Prayer.
Release, O Lord, etc., etc.
Twenty-fourth Day.
What a beautiful Catholic practice is this of giving of the goods which the good God has entrusted to us, for the benefit of the poor souls! Could we not also set aside something for such a noble purpose? The alms we give to the poor souls in purgatory may be likened to so many checks [pg 461] signed by names dear to God, and which when presented He will not dishonor. When it is difficult for us to give money in alms, we can at least give other things of less value—even things that are no longer of use to us. How many things there are in our homes that are not of the least use to us, which if given in alms for the suffering souls might be of the greatest benefit to us as well as to them! We give them in alms to the poor and forsaken ones on earth, that they may benefit them as well as the poor forsaken souls in purgatory. Perhaps you have a list of debtors, and perhaps in that list there are many from whom you never expect to recover anything. Why not make a promise, in case of the recovery of certain sums, to give half to the deserving poor for the benefit of the suffering souls in purgatory? It is not impossible that the guardian angel of purgatory may help to restore to us money otherwise lost. Remember it is not the wealthy alone who can give alms for this purpose, but the poor as well; at least they can give their good-will. Do you remember that the angels sang at the birth of the Redeemer: “Peace on earth to men of good-will”?
Prayer.
Release, O Lord, etc., etc.
Twenty-fifth Day.
We have the authority of Holy Scripture for the efficacy of prayers: “It is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead.” It is holy because it is most pleasing to God; it is wholesome because we have reason to believe that through the infinite mercy and compassion of His Sacred Heart, [pg 462] Our Lord accepts prayers offered in atonement for the sins of those suffering in purgatory. If the prayers we offer for temporal goods are often heard and granted, how much more so when we offer them for spiritual goods, for the souls tenderly loved by God? Well might St. Augustine say: “One cannot conceive a holier or more wholesome practice than praying for the dead.” The “Imitation of Christ” has the following: “Full of love and charity, we must remember in our prayers the souls of the faithful departed, but particularly the souls of our parents, friends and relations, and those who have been our benefactors on earth. For that is a work of real love and charity. As we entertain the most earnest hopes that we shall be remembered when we shall have departed this life, we ought to make every effort in our power to assist them to arrive speedily at their promised abode of bliss, and by our prayers shorten the weary days of their pilgrimage in purgatory. And we must remember that every one who actively assists in the deliverance of these poor souls, gains for himself the greatest advantages. By offering his prayers for their eternal repose, he by no means loses the fruits of those prayers, for they are remembered to him, and are before him when his time comes to die. And moreover one is rewarded even in this life for such prayers.”