Novena for the Holy Souls in Purgatory
O most gentle Heart of Jesus, ever present in the Blessed Sacrament, ever consumed with burning love for the poor captive souls in Purgatory, have mercy on the souls of Thy departed servants.
Be not severe in Thy judgments, but let some drops of Thy Precious Blood fall upon the devouring flames.
And do Thou, O merciful Saviour, send Thy holy angels to conduct them to a place of refreshment, light and peace. Amen.
O most compassionate Jesus, have mercy on the souls detained in Purgatory, for whose redemption Thou didst take upon Thyself our nature and endure a bitter death.
Mercifully hear their sighs, look with pity upon the tears which they now shed before Thee, and by virtue of Thy Passion, release them from the pains due to their sins.
O most merciful Jesus, let Thy Precious Blood reach down into Purgatory and refresh and revive the captive souls who suffer there.
Stretch out to them Thy strong right hand, and bring them forth into the place of refreshment, light and peace. Amen.
O blessed souls! We have prayed for thee!
We entreat thee, who art so dear to God, and who art certain of never losing Him, to pray for us poor miserable sinners who are in danger of being damned and of losing God forever. Amen.
[Source: Fr Richard Heilman on ROMAN CATHOLIC MAN]
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ON ENTRY TO HEAVEN THE SOUL IS GREETED BY THOSE FOR WHOM THAT SOUL HAS PRAYED
It is [soon] the time of year to think of the deceased: All Souls’ Day. Are we ready? Are we preparing ourselves for the afterlife? Have we prayed enough for those who have gone before us?
Those questions were taken up by Catholic author Susan Tassone in a beautiful book, Praying with the Saints for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. She has now also penned a new one, Day by Day for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.
“Purgatory is an emergency entrance to Heaven for those who have wasted grace on earth,” writes Susan. “What God considered the exception became the rule, and the rule — to go straight to Heaven — has become the exception.”
She quotes St. John of the Cross as saying, “Divine Providence always provides in every life the purification that is needed to allow us to go straight to Heaven.”
Are we headed there? And what have we done for our loved ones?
“This is a loving purgatory, not a purgatory of punishment,” she says. “God is a God of unspeakable purity. The very vision of God causes eternal purity and blessedness. It is the sublime beauty of God that ravishes these souls, and they will not go before Him with the least stain.”
In the afterlife, all that we are is visible. We “wear” it. Where is our “dirt”? What will our robes look like?
Will there be the brilliant white clothing of Heaven — described by one woman who claimed to glimpse it as a combination of spun glass and spun cotton; will it be that or the stained ones seen in purgatory?
We enter “clothed” with the state of our innermost chambers.
“Every trace of attachment to evil must be eliminated, every imperfection of the soul corrected, ” the great John Paul II once said, as Tassone relates. “Purification must be complete, and indeed this is precisely what is meant by the Church’s teaching on purgatory.”
When we pray, we help souls purify their heavenly attire. And they are aware of us. When we pray for them, the Blessed Mother once said, reality “scrolls” up. They can see us. And as Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once intoned:
“As we enter Heaven, we will see them, so many of them, coming toward us and thanking us. We will ask who they are and they will say: ‘A poor soul you prayed for in purgatory.'”
“One day I asked the Lord, ‘Lord, who else should I pray for?’” said St. Faustina of Poland. “Jesus said that on the following night He would let me know for whom I should always pray for.
“The following night, I saw my Guardian Angel who asked me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid.”
One day, we will not only see the effect of our prayers but the entire interaction between natural and supernatural, living and dead.
[Read more HERE.]
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
Amen! I am thankful for the most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ!
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God Bless America. On Coffee or not:
“Pregnant woman ‘sick of waddling’ gets judge to serve unborn baby eviction notice. It worked
The baby was given three days to ‘vacate the premises’ at Mommy Belly Lane in Womb, Utah. Her mom joked that baby Gretsel ‘didn’t want to be in contempt of court’.”
http://nationalpost.com/news/world/judge-serves-eviction-notice-on-pregnant-moms-unborn-baby
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Pingback: All Souls – I Can Fly
“Be not severe in Thy judgments, but let some drops of Thy Precious Blood fall upon the devouring flames.”
Bit presumptuous dish out instructions on how to behave to The Deity, it seems to me.
Afterthought: Why should He be called “Thou,” anyway?
“Mercifully hear their sighs, look with pity upon the tears which they now shed before Thee, and by virtue of Thy Passion, release them from the pains due to their sins.”
But don’t waste your time and mercy on the other poor souls in Hell. Let them roast.
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Very helpful explanation for purgatory! It’s a keeper for those who question why Catholics believe in it.
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Well, I did my homework, as I’m frequently advised – and discovered there is no mention of Purgatory in the Bible /Gospels. Somebody later on came up with the idea. Dante, maybe? Jabba and/or Raven will know.
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There was an excellent commenter on Damian Thompson’s old Holy Smoke blog who provided readers with many biblical proofs for Purgatory: OnTheSideoftheAngels (OTSOTA) was his (or her) blog name. The words “homosexual” and “transexual” and many other words with moral and doctrinal significance are not found in the Holy Bible because they had not been thought of in biblical times, even though the ideas underlying them had been. Words are coined constantly.
My friend Toad may be uninterested in searching for the concept of Purgatory in the Holy Bible even though he (and I) should be immensely grateful for it – as was C.S. Lewis – but it is there: https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/is-purgatory-in-the-bible
Anyroad, I have today – thanks to this reminder provided by CP&S – begun a Novena for my mother.
