Devotion To Holy Souls In Purgatory

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Why can’t souls that are in purgatory pray for us? Even those here on earth guilty of mortal sin can interceed for others.
 
I pray for the poor Souls in Purgatory, but honestly, I wouldn’t say that I have a particular devotion to them (unless praying for them is a devotion, per se). As for their intercession, I’ll also be honest, I’ve never really thought about it. My initial thought is that I don’t see why they cannot.
 
Silly, silly me. When I was in college I signed up for the Catholic Chapel Choir. I thought they had the best music (and weren’t liberal). Maybe I should have known better back then.

Once in awhile I’d get the chance to talk with another Catholic student about religion. What I really didn’t understand and what I was probably the most resistant to was the idea of purgatory and indulgences.

At this time in my life (I’m 50 now), I find myself in RCIA. And one of the best things I enjoy is the communion of the Saints. I really get a lot out of trying to help souls in purgatory.

For example, when I pray the Rosary I may dedicate it to Father May (the choir director of my Catholic Chapel Choir years ago). Father May died about eight or nine years ago. I suppose he may really get quite a kick out of this. The only non-Catholic Father May had in his Choir – the very same one who ridiculed the idea of purgatory and earning indulgences – that very same skeptical person now often prays and tries to earn indulgences for Father May. Or maybe it isn’t so ironic. Perhaps it is Father May who reached out to me and now I am in RCIA. Perhaps he prayed for me as penance for not trying hard enough to reach me when he was alive? Who knows.

Why I love to and want to earn indulgences for souls in purgatory:

(a) They are going to go to heaven. They cannot sin any more.
Any indulgence that they receive will not be wasted at all. Such indulgences are 100% effective.

(b) If I pray for them, they will pray for me. I need their prayers. It is not 100% guaranteed that I will go to heaven. Their prayers may make the difference in my destiny.

(c) If I try to keep all the indulgences that I earn for myself, they are not 100% effective. Even if I earn a plenary indulgence, I would sin again within a week, within days (and probably within only a few hours or minutes). So I would soon need another plenary indulgence anyway.

(d) If and when I have a reunion with those souls in heaven someday, their warm welcome will be worth it. In all my time on earth, I have only had perhaps one or two very close friends. And even these friendships no longer continue due to separation (death). I hope to earn eternal friends in those souls that I pray for in purgatory. So it is that I pray. Longing for fellowship with those who have departed. Those who cared for me at least a little. Who have died and I cannot repay any other way.

I pray for:
  • Father May, the choir director in my Catholic Chapel Choir (and I was not Catholic at that time)
  • Mr. Mrkus, my sixth grade teacher. He made such a difference in my life and in so many other students lives. He caused so many of us to find our talents and vocations. He died last October.
  • Mrs. Spirito – a next door neighbor who once saw a vision of Mary. Sometime later, she recovered and became an EHMC.
  • Rev. Larry. My very close friend (not a Catholic) who had suffered from mental illness and one day took his own life.
  • others as I think of them.
Praying prayers or trying to earn indulgences for the benefit of souls in Purgatory is a very beautiful thing. To me, it seems to be a way that God allows us to help those who helped us and are now gone (otherwise how unfair it is that I only now recognize their contributions to my life and that they are dead). But with the fellowship of the saints, and in indulgences I can try to help and repay their kind deeds towards me. And it also seems to be a way that we can minister to others even after we die. If we go to purgatory or to heaven, perhaps our ministry to others after our death can be a good way to bring greater glory to God.

Jesus gave us an example that we should wash one another’s feet. So isn’t it really needed that we should pray for those in purgatory. And earn indulgences for them?

jmm08
 
In a homily our priest told us that we should very much pray for the souls in purgatory to help them get to heaven and so that once they are in heaven they will intercede for us, especially if we end up in purgatory ourselves. Also, we need to teach our children to pray for the souls in purgatory because they are the ones that we will leave behind and will pray most often for us.

Here’s a favorite of mine:

“Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen”
 
**My devotion to the Holy Souls was forced on me by the Blessed Mother. She kept pushing me. She kept bugging me.
Souls started to pester me continuously until I was kicked in the pants to devote myself.
I enrolled in the assn. and then it really started.
I offer every Mass for them now so they will leave me alone.

Mary always gets her way. She is like a real mother because she is a real mother…bossy!!
She does not let go. She will not let you rest until you do what she wants you to do.
You just have to say “Yes Mam” and do it.
Accept what she wants and move.

LOL

PiusX
**
 
I can’t share the whole story with you, it would take much too much time and space here. To put it in a nutshell, a handful of experiences opened me up to offering each day the Chaplet to the Holy Infant Jesus of Prague for the departed souls. I decided to offer it, as best I could, once each day starting with the 1st of January 2000.

That means when I offer it today, it will be my 1,945th day. While most people might say the numbers are not important, the way I look at it is this; when the time comes when I meet someone who is in purgatory whom I have prayed for - and they ask me if I have prayed for them, I don’t want to say, yes - once or twice.

I can honestly say - Thousands of times!

I am looking forward to that.

Thal59
 
Thal59 said:
I can’t share the whole story with you, it would take much too much time and space here. To put it in a nutshell, a handful of experiences opened me up to offering each day the Chaplet to the Holy Infant Jesus of Prague for the departed souls. I decided to offer it, as best I could, once each day starting with the 1st of January 2000.

That means when I offer it today, it will be my 1,945th day. While most people might say the numbers are not important, the way I look at it is this; when the time comes when I meet someone who is in purgatory whom I have prayed for - and they ask me if I have prayed for them, I don’t want to say, yes - once or twice.

I can honestly say - Thousands of times!

I am looking forward to that.

Thal59
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Wow im sure if you go to purgatory, those souls will pray for you!
 
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