MONTH OF NOVEMBER DEDICATED TO THE POOR
SOULS IN PURGATORY
FIRST DAY
REFLECTION
ON PURGATORY IN GENERAL
Purgatory is a place beneath the
earth, according to the opinion of the Angelic Doctor, not far from the abyss
of hell. This place is destined for those souls which, although they died in
grace, yet had not entirely satisfied the Divine justice for the punishment due
to their sins. The punishments to which the souls in purgatory are subject are
two: the pain of loss, and the pain of sense, both of them corresponding to
their guilt. For every man who sins, turns, so to say, his back upon his God.
For this guilt there is a corresponding pain, and it is the pain of loss: God,
in our way of thinking, goes far from that soul and deprives it of the sight of
Himself. So, too, every soul, whenever it sins, turns itself to the creatures,
to make a wrong use of them; the miser to gold, the glutton to excessive eating
and drinking: and this is called turning to the creatures. For this guilt a
corresponding pain is found, and that is the pain of sense: God wishes that
those souls who have abandoned their Creator to fling themselves into the arms
of the creatures without reserve, should find in the fire, which is His
creature, the pain they deserve. Whence it comes that we read in the book of
Wisdom, that every one shall be punished by means of those instruments of which
he availed himself to sin.
Act of Virtue for one Day
Mortify the taste by depriving
yourself, either entirely or in part, of some viand.
Act of Virtue for the whole Month
Disengage yourself from friendships which
are carried to an extreme, and are dangerous.
Respite from their misery
PSALM 129
De Profundis
A prayer of a sinner, trusting in the mercies of God.
A prayer of a sinner, trusting in the mercies of God.
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.
De Profundis. The
sixth penitential psalm.
Canticum graduum. De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine; Domine,
exaudi vocem meam. Fiant aures tuae intendentes in vocem deprecationis meae. Si
iniquitates observaveris, Domine, Domine, quis sustinebit? Quia apud te propitiatio est; et propter legem
tuam sustinui te, Domine. Sustinuit anima mea in verbo ejus; speravit anima mea
in Domino.
A custodia matutina usque ad noctem, speret Israel in
Domino; quia apud Dominum misericordia, et copiosa apud eum redemptio. Et ipse
redimet Israel ex omnibus iniquitatibus ejus.
Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord;
and. let perpetual light shine upon them.
Let us pray
Deus, Venice largitor. God the giver of pardon.
Deus, Venice largitor. God the giver of pardon.
O God, bountiful in forgiving, and
lovingly desirous of man's salvation, we beg Thy mercy for the brethren of our
congregation, its friends, and benefactors, who have passed away from this
life, that by the intercession of Blessed Mary ever Virgin, and that of all the
Saints, Thou mayest allow them to come to the full participation of everlasting
bliss. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord; and
let perpetual light shine upon them. The glorious Virgin Mary, Mother of God,
will be the Protectrix of this day, as being she who is the Queen of all
Saints, and who, according to St. Bridget, is called Consolatrix of the souls
in purgatory, and Mother of the same.
Example
We cannot read without amazement of
the fervent charity of the wonderful Virgin Christina, who, for the good of the
dead, really put into practice that which the apostle said: I desire to be
separated from Christ for my brethren's sake. The virgin one day being lifted
in spirit, and conducted by God to see the things which the souls in purgatory
suffered in that furnace of fire, was so moved with compassion at seeing them
thus severely tormented and agonized, that when left by her God at liberty to
choose one of the two lots; either to pass at once into the glory of Paradise,
or to remain in life, in order to give suffrages to these blessed souls,
without a moment's hesitation she clung to the latter. She adopted in
consequence a kind of life austere, beyond all belief, in order to relieve
these holy souls; and if any one suggested to her to treat her body with more
compassion, she replied at once as follows: “You speak in this way because you
do not know how they suffer in purgatory. If you did but know this, I am
certain you would do the same as a suffrage for those blessed souls."
Come, then, in imitation of this heroine, let us endeavour to cleave to the
practice of penances, both to withdraw ourselves from torments so severe, and
also to set the souls in purgatory free from them. (Bened. XIII. Sacr. Triges.
i. Serm. 25.)
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About Image - St Gregory the Great Delivers the
Soul of a Monk
Gregory's Dialogues
(4:40) tell of a monk from whom the last rites were withheld by his abbot
because he was found to have hidden, three gold coins in his cell. By his
prayers Gregory secured the release of the monk's soul from purgatory. Angels
carry the monk's soul to heaven.
The visionary and
dramatic violence of the leading painter in the group known as the Seicento
Lombardo places the episode connected with the mass into the background.
Instead, all eyes are on the turbulent vision that links Purgatory in a spiral
leading upward to the light of highest Heaven.
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