CAPG's Blog 

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." ( Matth. V. 7)
Theologians assert that those who bestow mercy upon the suffering souls shall themselves find great relief and assistance in Purgatory. They consider active charity toward the holy souls a mark of predestination to eternal happiness. It is true, says St. Thomas of Aquin, that he who satisfies for the suffering souls does not satisfy for himself. But it is also true, adds the saint, that he deserves more than the remission of pain, namely, eternal life. Here it is that God by the mouth of the Royal Prophet, expresses Himself: "Blessed is he that undertandeth concerning the needy and the poor: the Lord will deliver him in the evil day." (Ps. XI, 1). The assistance of the holy souls is also experienced in temporal wants in favor of their benefactors. Bishop Colmar of Mayence writes: "These destitute, suffering souls do not wait until they enter Heaven to show their gratitude towards their benefactors; whilst they still languish in Purgatory they pray without ceasing for the welfare of the soul and body, obtain for them recovery from disease, assistance in poverty, help in necessities, counsel and protection on journeys and in danger, preservation on journeys and in danger, preservation and increase of their temporal goods, aid them in the salvation of their souls, and, above all, come to their relief in the agonies of death and before the judgment seat of God."

Prayer: We beseech Thee O Lord, graciously to hear the humble and fervent prayers we offer for the souls in Purgatory, and grant that the charity we extend towards our suffering brothers and sisters, may, by their supplications obtain for us protection and help. Through Christ our Lord. Amen

Prayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.

Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen

Special Intercession: Pray for souls who are suffering in Purgatory for their want of gratitude.

Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)

Practice: In spiritual and temporal wants, have recourse to the Holy Souls.

Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!

Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907

"O Mary! Conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."

"It is true, that the day of triumph announced by the venerated Montfort, appears far distant; one might says that the kingdom of God on earth is more compromised than ever. The wicked make unexampled efforts to demolish the social edifice; they are numerous, powerful and possessed of incalculable resources. But for the Church, when all seems lost, then is her triumph at hand. God sometimes permits the malice of men to exceed all bounds, that His power may be the more manifest when the moment of their defeat arrives.

All the united efforts of the Church's enemies in the course of ages, all their errors, hatred and violence directed against her, the Spouse of Christ, are now concentrated in what is termed the Revolution - that is, anti-Christianity reduced to a system and propagated throughout the world, it is Satan usurping the place of Jesus Christ.

But He who has conquered the world, and put to flight the prince of the world, will not permit Himself to be dethroned. He will reign, and even now, before our eyes, is His kingdom being prepared, by the mediation of the Immaculate Mary, of whom the promise was made that she should crush the serpent's head, and to whom alone belongs the privilege of destroying all heresies arising upon earth." The miraculous medal : its origin, history, circulation, results by M. Aladel C.M.

The first Thanksgiving. St. Augustine, FL. September 8, 1565

Thanksgiving by Rev. Fr. Amadeus, O.F.M.

For all the gifts that Thou hast sent
Throughout the year, for health and strength,
For peace and joy, and glad content;
For work to do, for added length
Of days wherein to live for Thee;
For friends to cheer, and hope to bless,
For all that Thou hast given me,
From out Thy loving tenderness,
I thank Thee, Lord!

For ev'ry hour of grief and pain,
And loss of those whom held I dear;
For crosses meant to be my gain;
For ev'ry silent, bitter tear;
For days that seemed no fruit to yield;
For nights in lonely lay concealed
Within a heart by conflict rent,
I thank Thee, Lord!

For calm and storm, for day and night;
For smile and tear; for hope and fear;
For joy and pain; for gloom and light,
That came to me to mark the year,
Because Thy goodness willed it so,
That I might learn Thy Way is best,
For lasting peace no man can know
Since Thou alone art Perfect Rest,
I thank Thee, lord!

Source: The Catholic Telegraph, Vol.83, Number 48, 26 Nov. 1914

Sermons and Addresses of His Eminence William Cardinal O'Connell, Archbishop of Boston 1922

"May it please your Grace; beloved brethren — It is a gratifying sign of the Christian character of the spirit of our country that once in the year its Chief Executive invites the citizens of the republic to turn aside for awhile from their worldly occupations and interests and cares, in order that congregating in their various houses of worship they may return thanks to the Giver of all good gifts. It is a sad day for any land when the name of God is erased from its laws and unmentioned in its statutes. At the suggestion of the civil authority and the invitation of the spiritual authority to which we owe allegiance, we come together under the beautiful arches of this glorious temple of God, to lift our hearts in grateful thanksgiving in union with the celebrant of the Holy Mass as he chants in the preface of the sacrifice, Gratias agimus Domino Deo Nostro, "Let us give thanks to the Lord our God"; to which we respond a fervent Dignum et justum est, "It is meet and just." And for what shall the hymn of Te Deum ascend today? What shall be the measure of our gratitude? For everything we are and do and have; for life and action and possession are alike all God's, and by His munificence we are what we are, and we have what we possess. But this day has a special significance. It is a state day, and to observe it in its intended purpose we need but observe the motives which prompted its establishment. It was that, as a nation, we might turn with hearts filled with gratitude to the God who gives us temporal prosperity.