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I am so sorry for the poor editing of my last comment. Can anyone please correct my unintended overuse of italics? GC is usually very kind and helpful in that regard.
[Another moderator (not GC this time) hopes the “editing” has been done to your liking JH 🙂 ]
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They usually cite II Maccabees and Matthew 5:24-25, as the biblical sources for Purgatory, Toad.
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“..truly I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny (Matthew 5:25-26).”
Thanks the practical advice, Raven. I duly looked them up. Maccabees incomprehensible – and seemingly irrelevant, and Matthew (above) with God as Shylock.
Neither particularly convincing. And to suggest either confirms the existence of Purgatory seems a bit of a stretch. To put it mildly.
Are Catholics bound to believe in Purgatory? Or is it like Limbo?
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Honestly, Toad, II Maccabees tells us that prayer for the souls of the faithful departed can bring about their salvation and Matthew confirms that venal sins can be ‘repaid’ like debts – you must hear/recite this pretty much every week (note the emphasis):
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The dogma of Purgatory has always been considered “common sense” to Catholics. How can a soul. at the moment of passing from this life into Eternity, not have the burning desire to pass through the cleansing fires of purgation before entering into the Perfect, Holy Presence of God?
Our Lady of Fatima talked about Purgatory.
Many saints – notably, Padre Pio – had vivid experiences of encounters with suffering souls in Purgatory.
There is a “Purgatory Museum” in Rome where startling items display inexplicable scorch marks the Holy Souls have left behind. The honesty and integrity of those to whom the HS appeared makes these proofs very hard to ignore.
From “Catholic Answers“:
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a “purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,” which is experienced by those “who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified” (CCC 1030). It notes that “this final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (CCC 1031).
The purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27) and, while we may die with our mortal sins forgiven, there can still be many impurities in us, specifically venial sins and the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.
[…]
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“Be not”
Bit presumptuous
Dearest Paddy, in fact the negative infinitive tense used like this in English wishes to express the kindliest manner of proposals.
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The dogma of Purgatory has always been considered “common sense” to Catholics
As a foot pilgrim, dearest kathleen, and a convert and a sinner besides, and a Visionary, in some way I’m looking forward to the Purgatory, as I think I could help some still working towards our Christ on their Way forward to Him.
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Well. what it seems to boil down to – is that we feel a situation like Purgatory is “necessary,” – so it must necessarily exist.
I seriously doubt that. But then, I would.
The idea of Global Decency among humans is “necessary,” as is compassion for fellow animals – but there is no sign of it.
Never has been. Nor ever will be. I fear.
Interesting, if absurd, idea – that since a museum of Purgatory exists – that “proves” Purgatory must necessarily exist as well.
As if there were museums of Afreets, Ghoolies, Demons, Banshees. “Intelligent Design,” and Creationism – they must also exist. But then, they probably do.
The result of all this is that it’s amusing and fascinating to see how people will go to extraordinary lengths to single out anything plainly impossible – in order to believe it. I’m no exception. I persist in believing in reason and logic on Earth.
Twit.
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Here is a Eucharistic Prayer of Saint Thomas Aquinas :
and here is an incredibly beautiful Protestant rendering of a Psalm of David :
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Does it not seem odd that Protestants ( or Atheists, or Mrmons) can clearly be equally moved by spirituality (viz, Bach) as are Catholics? What does that tell us? Nothing of particular value, it seems. But I doubt that.
What Christians of all several thousand stripes, have in common is surely more important than what they do not?
Naive Toad. The heretics are all off to Hell, and we are not. (Well, some of us,aren’t. )
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Why do the pompous renderings of Toad remind me of all those down through the history of Mankind who have shaken their fists at God, screaming “I will not serve”?
Why do they also have connotations with the words of the Bad Thief to Our Blessed Lord on the Cross?
Toad demands to be saved. He tells God what is to be believed, and what is “impossible” for His Church to teach… or “unkind” (e.g. Hell). He wants to rewrite the Gospel “according to Toadspittle”.
Poor Toad!
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Absolutely beautiful interpretations of those two well-loved hymns, Jabba – thank you! And both, in their own way, highly appropriate for this post and its comments.
“As a foot pilgrim, dearest kathleen, and a convert and a sinner besides, and a Visionary, in some way I’m looking forward to the Purgatory, as I think I could help some still working towards our Christ on their Way forward to Him.”
This greatly moved me, Jabba!
I am a “foot pilgrim” too, and certainly a “sinner”…. (but a cradle Cat, not a “convert”, and not a “Visionary” either). Yet I wholeheartedly concur with your hopes for Purgatory.
If I was to be struck down dead right this minute I would be devastated to appear before the Throne of God in my messy state. I would beg my guardian angel (as in “The Dream of Gerontius”) to hurriedly whisk me away to get cleaned up first!
And I’d be more than delighted for some helpful advice once more, dear friend, if I were to find you there too 😉.
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Thank you to the Unknown Moderator at 19:45 – 48 !
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“I would beg my guardian angel (as in “The Dream of Gerontius”) to hurriedly whisk me away to get cleaned up first!”
Quite unnecessary, dear Kathleen. God knows all about you – from soup to nuts, (as the Gospel neatly puts it ) – regardless of whatever temporary state you happen to be in at the moment of death.
And He will judge you on your entire life, not just on your current condition. (So it says here.)
Otherwise, it’s a raffle or crap-shoot.
And you are right about Toad being pompous. Just read the above twaddle!
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