Giving up things for the souls in purgatory?

[twosweetgirls]

I’ve been dealing with a lot of bitterness, anger and hurt regarding my mother. At the girls’ baptisms this past Saturday (which was just BEAUTIFUL and everything I could’ve imagined!), my mother’s attitude and behaviour were something else. I’ll spare you the details.

However, in dealing with my bitterness, anger and hurt, the only way I could deal with it was praying to God and asking Him to take my crud and exchange it for the suffering of those in purgatory. In fact, that’s the only way I got to sleep that night.

My question: is this okay? Seems like an icky thing to give to God in exchange for lessening the suffering of someone else. Does that make sense?

 

[water]

However, in dealing with my bitterness, anger and hurt, the only way I could deal with it was praying to God and asking Him to take my crud and exchange it for the suffering of those in purgatory. In fact, that’s the only way I got to sleep that night.

My question: is this okay? Seems like an icky thing to give to God in exchange for lessening the suffering of someone else. Does that make sense?

Any sacrifice, any good deed done can be offered up for those in purgatory. You have done an act of love for the Holy Souls.

Congratulations on the girls’ baptisms!

God bless.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Maybe this is the thread where I can find out more about the concept of ‘offering it up.’

Can we offer things up for living souls? What sorts of things can be offered up?

they never got to this in RCIA

 

[water]

Maybe this is the thread where I can find out more about the concept of ‘offering it up.’

Can we offer things up for living souls? What sorts of things can be offered up?

they never got to this in RCIA

Hello Sailor Kenshin,

From a book for Novena for Holy Souls in Purgatory:
“St. Anselm remind us that ‘a single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death.’ The Mass heals the living and the dead.”

I am using this book for devotion for the Holy Souls, and for having this devotion, I’ve been learning to apply to those souls who still living on earth.

Here is the cover of the book:
childmary.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=157

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Hello Sailor Kenshin,

From a book for Novena for Holy Souls in Purgatory:
“St. Anselm remind us that ‘a single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death.’ The Mass heals the living and the dead.”

I am using this book for devotion for the Holy Souls, and for having this devotion, I’ve been learning to apply to those souls who still living on earth.

Here is the cover of the book:
childmary.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=157

Thanks!

But is ‘offering up’ at a Mass the same as stating your intentions?

 

[twosweetgirls]

You have done an act of love for the Holy Souls.

See, Water, and I feel like I should be offering up my good things, too, and not just my bad things, you know?

 

[water]

Thanks!

But is ‘offering up’ at a Mass the same as stating your intentions?

I am not sure if I understand your question clearly, but offering a Mass is different than offering up something else at a Mass. At a Mass, the most important offer is the Sacrifice of the Lord.
catholic.com/library/Sacrifice_of_the_Mass.asp

 

[water]

See, Water, and I feel like I should be offering up my good things, too, and not just my bad things, you know?

When you offered up things that happened to you, you were offering up your forgiving, patience and love toward the one who upset you to God - -so, it is a good thing.

Also, sometimes, it is not easy to forgive someone, we can certainly offer this trouble to God and ask Him to help you with. He is very eager to help you when you are willing to let Him do so – thus, it is still a good offering-up.

 

[pyropam]

By being able to offer up pain and suffering for another soul, we are truly “thanking God for our suffering”.

Don’t just thank God for the good things…but…for the bad as well. Each event in our life should be offered up.

 

[Coreopisis]

Maybe this is the thread where I can find out more about the concept of ‘offering it up.’

Can we offer things up for living souls? What sorts of things can be offered up?

they never got to this in RCIA

I’ve been reading on this subject for the past 3 months. I’ve ultimately found a wonderful book on the offering of suffering.
Oops…gotta run to a meeting,. I am at work. I’ll give the details in a bit.

 

[water]

I’ve been reading on this subject for the past 3 months. I’ve ultimately found a wonderful book on the offering of suffering.
Oops…gotta run to a meeting,. I am at work. I’ll give the details in a bit.

that will be great! I need to read more on this as I have started to have devotions for the Holy Souls in the last 7 months or so.

Thanks!

 

[TOP]

In this line of thought, has anyone made a consecration to Mary to dispense these offerings as per God’s will as St. Louis Demontfort described in True Devotion to Mary? This is a way to have the offering made perfect, presentable and distributed to God’s will. It is truely humble in approach. Tim

 

[water]

In this line of thought, has anyone made a consecration to Mary to dispense these offerings as per God’s will as St. Louis Demontfort described in True Devotion to Mary? This is a way to have the offering made perfect, presentable and distributed to God’s will. It is truely humble in approach. Tim

I don’t even have the book and not so sure what it looks like. More than 1/2 year ago, somebody gave to me a book on Consecration to Mary. I used it and later realized the book is not “really approved” by the Church, so I stopped using it.

