in daily doses. (To read later find in the Purgatory Category).
Chapter 3
THE FIRST MEANS: REMOVING THE CAUSE
The First Means of avoiding Purgatory is manifestly to remove the cause
which sends us there, which is sin.
It may not be easy to refrain from all sin, even the smaller sins but
every ordinary Christian can, by the frequent use of the Sacraments, easily
abstain from mortal sin.
Secondly, we can all avoid deliberate and grave venial sin. It is an awful
thing to offend the good God deliberately. Deliberation intensifies
enormously the malice of sin and offends God much more than faults of
weakness, or sins committed when we are off our guard.
Lastly, we must use our best endeavours to break off bad habits. Habits,
like deliberation, add seriously to the malice of sin
A deliberate falsehood is very much worse than a hasty lie of excuse and a
lie resulting from the inveterate habit of lying is very much worse than a
casual lie.
A lady once told us how she had, when younger, the habit of constantly
speaking ill of her neighbours.
Having heard a sermon on the subject, she made a strong resolution never to
do so again and kept it.
That simple, strong resolution changed the whole trend of her life and
saved her from thousands of sins, and most surely from a long and painful
Purgatory.
Who cannot make a like resolution and keep it?
If a Christian avoids, as he easily can, these three classes of sin, viz.,
mortal sins, deliberate and grave venial sins and habits of sin, it will
be relatively easy for him to atone for faults of frailty, as we shall
presently see.
RESOLUTION
We would be well advised to pronounce with special emphasis and fervour,
every time we say the Our Father, the words:
“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”
These are the very words of God Himself and repeated frequently and
fervently will certainly obtain for us pardon of our sins.
AnaStpaul 
Oh Ana thank you so much! If only I can get it right and somehow apply these correctly to my self! Sometimes it seems I dont do well enough at all…but have to tell you how I am so grateful for this guidance. You look out for everybody! May God bless you abundantly with His peace and mercy for letting us feel the love!!!
LikeLike
Aaaah Beverly – thank you a million times over! We all need help – a lot of it and reminding so often. Enough is never enough in the case of our faith! After all we all are called to holiness and sainthood AND families help each other! What a great blessing we have been graced with. Let us continue to share the love to all.
AND thank God for the online world where we can touch each other so deeply. May the Lord shine His Face upon you and yours, always.♥♥♥
LikeLike