On this commemoration of all the faithful departed, we are filled with compassion for
the poor souls in purgatory who could be you and me and perhaps will be you and me one day.
And we want souls here on earth to have compassion for us and to do all they can to relieve our
sufferings. The sufferings there are said to be worse than any of the sufferings we can imagine
in this life. And their duration, the intensity of their sufferings are
much worse than what we can endure here in this earth. We know this by faith and what the
teachings of the saints about those souls in purgatory. And we know that they are suffering
therefore the sins that they committed in this life, the sins, the venial sins that they did not,
that they were attached to in this life, that they did not make an effort to detach themselves,
to fight against.
And mortal sins that they didn't sufficiently make amends for and perhaps other, many other
faults, perhaps judging others, not being merciful to others, not loving God with all their heart,
not longing for heaven and practicing the virtue of hope. All these things and perhaps many more
that they need to expiate in purgatory and they cannot do anything to relieve themselves and they
are suffering without any relief.
And so they are completely at the mercy of our compassion, our charity, our thoughtfulness towards them.
And we need to put ourselves in their place. We need to have that empathy, empathy towards them.
Otherwise we will do little for them, maybe even nothing. And what will happen to us when we find
ourselves there. So we want to pray for them, say our rosaries for them, keep them, keep,
be mindful of them in our many prayers and especially have Holy Mass celebrated for them.
Holy Mass, which is the greatest relief for the souls in purgatory.
We are also permitted by the church to offer indulgences, even plenary indulgences for the souls in purgatory,
especially during this octave of the holy souls. From the first to the eighth, we can go to a cemetery or a church
and pray an alibi.
We can pray for the Holy Father and the Apostles' Creed and a prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father,
as well as fulfilling the other conditions of going to confession and receiving Holy Communion
and being detached from venial sin. So let us do that this week, go to a cemetery or a church
and say those prayers and confession and communion. And as we thought about the
all souls,
all saints yesterday, and we were encouraged by them in their victory in eternal life now.
And we also thought about our own efforts to grow in sanctity. As we are mindful of the poor souls in purgatory,
we're also mindful of our own state in this life and our own efforts to overcome sin,
which may cause us to spend time in purgatory.
Today is a day to
if we think of hell, we think of avoiding mortal sin, which would cause us to go there.
When we think of purgatory, we think of more of perfecting ourselves.
If we avoid mortal sin, we can avoid hell. If we strive to perfect ourselves, we can avoid time spent in purgatory.
If we don't strive for perfection, we will most likely have to spend time in purgatory.
If we don't make a strong effort to serve God with all our heart, soul, and strength,
if we strive to live a perfect life, a holy life, a saintly life, then perhaps we will avoid purgatory altogether.
But if we are satisfied with a mediocre life, if we're satisfied with just doing the minimum,
we're satisfied with just being a good person, so to speak,
instead of a saint, then we most likely will be looking forward to time in purgatory.
So this doctrine of purgatory really is a spur onto us for to live a life of perfection,
to live a life of perfection. Hell makes us do at least the minimum to save our souls, but
the truth of our faith of purgatory makes us strive for perfection.
And it urges us on and impels us to to be perfect, keeping in mind our judgment that we'll be judged
for every little sin, that we are being watched for all the things that we do and will be held
account to to all of our actions, thoughts, and words. And so how much how much vigilance we must
we must make over ourselves is when we are thoughtful of our judgment that we really,
really careful, really careful about our life. We're really conscientious and we're concerned
about every moment that we spend our life, that we don't waste any time and that we don't waste it on
sinful things or mediocre things or things that will take our mind and heart from the service of
God. Instead of serving ourselves and our own pleasures and entertainments, we are concerned
about serving God with all our heart.
This is the kind of heart, the kind of effort, that deserves to be freed from purgatory,
deserves relief, and perhaps we can expect that. That if we are striving hard, we are trying hard to
serve God and not to offend him even in the least way, that we can expect to have somebody help us
by their prayers and masses and sacrifices and efforts if we find ourselves in purgatory.
So I want to say thank you to all of you.
Thank you God for that and also to the people of the world for giving us this opportunity to
serve God. We expect that we can find ourselves in purgatory if we don't make that effort and
can we expect someone to help us—God to set aside someone to help us.
So let us do our part to remember the poor souls today each day of our life to set aside
certain prayers. Perhaps a rosary a day, or certain prayers a day, certain sacrifices each
day faithfully.
belong to the organization of
societies of those who pray for the souls in purgatory
and have masses said regularly for the souls in purgatory.
And that's a great charity. This is a day of
charity, thoughtfulness, and compassion for
our brothers and sisters who are there. So let us exercise that
charity.
Let us exercise that charity.