Tim, do you have a picture of the book or knows where to get one? I couldn’t find it at my local Catholic bookstore.

Thanks!

 

[TOP]

I was given two books by my Priest for the consecration months in advance to the Dec.8 feast day. True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin by St. Louis de Monfort montfortmissionaries.com/
amazon.com/Devotion-Blessed-Virgin-Louis-Montfort/dp/0910984492
And “Preparation for Total Consecration according to Saint Louis Marie de Monfort” should be at the montfort missionaries. Their bookstore is currently down online.
Besides the Bible, this was my first spiritual reading. I had only felt “touched” by a Saint before when I first read St. Paul’s writing’s. I read the book in one day non-stop and got it from the get go. Most will say to read and understand it slowly. For me, I was blown away and so touched, I was able to prepare and do it on my first attempt. There was some adversity, but it pailed in comparison to how I was lead to it. My Priest and I, along with a handful of people at my parish did the consrecration on the alter at church. I was shaking at the enormity of it with in me. My wife could not do it and was detracted on day one. This is not an easy thing to do. Mary has since faded into the background to let her son work. She is like a mother at a playground that you occasionally look for to make sure she is still there as you play with Jesus. To bandage you when you scrap your knee. At first, I was afraid it would take away my devotion to Jesus, but just the opposite has happened. I hope you do get something out of it even if you don’t do the consecration. Tim

 

[Coreopisis]

that will be great! I need to read more on this as I have started to have devotions for the Holy Souls in the last 7 months or so.

Thanks!

Ok, I am back from my meeting and I need to be quick because I have a ton to do although I would much rather talk about this subject because I find it fascinating because it puzzled me for so many years. I can’t seem to find my book on the internet at the moment but when I get home I will write down the name and the author and post it here. It is a very simple short, well written little book to give you the basics.

Jesus came to earth to FORGIVE SINS and to SUFFER FOR ORIGINAL SIN and in so doing he allowed us to crucify him on the cross and endure that pain.

What Jesus was teaching us is that in order to get to heaven we have two things we need to do. First we need to be forgiven of our sins and secondly we need to suffer to atone for those sins. Suffering is a cleansing of the stain of sin, it is like washing. We can not go before God / to heaven stained with sin, nor would we want to. We want to be clean of sin and worthy of heaven.

Do we understand why we need to suffer to be clean? This is a mystery that requires faith. Jesus showed us this is what needs to be done and we need to have faith. He would not mislead us.

When a soul is on earth with their human body going to church and confession on a regular basis they are likely forgiven for all their sins. However they may have lived a perfect Beaver Cleaver life and never suffered. As a result, upon their death, they are still stained with sin. Those souls still stained with sin go to purgatory to be cleansed of all stain and as a result they suffer.

We need to keep in mind that one of the privileges of being here on earth is that we are allowed to pray for ourselves and ask others to pray for us, and also to suffer. When we die we no longer can ask for prayers and we simply need to suffer until we have atoned for all our sins which could be for thousands of years. The only way of getting out of purgatory sooner is through prayer from those still on earth or those in heaven (saints) and help suffering.

Because so many souls have been forgotten as they have no family that remembers them or no family that believes in God or purgatory they are in torment for a very long time. Thus our most sympathetic mother Mary has been coming to earth to ask for us to help our brothers and sisters in purgatory on their behalf. I think it was Mary who said something about for every soul we help get to heaven that soul will be so grateful that they will pray unceasingly before the throne of God until you are at their side.

Does this help you to understand why we offer our suffering for the poor souls?

I have more information but I don’t want to confuse you. Let me know if you ahve any questions but this is the basics of suffering for souls in purgatory. Oh and I should add that suffering can be anything from not wanting to clean the house but doing it anyway to dying of cancer. All is accepted through Mary and all is needed. Mary is the advocate for poor souls.

 

[Coreopisis]

that will be great! I need to read more on this as I have started to have devotions for the Holy Souls in the last 7 months or so.

Thanks!

I just quickly glanced through the postings and have a couple other comments.

You can thank God for all the great and wonderful things in life but offering the good things up for the poor souls wont have much of an impact because they need prayer and suffering. If it did have an impact we would’ve heard this from the statements made by the apparitions of the Virgin Mary. She is always asking the saints for suffering and prayer. (Watch the movie “The song of Bernadette” great movie and will totally help you understand the purpose of suffering.) Mary doesn’t come down to see those with perfect lives on earth and ask them to offer it up. In the context of how this works it makes no sense. I am sure you offend no one by doing it though. I don’t think a good intention ever hurt anyone.

