Prayer.
Release, O Lord, etc., etc.
Twenty-eighth Day.
The Catholic doctrine of the intercession of the saints must not be lost sight of in this series of thoughts on the November devotion. In our [pg 465] wants, personal wants, spiritual and temporal, we, true to our Catholic instinct, first address ourselves to our Mother Mary for help. We must not forget her in the matter of the poor souls. Mary's loving heart is not less loving for the souls in purgatory than it was for the same souls while in life. How can she abandon them? She never abandons a sinner on earth. For a stronger reason she does not forget the souls of the just. Mary loves them still, for her love is eternal. She is the Mother of Him Who said, “I was in prison and ye visited Me;” of Him Who descended into hell. Therefore it is an opinion well worthy of acceptance and respect, founded on trustworthy revelations and authentic declarations, that the Blessed Virgin assists in a most special manner the souls in purgatory. They are souls and are poor, and therefore the Blessed Virgin loves them. They are souls and are suffering; souls are the magnet of Mary's heart. Priceless is the value of a soul, and no one has better shown it than Our Lord Himself. Satan, by offering Him the whole world, could not prevail upon Him to fall down; but by trying to rob Him of souls he caused Him to bow down even to the earth under the weight of the cross. But, after Jesus, who could better know the value of a soul than Mary, who comes next to Him in the work He did for souls?
Prayer.
Release, O Lord, etc., etc.
Twenty-ninth Day.
Mary stood by when her Son died for the redemption of souls. But through her whole [pg 466] holy life she had constantly before her mind the work He had come to accomplish. Now she sees those souls red with the divine blood by which they were purchased. She lives in the joys of heaven, to which all souls are likewise destined. Her Son gave His life for the souls of men; but she as Mother gave her Son for that purpose. Therefore the love of her heart embraces also purgatory; and therefore she is also the loving Mother of the souls in purgatory. The woman in the Gospel who so eagerly and persistently sought after her lost groat, is but a faint symbol of the love of Mary for the souls which she has lost—though only for a time—which she sees separated from heaven, from her Son, and from herself, and suffering in the flames of fire. She burns with love for those poor souls, well remembering the words of her divine Son, when He said that even a cup of water given in His name would be rewarded with the joy of heaven. And if Jesus, while hanging on the cross, cried out, “I thirst,” which, according to the opinion of the Holy Fathers, meant “I thirst for souls,” can we suppose that Mary will not satisfy His desire, and still His thirst? “Those who love and truly serve this most gentle Mother can indeed be called fortunate, for not alone here on earth, but also hereafter in purgatory, will she be their helper and comforter.”