9781644135945

The Light of the World
“Absolve, O Lord, the souls of all the faithful departed from every bond of sin.” The souls
in purgatory are perfectly conformed to the will of God. They love only Him; they love Him
with their whole heart and soul. Their will coincides with His will, and they desire nothing but
what He desires. They subject themselves voluntarily to the sufferings of purgatory, and they
do so out of love, for they now wish to please God. They will suffer what He imposes upon
them just as long as it is His will that they should do so, for they know that God is holy and just.
Every sin, even the smallest conscious imperfection, demands satisfaction. If these faults have
not been satisfied for on earth, they must be expiated in purgatory. In purgatory the poor souls
suffer a twofold punishment. There is first of all the punishment caused by their separation
from God, which is the principal punishment of purgatory. It is also the most severe suffering
of purgatory, so severe that it surpasses human understanding. But there are other punishments.
God’s justice demands that they suffer by other means also, such as external fire. Souls have
separated themselves from God in the search for external things, and it is the will of God that
they should suffer by means of created objects also. This, too, is a terrible punishment. The soul
which is separated from its body becomes doubly sensitive, and these external tortures are truly
excruciating. But we who still live in this world can relieve them of these burdens and free them
from the temporal punishments due to sin by our prayers.
“Grant to the souls of Thy servants and handmaids the remission of all their sins.” Absolve
them “from every bond of sin,” from all punishment. “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.”
God is holy; nothing unclean can exist in His presence. God is just; no one will ever escape
from His prison “till thou repay the last farthing” (Mt 5:26). God is merciful; He desires that
we pay the debts of the poor souls in purgatory, which they cannot pay themselves. He loves
these souls. He will shorten the days of their detention if we who are united to them by the
communion of saints offer our suffrages for them. Should we not do all that we can for the poor
souls in purgatory? Should we not make a specific memento for our departed brethren, and
through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offer for them the satisfactions of the Savior? Let us pray
for them more diligently and undertake works of penance for them.
Prayer
O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant to the souls of Thy servants and
handmaids the remission of all their sins, that by devout prayers they may obtain the forgiveness
which they have always desired. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
All Souls’ Day (3)
In the Mass for the Dead the Church pictures herself as standing at the bedside of him for whom
she is celebrating the Holy Sacrifice. She is consoled by the thought that the soul of the departed
child is to receive the desired redemption and glorification in heaven through this Sacrifice of
the Mass. For the Church the Mass is a sacrifice of adoration, thanksgiving, satisfaction, and
petition. In this sacrifice the Lord offers to the Father His own propitiatory works, together
with those of His Church and its members, for the living and the dead. “Eternal rest grant unto
them, O Lord, and let the perpetual light shine upon them” (Introit, Gradual, Communion)
through the power of this Holy Sacrifice which we offer for them.
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