This is also why it is so important to have masses said for poor souls as the sacrifice of Jesus on the alter is considered the greatest sacrifice for the poor souls. We as Catholics know that Christ is present in the eucharist and therefor every mass is a new sacrifice for our sins. You should always have masses said for your deceased relatives.

I really hope this helps!

 

[TOP]

Oh and I should add that suffering can be anything from not wanting to clean the house but doing it anyway to dying of cancer. All is accepted through Mary and all is needed. Mary is the advocate for poor souls.

You had to make it a choice between cleaning and cancer. I’ve already been through the cancer, does that mean I don’t have to clean? No really, it is hard to give up what you have suffered because as St. Augustine said, there is comfort in our tears. Though I have done the consecration, I find it almost impossible to let go of suffering. Maybe that is why the Lord directed me to the consecration. I mentioned in another thread that I often find myself in the garden waiting for the cross again. Being in remission with cancer is like that. Will I have the strength to offer what may be next. After all, it is my suffering. But Christ did it for us as an example. He was poured out and offered it all. That is what uniting your sufferings to Christ is. That is what we are to do. Tim

 

[Coreopisis]

You had to make it a choice between cleaning and cancer. I’ve already been through the cancer, does that mean I don’t have to clean? No really, it is hard to give up what you have suffered because as St. Augustine said, there is comfort in our tears. Though I have done the consecration, I find it almost impossible to let go of suffering. Maybe that is why the Lord directed me to the consecration. I mentioned in another thread that I often find myself in the garden waiting for the cross again. Being in remission with cancer is like that. Will I have the strength to offer what may be next. After all, it is my suffering. But Christ did it for us as an example. He was poured out and offered it all. That is what uniting your sufferings to Christ is. That is what we are to do. Tim

I could not agree more. The more I read about the lives of Saints the more I understand. They would’ve welcomed cancer because they knew that they were suffering if not for themselves but for the sins of others and bringing back souls to God and thus making him happy. Plus they were ensuring themselves not to wait (name removed by moderator)urgatory upon their own deaths.

I would think that you’ve done plenty of suffering assuming that you didn’t get to much attention for it. We are supposed to suffer acceptingly, humbly, and in silence. If we get attention and sympathy it then is benefiting us in some way and not really wholistically suffering any longer. It is like washing with dirty water. You have to watch the Song of Bernadette. Again great movie that explains this perfectly.

I think I read in the bible where Jesus said that those who pray so that everyone can see them pray are doing themselves a disservice because they are showing off. The same goes for suffering.

I am not sure but it might be also why St. Augustine mentions there are comfort in tears. Try not to cry try to be thankful that God gave you a gift to help yourself and others in pergatory. It sounds like you have plenty to offer even while in remission because you are still dealing with the fear of a recurrance and probably of pain. I think you can help a lot of souls now. You don’t need to wait for a recurrance. Emotional pain is still suffering.

I know it isn’t easy to go through but that is why it is a blessing. I wish I had more to offer. My suffering is nothing compared to what you are going through.

 

[Sr_Sally]

Twosweetgirls–using you as an example! please don’t take this as me being mean!!

When you “offer something up” you are giving a sacrifice to God. As adults, it is usually a sacrifice of our minds–that is our thoughts and behaviors.

So in this example, how did you treat your mother’s attitude and behaviour? If you treated her respectfully, kept a smile on your face and nice words in your mouth, then you certainly can offer up your frustration with her. However, if you let your mother have it and later were still fuming, than you really did not sacrifice anything to offer up.

On the blog Ask Sister Mary Martha, she has a wonderful explaination of this. Very funny, but really gets the point across.

I’ve been dealing with a lot of bitterness, anger and hurt regarding my mother. At the girls’ baptisms this past Saturday (which was just BEAUTIFUL and everything I could’ve imagined!), my mother’s attitude and behaviour were something else. I’ll spare you the details.

However, in dealing with my bitterness, anger and hurt, the only way I could deal with it was praying to God and asking Him to take my crud and exchange it for the suffering of those in purgatory. In fact, that’s the only way I got to sleep that night.

My question: is this okay? Seems like an icky thing to give to God in exchange for lessening the suffering of someone else. Does that make sense?

 

[twosweetgirls]

Nope, Sr. Sally, you’re just fine. But no, I didn’t lose my temper, let her have it, or in another way show my frustration at her attitude and behaviour. I simply ignored her.