The Church in her great hymn of praise, the Gloria in Excelsis, takes the lofty and sublime motive for thanksgiving from the Glory of God Himself, and she sings, gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam. In all conditions of her existence, whether rain or sunshine, in prosperity, in adversity alike she says, "So that God has greater glory the rest matters not," propter magnam gloriam tuam. Day after day, in persecution and trial as in exaltation and triumph, the same chorus goes up to heaven, Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam. All else may change; kingdoms may rise and fall; nations may be born, flourish for a day, then totter and die; her sons may suffer; her Bishops be exiled; her visible Head be captive; but her faith flinches not; her voice wavers not; still she thinks of only God's Eternal Glory! So alike, Leo imprisoned, and Hildebrand triumphant, lead the grand universal song of thanksgiving, that all adown the centuries has echoed unceasingly from that blessed night when the Angels sang it above the stable of Bethlehem, when God came down to men. This is the sublimest motive for gratitude; this the loftiest motive for thanksgiving. Thus the Church, because she is superhuman, because she lifts her head into the very heaven of heavens, and gazes with clearest vision into the Eternity of God, even while her feet tread upon the lowly earth, passes over the consideration of the gifts to the sublime contemplation of the Giver; forgets, with a sublime oblivion, the land flowing with milk and honey, the vines laden with the bursting grapes, the stores filled with the ripened grain, the fat kine lowing upon the hills, and the children of men with the gleam of plenty in their eyes, to remember only that which touches all, yet is over all," the Greater Glory of God!"   

18. We adore Thee, O Hidden God! And to make reparation for all the contests, disputes, punctilios of honor, and scandal, by which Thou hast been offended we offer up to Thee the humility of the holy confessors. Eternal praise and thanksgiving be to the Most Holy and Most Divine Sacrament.

O Queen of heaven and earth, hope of mankind, who adores thy Divine Son incessantly! We entreat thee, that, since we have the honor to be of the number of thy children, thou would interest thyself in our behalf and make satisfaction for us, and in our name, to our Eternal Judge, by rendering to Him the duties which we ourselves are incapable of performing. Amen

CAPG

"According to St. Paul, the Apostle, the honor and glory of God should be the principal motive of all our actions: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do; do all things for the glory of God." (1 Cor. X. 31.) "The glorification of God ought to be our especial aim in our works, most particularly in our acts of charity for the dead; and justly so, for, by delivering these holy souls, we lead them to Heaven, where alone God is perfectly known, loved and glorified.

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"A NOBLE virgin of Alexandria; who in her youthful years sought satisfaction in the study of virtue, and in improving her mind in Christian learning. She became so inflamed with a zeal for truth, that meeting the emperor Maximinus II. she reproached him with injustice and cruelty, for persecuting the innocent Christians. By her reasoning she also triumphed over an assembly of the most acute philosophers; and persuaded them to sacrifice their lives for Christ, though they had undertaken, by the emperor's order, to reason her out of her faith. Upon which, Maximinus being enraged, and finding that no reasons or flatteries could prevail, commanded her to be scourged, to be kept in prison without friends or food, and to have her body torn on a wheel. Her constancy overcoming these torments, she was at length beheaded, and so finished a glorious martyrdom, in the year 302. In this saint, all virgins and other Christians have a lesson to condemn their reading of plays and romances, and all their usual vanities, which only dissipate and weaken their minds; and to encourage them to a better study, whereby they may come to the knowledge of God and themselves, and discover those ways, which lead to happiness.

How can we pretend to be disciples of Christ except by following him? And do we follow Christ, when we greedily seek what he renounced, admire what he despised, and love what he hated? Do we, when we walk in all the ways of pride, self-love and the world, follow him, who teaches the contempt of the world and of ourselves? His ways are not our ways: we go on in our own, and say that we follow his. But is this the imitation or following of Christ? It is what the world calls so; but till we take another method, in seeking to be humble, meek and patient, to do the will of God, and refer all to his glory, we may bear the name of Christians, but we cannot, in spirit and truth, be disciples of Christ." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

"The prayers and works of Charity which we bestow on the suffering souls in Purgatory, not only increase our spiritual merit, they also call forth the gratitude of the holy ransomed souls; for, when these dear souls are, by our endeavors, admitted to the vision of God, they cease not to prove the warmth of their thankfulness and love by imploring for us the help of which we are so much in need in the manifold dangers and great troubles of life. How can the faithful departed who are loved by God so tenderly, and predestined to glory, fail to pray, not indeed for themselves, but for their benefactors who still live in this vale of tears. Not only will they speedily pay their debt of gratitude to those who befriend them, but our dear Lord Himself, whose greater honor and glory we have promoted by our devotion to the holy souls, will readily assist them to requite the services rendered them by the faithful upon earth. St. Alphonsus of Liguori says: "He who assists these distressed souls, so tenderly loved by God, may confidently hope for his salvation; for, when such a soul obtains deliverance through his prayers and good works, it incessantly prays for this salvation, and God will deny nothing to such a soul."

Prayer: We beseech Thee, O Lord, vouchsafe to hear the suffering souls, who supplicate Thee for their benefactors, that we, in union with these holy souls, for whom we offer fervent prayers upon earth, may praise Thy mercies forever, Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Prayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.

Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen

Special Intercession: Pray for the souls who suffer for their faults against charity.

Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)

Practice: Bestow charity upon others without expecting gratitude.

Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!

Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907

St. Thomas of Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, affirms that the succor and suffrage given to the departed is more acceptable to God than that which is bestowed upon the living, because the former are more in need and are unable to obtain help for themselves. The Venerable Ludovico Blosio, a great master of the spiritual life, says: "Our good and merciful Lord loves the souls of His elect, who must be purified after death. And He desires their release so ardently that whenever in Christian charity we set free by our suffrages any soul from Purgatory, we do a thing as acceptable to God as if we had delivered the Lord Himself from a hard captivity. And He promises to give us as full recompense as such a work of mercy practiced towards Himself from a hard captivity.  For He Himself has said: "Amen, I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these, My least brethren, you did it to Me." (Matth. XXV. 40.)

Saint John of the Cross, by Zurbaran

"Live in faith and hope, though it be in darkness, for in this darkness God protects the soul. Cast your care upon God for you are His and He will not forget you. Do not think that He is leaving you alone, for that would be to wrong Him." St. John of the Cross.