Thought for the Day – 2 November – The Solemnity of All Souls
On Purgatory, by Saint John Vianney
“I come on behalf of God. Why am I up in the pulpit today, my dear brethren? What am I going to say to you? Ah! I come on behalf of God Himself. I come on behalf of your poor parents, to awaken in you that love and gratitude which you owe them. I come to bring before your minds again all those kindnesses and all the love which they gave you while they were on earth. I come to tell you that they suffer in Purgatory, that they weep and that they demand with urgent cries the help of your prayers and your good works. I seem to hear them crying from the depths of those fires which devour them: “Tell our loved ones, tell our children, tell all our relatives how great the evils are which they are making us suffer. We throw ourselves at their feet to implore the help of their prayers. Ah! Tell them that since we have been separated from them, we have been here burning in the flames!”
Oh! Who would be so indifferent to such sufferings as we are enduring? Do you see, my dear brethren, do you hear that tender mother, that devoted father and all those relatives who helped and tended you? “My friends,” they cry, “free us from these pains; you can do it.” Consider then, my dear brethren:
(a) the magnitude of these sufferings which the souls in Purgatory endure; and
(b) the means which we have of mitigating them: our prayers, our good works, and, above all, the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
I do not wish to stop at this stage to prove to you the existence of Purgatory. That would be a waste of time. No one among you has the slightest doubt on that score. The Church, to which Jesus Christ promised the guidance of the Holy Ghost and which, consequently, can neither be mistaken herself nor mislead us, teaches us about Purgatory in a very clear and positive manner. It is certain, very certain, that there is a place where the souls of the just complete the expiation of their sins before being admitted to the glory of Paradise, which is assured them. Yes, my dear brethren and it is an article of faith: if we have not done penance proportionate to the greatness and enormity of our sins, even though forgiven in the holy tribunal of Penance, we shall be compelled to expiate them…. In Holy Scripture there are many texts which show clearly that although our sins may be forgiven, God still imposes on us the obligation to suffer in this world by temporal hardships or in the next by the flames of Purgatory.
Look at what happened to Adam. Because he was repentant after committing his sin, God assured him that He had pardoned him and yet He condemned him to do penance for nine hundred years, penance which surpasses anything that we can imagine.
See again: David ordered, contrary to the wish of God, the census of his subjects but, stricken with remorse of conscience, he saw his sin and, throwing himself upon the ground, begged the Lord to pardon him. God, touched by his repentance, forgave him indeed. But despite that, He sent Gad to tell David that he would have to choose between three scourges which He had prepared for him as punishment for his iniquity: the plague, war or famine. David said: “It is better that I should fall into the hands of the Lord (for his mercies are many) than into the hands of men.” He chose the pestilence, which lasted three days and killed seventy thousand of his subjects. If the Lord had not stayed the hand of the Angel, which was stretched out over the city, all Jerusalem would have been depopulated! David, seeing so many evils caused by his sin, begged the grace of God to punish him alone and to spare his people, who were innocent. See, too, the penance of Saint Mary Magdalen; perhaps that will soften your hearts a little. Alas, my dear brethren, what, then, will be the number of years which we shall have to suffer in Purgatory, we who have so many sins, we who, under the pretext that we have confessed them, do no penance and shed no tears?
You, our brethren, deliver us from these torments! You can do it! Ah, if you only experienced the sorrow of being separated from God! … Cruel separation! To burn in the fire kindled by the justice of God! … To suffer sorrows incomprehensible to mortal man! . . . To be devoured by regret, knowing that we could so easily have avoided such sorrows! … Oh! My children, cry the fathers and the mothers, can you thus so readily abandon us, we who loved you so much? Can you then sleep in comfort and leave us stretched upon a bed of fire. Will you have the courage to give yourselves up to pleasure and joy while we are here suffering and weeping night and day? You have our wealth, our homes, you are enjoying the fruit of our labours and you abandon us here in this place of torments, where we are suffering such frightful evils for so many years! … And not a single almsgiving, not a single Mass which would help to deliver us! … You can relieve our sufferings, you can open our prison, and you abandon us. Oh! How cruel these sufferings are! … Yes, my dear brethren, people judge very differently, when in the flames of Purgatory, of all those light faults, if indeed it is possible to call anything light which makes us endure such rigorous sorrows. What woe would there be to man, the Royal Prophet cries, even the most just of men, if God were to judge him without mercy. If God has found spots in the sun and malice in the angels, what, then, is this sinful man? And for us, who have committed so many mortal sins and who have done practically nothing to satisfy the justice of God, how many years of Purgatory! “…St John Vianney
The Holy Souls cannot help themselves. For them, the night has come when no one can work (John 9:4). It is our great privilege, as brothers and sisters in Christ, to be able to shorten their time of separation from God by our prayers, good works and especially, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Therefore, the Church has always taught us to pray for the Holy Souls in purgatory. Souls in Purgatory cannot offer physical sufferings in expiation for sin as we do and rely on us to aid them in their purification by our prayers. This is why we celebrate Mass for the holy souls today. They need our prayers for their purification. When our loved ones die let us not abandon them but help them by our prayers and sacrifices. A mystical source has said that when we pray for our loved ones by name they can see us on earth. Below are a few prayers for the Holy Souls in Purgatory to be prayed especially during the month of November, but always:
PRAY FOR THE HOLY SOULS, OFFER MASS, GOOD WORKS AND ALMSGIVING, NEVER FORGET THEM as we ourselves will be those souls one day!
A PRAYER FOR A DECEASED MOTHER
O God, who has commanded us to honour our father and our mother;
in Your mercy have pity on the soul of my mother
and forgive her her trespasses.
Grant me to see her again in the joy of everlasting brightness.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen
A PRAYER FOR A DECEASED FATHER
O God, who has commanded us to honour our father and our mother;
in Your mercy have pity on the soul of my father
and forgive him his trespasses.
Grant me to see him again in the joy of everlasting brightness.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen
FOR THE SOULS IN PURGATORY
O Lord, who are ever merciful and bounteous with Your gifts,
look down upon the suffering souls in purgatory.
Remember not their offenses and negligences
but be mindful of Your loving mercy,
which is from all eternity.
Cleanse them of their sins and fulfill their ardent desires
that they may be made worthy to behold You face to face in Your glory.
May they soon be united with You and hear those blessed words
which will call them to their heavenly home:
“Come, blessed of My Father,
take possession of the kingdom prepared for you ]
from the foundation of the world.”
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be and Eternal rest.
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