A MONTH WITH OUR FRIENDS, THE SOULS IN PURGATORY

Abandoned Souls

– Abandoned by their friends –

Consider the fact that there are souls completely forgotten in Purgatory for whom no one prays and who suffer without consolation.

It is true that the Church does not forget any of her children. Those abandoned souls have a right to the prayers of our tender Mother who petitions the Lord every day for the souls of the deceased; but aside from those common prayers, no other prayers are offered for them from individuals. They are abandoned by those friends who had vowed an everlasting love. But as that love was purely human and often selfish, it died along with the friend’s last breath.

How much affliction must that abandonment add to the souls torment! Listen to the reproach they address to those who so quickly forgot the duties required by friendship:

 Have mercy on us, at least you who were our friends. We have shown you so many signs of our love and affection! You promised when we were breathing our last that you would never forget us! Yet you have often forgotten us without even a prayer, an offering, a tear, not even a sigh. Because we are far from the eyes, you have banished us from your heart.

Oh inconsistency of human affections, as noted by Bossuet, that fly away with time! Are those reproaches not addressed to you? Do you remember your childhood friends whom death has taken from you? St. Francis of Sales said, We too often forget our deceased even though they loved us so dearly during their lifetime! Let us be worried that we will also be forgotten when we die for it is written, he who forgets will be forgotten.

– Abandoned by their parents –

Abandoned by their friends, those poor souls are also abandoned by their family members, either because they are also dead or because they abstain from any prayer or charitable works. Yes, their own father, mother, brother and sister have abandoned them. An abandoned life of which no one speaks, an abandoned name which no one utters, an abandoned grave which no one visits, abandoned suffering which no one prays to relieve, abandoned everywhere and in everything. Poor souls! Who knows how long their suffering will last in that place of terrible torment where they receive no help? How must that cruel isolation add to their suffering!

They are entitled to cry out with the Prophet, My friends have all left me and my family has forgotten me; my father and my mother have abandoned me; I have become for them a broken vase which they discard and forget.

Like Jesus, abandoned in the garden of Gethsemane, they can say, I sought consolation and found none!

Pray often, go to Mass during the week, for the dead and the forgotten. Become their mother and father, their brother and sister, their friend. Is there a cause more worthy of your zeal, of your charity? One day they will pray for you if, and it is most likely, your friends and family members forget you

– Example –

In a rural parish, a horrible crime had been perpetrated. A young man, whose heart had been hardened by his passions, conspired with a cruel associate the infamous murder of his own mother. The two scoundrels pushed the woman into a muddy pond where she struggled, trying to catch her breath, reaching out to her son with the same arms that had once carried him. His human nature finally took over and he reached over to help her, but his partner in crime pushed him back and the woman drowned.

Purgatory is like an invisible lake where loved ones reach out to us with failing breath, grasping for their very survival. We may have helped in pushing them back down with our indifference and while we pursue our own passions, they suffer and keep calling out to us. Will we do nothing to deliver them?

Holy souls! Allow us to be your friends, your family and your help. One day we will invoke your help.

Let Us Pray

Oh Jesus! Abandoned by all in the garden of Gethsemane, even by your apostles, have mercy on all the holy saints in Purgatory, especially those who receive no prayers and consolations from the living. Be their consoler, their liberator. Oh Jesus! Call to Heaven those dear children who are abandoned by their own family. 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.

Thirteenth Day

Abandoned Souls

– Abandoned by their friends –

Consider the fact that there are souls completely forgotten in Purgatory for whom no one prays and who suffer without consolation.

It is true that the Church does not forget any of her children. Those abandoned souls have a right to the prayers of our tender Mother who petitions the Lord every day for the souls of the deceased; but aside from those common prayers, no other prayers are offered for them from individuals. They are abandoned by those friends who had vowed an everlasting love. But as that love was purely human and often selfish, it died along with the friend’s last breath.

How much affliction must that abandonment add to the souls torment! Listen to the reproach they address to those who so quickly forgot the duties required by friendship:

 Have mercy on us, at least you who were our friends. We have shown you so many signs of our love and affection! You promised when we were breathing our last that you would never forget us! Yet you have often forgotten us without even a prayer, an offering, a tear, not even a sigh. Because we are far from the eyes, you have banished us from your heart.

Oh inconsistency of human affections, as noted by Bossuet, that fly away with time! Are those reproaches not addressed to you? Do you remember your childhood friends whom death has taken from you? St. Francis of Sales said, We too often forget our deceased even though they loved us so dearly during their lifetime! Let us be worried that we will also be forgotten when we die for it is written, he who forgets will be forgotten.

– Abandoned by their parents –

Abandoned by their friends, those poor souls are also abandoned by their family members, either because they are also dead or because they abstain from any prayer25 or charitable works. Yes, their own father, mother, brother and sister have abandoned them. An abandoned life of which no one speaks, an abandoned name which no one utters, an abandoned grave which no one visits, abandoned suffering which no one prays to relieve, abandoned everywhere and in everything. Poor souls! Who knows how long their suffering will last in that place of terrible torment where they receive no help? How must that cruel isolation add to their suffering!

They are entitled to cry out with the Prophet, My friends have all left me and my family has forgotten me; my father and my mother have abandoned me; I have become for them a broken vase which they discard and forget.

Like Jesus, abandoned in the garden of Gethsemane, they can say, I sought consolation and found none!

Pray often, go to Mass during the week, for the dead and the forgotten. Become their mother and father, their brother and sister, their friend. Is there a cause more worthy of your zeal, of your charity? One day they will pray for you if, and it is most likely, your friends and family members forget you

– Example –

In a rural parish, a horrible crime had been perpetrated. A young man, whose heart had been hardened by his passions, conspired with a cruel associate the infamous murder of his own mother. The two scoundrels pushed the woman into a muddy pond where she struggled, trying to catch her breath, reaching out to her son with the same arms that had once carried him. His human nature finally took over and he reached over to help her, but his partner in crime pushed him back and the woman drowned.

Purgatory is like an invisible lake where loved ones reach out to us with failing breath, grasping for their very survival. We may have helped in pushing them back down with our indifference and while we pursue our own passions, they suffer and keep calling out to us. Will we do nothing to deliver them?

Holy souls! Allow us to be your friends, your family and your help. One day we will invoke your help.

Let Us Pray

Oh Jesus! Abandoned by all in the garden of Gethsemane, even by your apostles, have mercy on all the holy saints in Purgatory, especially those who receive no prayers and consolations from the living. Be their consoler, their liberator. Oh Jesus! Call to Heaven those dear children who are abandoned by their own family. 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.