Second Reason: The Love of Our Lord
– How He loves the souls in Purgatory –
Consider that Jesus has the same infinite love for the souls in Purgatory as He has for all the souls for whom He has shed His Blood. Everyone can say, He loves me and has died for me. If there are degrees to infinity, He must love them more than us because, as they are confirmed in grace, they can no longer sin. They will no longer offend Him and they can praise and adore Him more tenderly than we can. Let there be no doubt, the eyes and the heart of merciful Jesus are constantly fixed on those martyrs, our deceased brethren. Far from forgetting them, from leaving them amidst their suffering, we might say that Jesus suffers along with them. He suffers as Redeemer for those souls, which He bought by His Sacrifice, as Father, as spouse and as Head of the mystical Body. Their suffering reminds him of his own Suffering, their love entreats His Love. If He could die again, He would in order to pay their debts and open the gates of Heaven to them; and to hold back the power of His Love. He must give way to His Wisdom and to all the merciful Justice of a God who abhors the slightest stain. Let us ask for a heart like that of Jesus. Let us love our brethren of the suffering Church as He does.
Let us love them tenderly for they are holy and their torment is so severe. Let us love them as ourselves, for the love of God; thus we will relieve them of a large part of their suffering and will help in their liberation.
– Oh how Our Lord would liek for us to comfort the souls in Purgatory –
Jesus cannot deliver the souls from Purgatory; Divine Justice prevents Him from doing so, but from the tabernacle, where love keeps him captive, He encourages the faithful to pray for them and to bring torrents of refreshing peace and consolation to their place of atonement. One day, He told St. Gertrude, Every time you deliver a prisoner, it is as if you were delivering Me from captivity and I will reward you such as you deserve. On the altar where He offers Himself, He doesn’t want his Sacrifice to be offered a single time without having the priest and his assistants remembering the suffering Church. He has combined in one precious treasure all His merits, all those of His Holy Mother and those of all the saints. He asks all the faithful to plunge their hands into that treasure chest of love and to take as much as hands can hold and offer atonement for the debts of those suffering souls. From the Tabernacle, He cries out! Give me my children; deliver them with prayer, by holy Masses and by indulgences. Hasten the moment when I will crown them in glory and pour my eternal blessing upon them.
To stimulate our charity, He continuously repeats what He told his disciples when speaking to them about the poor, Everything you do for the least of my children, you do unto Me. He will reward us one day, as though He had been delivered.
Dear friends, what a powerful reason for our burning with zeal for such a great and easily accomplished mission. What a joy it is to be able to so easily satisfy the burning desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Our Divine Saviour one day told blessed Marie Lataste, There is nothing you can do which is more agreeable to God than to deliver souls from Purgatory.
Among those souls, those of priests are not remembered often enough by the faithful. Yet how great and numerous are the blessings which we owe to priests! From crib to grave, priests are the distributors of so many graces, consolations, support and advice. Our Lord one day said to Marie Lataste:
My daughter, pray constantly, pray for my priests for you do not pray for them enough; the faithful forget that it is their duty to pray for priests who are their fathers in regard to their salvation. The greater a person’s dignity, the greater is his responsibilty and more severe will be his judgement. That is why so many priests must spend time in Purgatory. Pray for their liberation, so that when they enter Paradise, they will become our powerful intercessor with God!
– Example –
In a letter written to a woman of the world, Father Lacordaire wrote about a Polish peasant who had died and was placed in the flames of atonement by Divine Justice. His pious wife prayed for his soul constantly. Believing her prayers to be insufficient, she wanted to touch the Heart of Jesus by having a Mass celebrated in His honour for the liberation of the soul that she was mourning. Being quite poor, she didn’t have the necessary sum for that Mass to be celebrated. She approached a rich, atheistic philosopher she knew and humbly presented him with her dilemma. The latter, allowing his heart to be moved, gave her what she asked for. The widow immediately had a Mass celebrated in the Sacred Heart Chapel and participated with great fervour. A few days later, God allowed the deceased peasant to appear before the rich benefactor.
I thank you, he said, for the offering you made for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. That offering has delivered my soul from Purgatory where it was held prisoner. Now, in return for your charity, I come on behalf of the Lord to warn you of your approaching death and your need to reconcile with God.
That rich man converted and died with the deepest love and affection for the Heart of Jesus!
Let Us Pray
Oh Jesus, full of mercy and goodness, You love humanity so deeply, You justify it by faith and You glorify it by grace. I beg You through the merits of the Sacred Wound opened on your side by the soldier’s lance, deliver the deceased from the fire in Purgatory and make them worthy of the glory of your saints. Be their Conciliator, Oh Jesus! Call your children and our brethren to Your Eternal kingdom. May they rest in peace!
Let Us Pray
Lord, hear the prayers we will offer up to you every day of this month for the consolation of our deceased brothers and sisters and grant them a place of refreshing light and peace! Hear also the prayers which those souls will offer up to you for our intention that we might ultimately obtain, through their intercession, the graces for which we pray for.