HE WHO GIVES SUFFRAGES TO THE SOULS IN PURGATORY
DOES A THING VERY ACCEPTABLE TO GOD, WHO LOVES THE SOULS.
God, by the infinite goods which He contains in
Himself, shows Himself infinitely loving, employing in behalf of His creatures
His own infinite perfections. Thus, as the Mellifluous Doctor says, it is not
so much that he loves, as that He is love itself. But of with all souls God is
all love. He is particularly so with those souls who are in grace, who all
employ the gifts of the Holy Spirit to love Him. With these He deals with a perfect
friendship, giving them His promised riches, going so far as to communicate to
them, as the prince of the Apostles says, His Divine nature by grace. Such are
the souls in purgatory, all in grace, all beautiful, all holy, all most loving
spouses of Himself, and singularly loved by Him. How acceptable to God, then,
will that devout Christian be, who is efficaciously engaged in freeing from
purgatory these dear spouses of His! O, how like God in love, as Nazianzen
believes, will he become, being a lover of Him, and loved tenderly by Him! O,
let us aspire in good earnest to so happy a lot!
Ejaculation
Already, in these holy souls Love's flame is lit
by grace: What panting thirst these flames must cause, To see Thee face to face!
De profundis
face! 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.
St. Margaret of Cortona, a Tertiary of the order of
St. Francis, will be the protectrix of this day, of whom the Bollandists tell
us, that she cherished a most tender compassion for the souls in purgatory, and
freed a great number of them by the suffrages of her prayers and fasts. — (In
Act. Sanct., 22 Feb., in ejus vit.)
Example
Prayer, joined to fasting, must be of great
assistance to the souls in purgatory, since we are told in the Book of Judith,
the Lord will hear your entreaties, if you persevere in prayer and fasting.
With this in view, we have prescribed both the one and the other in the acts of
virtue: the following example will serve to excite us still more to the same.
Sancio, the King of Leon, was betrayed by Count Gondisalvo, the leader of a sedition,
and died by poison. The Queen, Guda, his wife, who loved him tenderly, having
laid aside the royal diadem, shut herself up in a convent to serve God, and
give more profitable suffrages to the soul of her departed husband. Day and
night she offered fervent prayers for his soul; and on Saturday, which is
dedicated to Mary, she gave herself particularly to fasting. It was on a
Saturday, whilst she prayed in behalf of the dead, that Sancio appealed to her,
clad in the weeds of a mourner, and girded all round with two red-hot chains:
he thanked her for the suffrages she had given him, and prayed her to go on
with them, and even to increase them for the future. “Ah,'' said he, “if I
could explain to you, my consort, how great my torments in purgatory are, how
would your compassion towards your Sancio increase! O, by the bowels of Divine
mercy, help me, Guda; help me." At such an apparition, the Queen gave herself
for forty days to continual prayers and fastings, till after this time she saw
him appear a second time, surrounded with celestial brightness; and he said to
her, "See, I am free — thanks to you, most gracious Queen — from my pains.
Blessed for ever be God. Persevere in your holy practices: meditate upon the
punishments of another life, and, above all, upon the glory of Paradise,
whither I am going to wait for you, and to be your mighty protector. And so
saying, he disappeared. Players, then, and fasts, are desirable as suffrages
for these blessed souls. — (Vas- quez in Chron. an. '940.)
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