Twenty-first Day: Efficacy of the Rosary for the Suffering Souls
by VP
Posted on Thursday November 21, 2024 at 01:00AM in Meditations
"St. Dominic declared that the redemption of the holy souls from Purgatory is one of the principal effects of the Rosary. The venerable Alanus writes that many of the brethren had assured him that numerous souls had appeared to them whilst reciting the Rosary, and had declared that next to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass there was no more powerful means of helping the suffering souls than the Rosary. And numerous souls were daily released thereby, who otherwise would have been obliged to remain there for years. St. Alphonsus Liguori, therefore, says: "If we wish to be of assistance to the souls in Purgatory, we must always remember them in our prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and especially offer the holy Rosary for them."
Let us then frequently and with devotion recite the Rosary, which is so pleasing to our Blessed Mother, recommended most especially by Holy Church, discloses to us a rich source of grace, and is so efficacious in relieving the suffering souls and opening Heaven to them. Should our labor prevent us from reciting the entire Rosary every day, let us, at least, say a part of it. This simple homage to the Queen of Heaven will draw great blessing down upon us. And the holy souls will be wonderfully consoled and relieved if this devotion be offered in their behalf."
Prayer: Graciously hear, O Lord, the prayer we offer Thee in the holy Rosary in honor of Mary, Thy Virgin Mother, for the relief of the souls in Purgatory, while in devout meditation upon Thy holy life and suffering we implore Thy Divine assistance. Thou, who livest and reignest, world without end. 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 were most devoted to the holy Rosary.
Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907#16 Acts of Adoration Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in reparation for all the offenses committed against Him by mankind [Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament]
by VP
Posted on Thursday November 21, 2024 at 01:00AM in Thursday Reparation
16. We adore Thee, O most watchful Advocate! And to make reparation for the many negligences of those who have any authority in the Church, to correct the abuses and irreverences there committed against Thee, we offer up to Thee the exact attention and careful solicitude of holy bishops and prelates. 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.
Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
by VP
Posted on Thursday November 21, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
"Parents should remember that the offering of a son or a daughter is not all pain and sacrifice. Of course the parting is difficult when the boy or girl bids farewell to family and departs for seminary or convent. It seems almost as though the child has been claimed by death. But the hurt that the heart sustained eventually heals. Time takes care of that. And then the blessings that a religious vocation brings down upon the home and particularly upon the parents in that home make themselves felt.
First of all, there is the feeling of assurance that mother and father have that their daughter could hardly be in better hands than in the hands of Our Lord. She has become the spouse of Christ. She has been especially selected by Christ to be His bride. Surely He will take care of her both in time and in eternity.
Good parents sometimes worry about their children. They know that they are responsible for their welfare in eternity. They have often heard that on the day of the last Judgment children who are lost because of the negligence of their parents will point a finger at their mother and father and demand that Christ condemn them for the awful sin they committed in not seeing to it that their children saved their souls.
Some parents have reason to worry, not because of anything that they have done that was wrong in the training of their children but because the children refused to follow their training and involved themselves in invalid marriages and sinful practices that drove them out of the Faith into which they had been born and baptized. Mothers and fathers worry in cases like these lest their children lose their souls.
They do not have to worry about their daughter in the convent. Her habit of prayer, the good example all around her, the spiritual exercises of her daily life will carry her to heaven when her time comes to die. Mother and father can be sure that at least one of their children is safe and that they need have no fear of giving an account to God on how her life was lived and how she was brought up from her youth.
The second blessing that follows upon the sacrifice of a son or a daughter to God is the promise of Our Lord that He will provide for the temporal and the eternal welfare of those who willingly make the sacrifice. In the nineteenth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel the following words are to be found: 'Every one that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for My name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess life everlasting.
It is not stretching the meaning of the text too far to maintain that it refers to all the members of the family who consent to a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister leaving home in order to enter the direct service of God at altar or in the convent.
Thus, a brother who gives up his sister can apply Our Lord's words to himself. And so can a mother in regard to her daughter. And so can a father in regard to his son. The consoling part of Our Lord's words consists in this that a girl who has renegade Catholics in her family - a father who has fallen away from the practice of his holy religion, a sister who has sinned deeply through an invalid marriage, a brother who has become a confirmed alcoholic - that girl by giving up her life to God in religion can save the souls of all these unfortunate relatives of hers no matter how far they have fallen. Our Lord says that he who gives up a sister or a daughter as well as a mother and a father will possess life everlasting. Isn't that what all the members of the family do, even the bad members of a family, when they see one of the girls of the family leave home in order to enter the convent? They give her up. And God promises a great reward."
