Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Month of Holy Souls - Seventeenth Day


            SEVENTEENTH DAY

HE WHO GIVES SUFFRAGES TO THE SOULS IN PURGATORY DOES A THING ACCEPTABLE TO MARY, QUEEN OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

There is no doubt that Mary, being Queen of heaven and earth, has absolute dominion over the Church triumphant as well as the militant, yet as a creature subject to God. This dominion, however, St. Bernard of Sienna extends to the suffering Church; and in such way that, if she confers the treasures of her glory upon the first, and upon the second those of her grace, she deals out to the third the influences of her suffrages. Hence the Saint makes her say, "I walk upon the waves of the sea," which meant to signify that she passed over this stormy sea of fire, and mitigated its painful fires, at all events by means of the angels whom she commands. What pleasure, then, will not this Queen be sure to feel in seeing freed, by means of our suffrages, from the dark prison of purgatory, those blessed souls which were devout to her, and faithful, at least in death, to her Divine Son! Let us, then, endeavour with abundant suffrages to set those souls free, so that the number of those who venerate this glorious Queen may be increased in heaven.

Ejaculation
For the merits of Thy mother, May Thy gracious heart concede To the souls, my loving Jesus, That refreshment which they need.

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.

Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord; and. let perpetual light shine upon them.



St. Catherine of Sienna, of the order of St. Dominic, will be the protectrix of this day, as one who not only honoured Mary with especial dutifulness, but also showed herself charitable towards her daughters, the souls in purgatory, for the liberation of whom die offered to God all her satisfactions. (In ejus vita.)


Example
Dionysius (Denis) the Carthusian attests that at the most holy name of Mary the souls in purgatory feel that relief which a sick man, lying upon his bed, feels when he hears a word of great comfort to him. And with good reason, for she not only bestows her assistance upon them, but also defends those who show themselves merciful to them. The following example will serve to prove this: A person devout to this divine Mother, and benevolent to the souls in purgatory, to aid whom he recited every evening upon his knees the Litany of the Virgin, had certain sworn enemies, who laid snares for his life. One evening, when this merciful man lay unsuspiciously asleep in his chamber, these murderous men found a mode of entering into his house to dispatch him in a way which would not be found out, by a secret way of killing him. Having gone up very softly to him, and finding on a chair the clothes he had taken off, they went with weapon in hand to kill him cruelly. However, they could not see him whom they had looked for so anxiously, because, by a marvellous favour from heaven, he had become invisible. Hence, imagining that he was in some hidden place in his house, they went all over it in quest of him; but, after all their search, finding no trace of him, they went away confused and enraged, with an ill will in their heart, which gave them still greater torment. In this way Mary undertakes, by blinding the wicked, to protect those who so zealously set themselves to honour her, and give suffrages to the souls in purgatory. Ah, if Mary would free us from blindness of heart, and make us invisible to the dangerous objects on this earth, then happy should we be! Let us pray to her with our whole heart, and show more affection to the souls in purgatory.
(Rosignoli, Maraviglia di Dio nel Anime del Purg. M. 40.)






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