Friday, November 6, 2015

MONTH OF POOR SOULS IN PURGATORY - FIFTH DAY

        An Angel Frees the Souls of Purgatory, Carracci 

FIFTH DAY
REFLECTION
THE RESEMBLANCE THAT THE FIRE OF PURGATORY HAS TO THE FIRE OF HELL

The Angelic Doctor affirms that the fire which torments the damned is like the fire which purges the elect. Hence it is that the Church, in the offertory of every Mass celebrated for the dead, prays to the King of Glory, to the Lord Jesus, thus: Liberate the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of hell. That the heat of hell-fire is insupportable, every one knows. Even the rich glutton, as it is in the Gospel, protested that he could not endure it, and called with great importunity to Abraham to send him by Lazarus at least a drop of water to cool his thirst. But if the fire of purgatory be like it, not indeed in duration, yet still in intensity, what pain will not these blessed souls experience, condemned as they are to this fire by Divine justice? If the mere apprehension of the pain once felt from our fire could, as Benedict XIII relates, make a Catholic priest of the city of Maastricht sweat blood; what agony will not those holy souls suffer, when tied and bound with the most tormenting chains of a living fire like to that of hell? And we, while able to make them free and happy — shall we stand as if we were, so to say, uninterested spectators?

Act of Virtue for one Day
Recite, when the clock strikes, the prayer " Requiescant in pace: May they rest in peace.

Act of Virtue for the whole Month
Endeavour to console with actions, or at least with words, the afflicted souls.

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. 

V. Absolve, O Lord, the souls of the faithful departed
from every bond of sin.
R. And by the help of Thy grace may they be enabled to escape the avenging judgment, and to enjoy the happiness of eternal life.

Lord, have mercy. Be mindful, O Lord, of Thy servants and handmaids, N. and N., who are gone before us with the sign of faith and repose in the sleep of grace. To these, O Lord, and to all who rest in Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, a place of refreshment, light and peace, through the same Christ Our Lord.
Amen.

        The tomb of Benedict XIII

Example
Benedict XIII, in order to show how much assistance the prayer " Requiescant in pace'' is to the souls in purgatory, recounts a wonderful instance which is related in the chronicles of Chartreuse: An English gentleman having lately passed to a better life, his son went to visit the fathers of Chartreuse, to recommend to their prayers the soul of the deceased, giving them a large quantity of gold, as alms. The monks having been all assembled by the prior, and the soul of the good knight having been recommended to their suffrages, they sang altogether Requiescat in pace," and returned in silence to their cells. The pious alms-giver remained astonished, and thinking the suffrage he had ordered was too little, he said to the prior, “My father, is this very short prayer of the friars all that my father's soul is to have? are you not going to add anything more?" Then the prior having called the monks back, ordered every one to write upon a small piece of paper his Requiescat in pace, and then put them in a pair of scales, and had the mass of gold placed in one scale, and in the other the little pieces of paper; and lo and behold, most wonderful to relate, the gold, though very heavy, as if a feather or a mote, mounted up on high, while the pieces of paper sunk low down with the holy weight of their words! This prodigy, as it drew tears from the eyes and sighs from the heart of the alms-giver, so it moves us with frequency and devotion to send to the souls in torment this joyous message:  Requiescat in pace.'' (Bened. XIII. Trig. i. Serm. 23.)




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