Twentieth Day: Love of the Blessed Virgin Towards the Souls in Purgatory
by VP
Posted on Wednesday November 20, 2024 at 01:00AM in Meditations
"Since our Divine Redeemer gave us Mary as our Mother, when, dying upon the cross, He said to His disciple, "Behold thy Mother," the Blessed Virgin regards us all as her beloved children. But she maintains most tender feelings of maternal love towards the suffering souls in Purgatory. Let us then, please this Mother of Love by offering abundant suffrages for the souls in Purgatory. Taking into consideration the great prerogatives of the Blessed Virgin, and the infinite love of the Holy Trinity towards her, we cannot doubt that by her merits and intercession every penitent suffering soul would be delivered at once from Purgatory, were such according to the inscrutable ways of God.
But God has His own designs founded on His infinite wisdom, justice and mercy. The Blessed Virgin does not pray to have all the suffering souls delivered at once, for her will is in perfect conformity to the Will of God, and she exercises her dominion over the souls in Purgatory in perfect union with this Divine Will.
St. Bernardin of Siena applies to Mary the text of Holy Writ, "I have walked in the waves of the sea," (Eccl. XXIV.8), and adds: "She descends into the sea of fire, quenching the flames for the suffering souls." St. Dionysius, the Carthusian, at tests that the souls in Purgatory experience the same joy and relief, at the mere mention of her name, that consoling words bring to the bedridden sick."
Prayer: O most holy and glorious Virgin Mary, Blessed Mother of our Lord, we place our petitions for the suffering souls in thy hands. Cleanse these souls from all imperfections, and, by thy intercession, obtain for them eternal rest. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, 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 were most zealous in their devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907St. Felix of Valois, Confessor, A.D. 1212.
by VP
Posted on Wednesday November 20, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
"He was of the blood royal of France, educated in great piety, and while as yet a child, accustomed to give alms to the poor, This charity grew up with him; so that being now a youth. he several times stripped himself to cover the naked, and sent from his table the choicest dishes to feed the hungry. Being come to maturity, he made the study of heaven his chief business; and having received holy orders, so to prevent his succession to the crown, he retired into a desert, where he lived in prayer and penance. After some time, being found by St. John of Matha, he with him laid the foundation of the Order of Trinitarians, for the redemption of captives, which by his zeal and good example was very much advanced. In this method of holiness and charity, he lived to the year 1212, when he gave up his soul to God.
If children are under your care, accustom them to good; that the seed
sown in their tender years may bring forth good fruit, for your comfort
and their salvation. Children brought up too nicely, make nice men; and
in this have a double difficulty in coming up to the mortifications required by the Gospel, If your lot be in the higher ranks, learn how to employ your money and time. This saint now enjoys the reward of what he employed so well. If you abuse all to serve your vanity and corruption, is there not in this an intolerable misuse of blessings? And what recompense can you then expect, but to be cast forth into the exterior
darkness?It is a reproach to Christianity, that among such numbers,
who are blessed with plenty, there are so few who make a christian use of it,
by referring it to the Giver.
Pray for all in captivity and prison. You have no compassion, if you refuse them this charity; but do more, if you can. Pray for all who are slaves to sin. Help them by your advice and good example: you save your own soul, by delivering theirs. But if by your discourse or ill example, you draw any into snares, or chains, you act the part of an infidel, and can have no hopes of salvation." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
"Felix, happy lover of charity, teach us the worth, and also the nature, of this queen of virtues. It was she that attracted thee into solitude in pursuit of her divine Object; and when thou hadst learnt to find God in himself, she showed him to thee and taught thee to love him in thy brethren. Is not this the secret which makes love become strong as death, and daring enough, as in the case of thy sons, to defy hell itself? May this love inspire us with every sort of devotedness; may it ever remain the excellent portion of thy holy Order, leading it to adapt itself to every new requirement, in a society where the worst kind of slavery, under a thousand forms, reigns supreme." By Dom Prosper Guéranger
Nineteeth Day: Holy Communion of Great Benefit to the Departed
by VP
Posted on Tuesday November 19, 2024 at 01:00AM in Meditations
"The Holy Doctor and Cardinal, St. Bonaventure, of the Order of St. Francis, who wrote much concerning the holy souls, urges especially frequent Communion in their behalf. "Let love and compassion for your neighbor," so he writes, "lead you to the Holy Table, for nothing is so well calculated to obtain eternal rest for the holy souls.!
