TWENTIETH
DAY
THE
GIVING OF SUFFRAGES TO THE SOULS IN PURGATORY IS A DUTY OF CHARITY, NATURAL AND
SUPERNATURAL.
The charity of nature is a law of God impressed
indelibly upon us, by which we are bound to love our neighbours as ourselves,
in order to natural happiness. We are, in the natural order of things, all of
us brethren, having all the same Father, and so we are all members of that body
which forms the commonwealth of mankind. The charity of grace, which is written
on our hearts by the Holy-Spirit, prescribes the love of our neighbour in a
higher manner, with a view to his supernatural happiness in eternal glory. From
this it comes to pass that we are all brethren in Jesus Christ; Christ being
our head, and all we being His members. If, then, this be so, who will not hold
himself bound by the laws of natural and supernatural charity to give suffrages
to the souls in purgatory, who, although separated from us in the body, are yet
so closely united to us in soul with the bonds of charity, natural as well as
supernatural, and stand so much in need of our suffrages too? Charity, as the Angelic Doctor observes, is never extinguished, and
it ought not to be extended to the living only, but also to the dead, who in
the union of charity are not separated from us. Let us bethink ourselves
seriously, and perform this.
Ejaculation
Back from the tomb to life again Your Lazarus, O
Lord, you drew; So, for these poor afflicted souls Their chains of fire undo.
De profundis
Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord:
Lord, hear my voice. Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it. For with thee
there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of thy law, I have waited for
thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on his word: My soul hath hoped in the Lord.
From the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord. Because
with the Lord there is mercy: and with him plentiful redemption. And he shall
redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
A Catholic bishop granting plenary indulgences for the public during times of calamity.
Example
I should be entering into too wide a sea, if I had
a mind to give you some information touching indulgences, which I have proposed
as an act of virtue for the whole month. It is enough to know that indulgences
in themselves contain all the treasures of the merits of Jesus Christ, the most
Blessed Virgin, and the saints, so that they are distributed only by the
authority of the Pope and of bishops, for the sole end of giving to Divine
justice the satisfaction due in punishment for our sins. These are distributed
by the Church primarily and directly to the living, because they alone are in a
condition to perform the works enjoined by the Church to gain the indulgences.
Yet to the dead they are applied secondarily and indirectly, or by way of
suffrage, when the Church allows them to be so applied, and when the works
enjoined by the same Church to gain the indulgences have been performed by the
living. So Benedict XIII, who, upon this subject, adduces the following example. One day, as blessed Bertoldo, the Franciscan, was preaching, he being privileged by
the Apostolic See to give ten days' indulgence to his hearers for
every sermon, there came to him a gentlewoman begging his alms, to which the
servant of God answered that he had not any to give her, and so she must go to
a certain banker, who cared little for indulgences, and tell him, that she would give him the ten days' indulgence, gained that morning by
hearing his sermon, which would suffice to pay off the pains he had to suffer
after death in purgatory, begging him also to give her the alms she wanted. The
good lady obeyed; and when asked by the banker what alms she wanted for the
aforesaid indulgences, As much, she replied, as they weigh. The ten days'
indulgence then being placed, at the good lady's request, on one side of the scale,
the banker put a crown on the other side. But seeing that it did not outweigh
the indulgences, he added a second, and a third, and so on, till the balance
remained even, to the astonishment of this man, who from this time began to set
a due value upon indulgences; and to the joy of the poor gentlewoman, who found
herself, through this miracle, provided by God with as much as she had need of.
With like balance let us endeavour, through the easy gaining of sacred
indulgences in behalf of the dead, to make up for the cruel pains which the
faithful departed are suffering up to this time. 'Bened. XIII. Trig, ii. Serm.
23.1
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