Monday, November 16, 2015

MONTH OF HOLY SOULS - FIFTEENTH DAY


                   FIFTEENTH DAY 

HE WHO GIVES SUFFRAGES TO THE SOULS IN PURGATORY DOES A THING MOST ACCEPTABLE TO MARY THE MOTHER OF MERCY.

Mary is called the Mother of mercy; and in this beautiful title, deservedly given her by the Church, she takes great delight, giving continual proofs of her tender compassion towards those who invoke her devoutly. Now, she is in a special way the Mother of mercy towards the souls in purgatory; she herself confessed this to St. Bridget in one of her revelations, in which she called herself the common mother of all, being kind and loving towards all the souls in purgatory also; saying, “I am the mother of all the souls in purgatory, because all their pains become continually mitigated in some degree by means of my prayers.” If, then, the Mother of God is the mother of these blessed souls, it is plain that she loves them tenderly, and. feels the utmost satisfaction when they are affectionately succoured by devout and faithful persons. Can it be that, in order to give pleasure to so dear a mother as this, who is our advocate, we will not set ourselves to give efficacious suffrages to these souls that are such beloved daughters, of Mary?

Ejaculation
Reach forth, O loving Virgin, reach To suffering souls a pitying hand, And draw them from the gulf of pain, To heaven's restful strand.

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.


St. Dominic the Patriarch will be protector of this day, as one very devout to Mary, from whom he received the Rosary, and was so compassionate a benefactor to the souls in purgatory, that of three disciplines which he took, even to blood, every night, he offered one in suffrage for the same. — (Bened. XIII. Trig. i. Serm. 12.)

Example
In order to comprehend aright how beneficial to the souls in purgatory is the recital of the Rosary prescribed by us, that which Mary herself said, when she appeared to St. Dominic, upon the testimony of the blessed Alanus, will suffice; to wit, that one of the principal advantages of the Rosary was the liberation of souls from purgatory. To this I shall subjoin the following example: A famous courtesan, Catherine by name, was converted in Roma by the prayers of St. Dominic, who, by that light which God kindled in her soul, discovered the vanity of the pleasures and goods of this world, and applied herself in good earnest to the acquisition of eternal goods. She took especial delight in the devotion of the Rosary, reciting it devoutly more than once in the day, and applying it wholly, or in part, as a suffrage for the souls in purgatory. Now, the Lord, to show how great relief to these souls such a devotion was, made known to the aforesaid Saint in writing, that while Catherine one day was reciting a third part of the Rosary for the dead, meditating the while on the mysteries of the Passion, there gushed from the limbs of a most beautiful infant, who represented our Lord Jesus Christ, fifty- five fountains, just the number of Aves and Pater Nosters which compose a third part of the Rosary; which sent forth in great abundance most clear waters, which all fell into purgatory, and refreshed the tormented souls so much, that they seemed to have no longer any sense of pain; and at this, voices, all of joy, mounted up, thanking and blessing Catherine, their pious benefactress.


O, how much to be praised are those families who join every evening in reciting together the Rosary, as a suffrage for the souls in purgatory!
(Campad. Pise. sacr. 21.)





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