This is confirmed by the following example. Ludovio Blosio relates that a pious servant of God, in a vision, beheld a departed friend wrapped in flames, and learned from him that he suffered terribly, because he had received Our Lord in Holy Communion with but little preparation. "Therefore," added this departed friend, "I beg of you, for the love we bore each other, to communicate for the benefit of my soul, but to do so with great preparation and fervor; I then hope certainly to be released from the terrible sufferings that I indeed have well deserved for my negligence towards the Blessed Sacrament." The friend at once complied with the request, and having received Holy Communion with due preparation, he saw the same soul enveloped in light, winging its festive flight to Heave, to behold face to face the King of eternal glory.
Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, Who in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar hast given us Thine own flesh and blood for the nourishment of our souls, and a pledge of our own future resurrection, grant us the grace always to receive worthily this Most Holy Mystery, that it may be to us and the souls in Purgatory a source of salvation. Who livest and reignest, world without end. 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 were negligent in their preparation for Holy Communion
Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Widow, A.D. 1231
by VP
Posted on Tuesday November 19, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
"Enter into your own hearts, and resolve to imitate St. Elizabeth of Hungary, a saint and a queen, who would go with all royal pomp to Holy Mass, but on entering Church, would take the crown from her head, the jewels from her fingers, and, despoiled of all ornament, would remain covered with a veil, so modest in deportment, that she never was seen to direct a glance in any direction but the altar.This so please Almighty God that He chose to make His satisfaction apparent to all, for once, during Mass, the Saint was so glorified with Divine splendor, that the eyes which looked on her were dazzled, and she seemed to all as it were an angel of Paradise. Make use of this noble example, and be assured you will thus become pleasing to God and to man, and your share in the Divine Sacrifice will be of the highest profit to you in this life and in the next." The hidden treasure: or, The value and excellence of holy mass. by Blessed Leonard of Port-Maurice 1855 p111
"SHE was daughter of the king of Hungary, and from her childhood accustomed to all the exercises of piety. Being married to the Landgrave of Hesse, her whole business was in assisting orphans and widows, and helping the sick. This she did, without any regard to her quality or state; judging nothing more honorable, than to do good. After her husband's decease, she embraced the third Order of St. Francis Spiritual and corporal works of mercy
occupied her, even to her last moments; and by her moving exhortations,
many obstinate sinners were converted to God. In prayer she found her
comfort and strength in her mortal pilgrimage, and was favored with
frequent raptures and heavenly communications. Being forewarned by
Almighty God of her approaching death, she redoubled her fervor, and ceased not to pray, or to discourse on the life and sufferings of our Redeemer, and his future coming to judge: The day of her happy death was the 19th of November in 1231.
She is an instruction to all states; and teaches virgins, wives and widows to seek first the kingdom of God, and not let the distractions of this world be a bar to the next Her example cannot be followed without great labor and self-denial, in overcoming those inclinations, which keep the soul down, and confine it to this world. Vanity, solicitude and the desire of reputation, are powerful charms, but they look not beyond the earth; and how will this turn to a good account with them, who having but a short time to provide for the next world, consume it all in their concern for this? Think seriously of this
ill management, and pray for all who are subject to it. Pray in
particular for those, whose quality sets them above others, that they
may have a sense of what is truly honorable; that if they take their measures from the gospel, there is more honor in helping the poor
and distressed, and practicing humility and patience, than in all those
ways in which their vanity leads them. What is all that honor, which
will be the contempt of devils?" The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
Eighteenth Day: The Efficacy of Holy Mass for the Departed
by VP
Posted on Monday November 18, 2024 at 01:00AM in Meditations
"The Sacrifice of the Mass is the great devotion of the Catholic Church. And of all means to assist the souls in Purgatory none is more valuable or meritorious. For there Jesus Christ offers Himself with His infinite merits to His Heavenly Father, by the hands of the priest, in behalf of the suffering souls. The unbloody Sacrifice of the Mass does not essentially differ from the Sacrifice of the Cross, but only accidentally as to the manner of offering. And no limit can be place to the effect of this great Sacrifice, which contains in itself all grace.
From this inestimable efficacy, however, we may not infer that the offering of one Mass is sufficient to release the souls we love. For, though the Sacrifice on Calvary was infinite we cannot conclude that the application of it through the Mass must also be infinite. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, it was not the intention of Jesus Christ to bestow the full efficacy of His suffering and death, which is commemorated in every Mass, upon us. His merits are applied according to His Adorable Will, for the ways of God are often inscrutable.
It is very salutary therefore, to have the Holy Sacrifice offered frequently for the repose of a soul. Should the souls who are dear to us and for whom we intercede in this manner, be already in the enjoyment of eternal bliss, Divine Wisdom and Goodness will bestow the merit of the Masses offered on other suffering souls."
Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, Who didst institute the unbloody Sacrifice of the Mass in commemoration of Thy Sacrifice upon the Cross, we beseech Thee, bestow the merits of this Holy Sacrifice upon the souls in Purgatory, that they may soon be released from their pains. Thou Who livest and reignest, world without end. 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 of those who were the most zealous to assist at Mass.
Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907Dedication of the Churches of Ss. Peter and Paul, Apostles
by VP
Posted on Monday November 18, 2024 at 12:00AM in Tradition
"A FEAST in memory of that day, when Constantine the Great, having laid the foundation of St. Peter's church at Rome, it was consecrated by the Pope St. Sylvester, and has been ever since visited by great numbers of Christians in honour of the glorious Apostles SS. Peter and Paul, whose bodies partly lie there, and partly in the church of St. Paul, on the Ostian Road. The tombs of the great conquerors and lords of the world have been long since destroyed and for gotten; but those of the glorious apostles are still venerated by the faithful. Give thanks for the peace then restored to Christians, after three hundred years of persecution. Remember that all places appointed for the worship of God are holy; and see that you never profane them by any kind of irreverence.
Be therefore mindful in whose presence you are, as often as you go to
prayer; and if your there expect blessings, provoke not that hand, from
which they had to come. How miserable are you, if instead of mercy, you draw down judgments on your own head! Have a great respect likewise for all holy things, especially for the Holy Scripture; and never make any part of that the subject of your diversion, or jests. Leave such profanation to infidels and apostates; for it cannot be a Christian's part to trample under foot the bread of life. Pray that Almighty God would in His mercy remember this nation, and grant that the faithful
may reform all abuses, as often as they meet to pay homage to their
God. That as often as they come into His holy place, they may remember
in whose presence they are, call to mind His infinite majesty and their
wants; and as these demand, so regulate their outward and inward man.
That they may have so much faith and seriousness, as to be afraid of provoking
Him there, where they come to ask His blessings; but rather make their
petitions with an attention and solicitude answerable to their
necessities." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
St. Odo of Cluny
by VP
Posted on Monday November 18, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
St. Odo of Cluny" On Christmas-eve, A.D. 877, a noble of Aquitaine implored Our Lady to grant him a son. His prayer was heard; Odo was born, and his grateful father offered him to St. Martin. Odo grew in wisdom and in virtue, and his father longed to see him shine at court. But the attraction of grace was too strong. Odo's heart was sad and his health failed, until he forsook the world and sought refuge under the shadow of St. Martin at Tours. Later on he took the habit of St. Benedict at Baume, and was compelled to become abbot of the great abbey of Cluny, which was then building. He ruled it with the hand of a master and the winningness of a Saint. The Pope sent for him often to aot as peacemaker between contending princes, and it was on one of those missions of mercy that he was taken ill at Rome. At his urgent entreaty he was borne back to Tours, where he died at the feet of "his own St. Martin," A.D. 942.
Reflection." It needs only," says Father Newman, "for a Catholic to show devotion to any-Saint, in order to receive special benefits from his intercession."
"The Mass" says St. Odo, Abbot of Cluny, "is the act on which is based the salvation of the World." The Holy Mass: The Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead, by Rev. Fr Michael Müller 1875 p 288.
"When and how was this yearly commemoration of the
departed introduced? The time of the introduction of this commemoration
cannot be determined; for as easily as the time of Tertullian he
mentions that the Christians of his day held a yearly commemoration of
the dead. Towards the end of the tenth century St. Odo, abbot of the
Benedictines, at Cluny, directed this feast to be celebrated yearly, on
the 2nd of November in all the convents of his Order, which usage was
afterwards enjoined upon the whole Christian world by Pope John XVI. The
feast of this day was probably established in order that, after having
on day before rejoiced over the glory of the saints in heaven, we should
this day remember in love those who are sighing in purgatory for
deliverance.
Prayer: O God, the Creator and Redeemer of
all the faithful, grant to the souls of Thy servants departed the
remission of all their sins, that, by our pious supplications, they may
obtain the pardon which they have always desires. Who livest and
reignest,etc. All Souls' Day. p456 Devout Instructions on the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Holydays Front Cover Leonhard Goffiné Benziger, 1896
