How does Jesus release 1,000 souls from Purgatory every time St. Gertrude's prayer for the poor souls is said?

[Muzhik]

I view this as the same as the “1,000 Drops of Blood” devotion. Purportedly, Jesus appeared to St. Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary, St. Matilda, and St. Bridget (all who lived at different times and different places) with the same message. Summarized, He purportedly promised the following five graces to anyone who recited 2 "Our Father"s, 2 "Hail Mary"s, and 2 "Glory Be"s every day for 3 consecutive years in honor of the drops of blood spilled walking the path to Calvary:

1st  The plenary indulgence and remission of your sins.

2nd  You will be free from the pains of Purgatory.

3rd  If you should die before completing the said 3 years, for you it will be the same as if you had completed them.

4th  It will be upon your death the same as if you had shed all your blood for the Holy Faith.

5th  I will descend from Heaven to take your soul and that of your relatives, until the fourth generation.

This is a private revelation, not an article of faith. To make this devotion is, at the very least, a pious act. Nevertheless, it is something I am doing every night before bed. Given the way my daughters are living their lives, I hope and pray that Jesus will remember and consider the 5th (alleged) promise and that my prayers have been offered for the salvation of their souls. Given the state of my soul, I only live in the hope that the second alleged promise is true, but I am willing to do what is needed to help my daughters to become part of the Church Penitent upon their deaths.

 

[BroIgnatius]

BroIgnatius:

MrZoom:

If you think about it, it’s not logical. This alleged promise says that reciting this prayer is equivalent to 1,000 plenary indulgences, without the other usual conditions of a plenary indulgence.

Plenary Indulgences? What has this to do with Plenary Indulgences?

A living person can offer an indulgence he or she earns for a soul in purgatory. A plenary indulgence, as I’m sure you know, means the complete remission of all temporal punishment. So apply that to a soul in purgatory, and he/she is released.

That is my point. We are not talking about indulgences. We are talking about a prayer.

 

[JamalChristophr]

Did Jesus promise this to Saint Gertrude specifically or is it unclear?

It is true that not everyone prayers carry the same weight before God as others. For example, it says in the epistle of James that the prayer of a righteous man availeth much. God gave some saints great power to intercede for others.

 

[Wesrock]

Well, we do know it as a doctrine of the Faith that when we pray for souls in purgatory, their time can be shortened. We know that they can do nothing of their own once they were there but having a mass said for them may greatly expedite their delivery from purgatory.

If I understand rightly, Purgatory is an extension of God’s justice but it seems that the merits of Christians who intercede for such souls invokes his Mercy to the degree that their purification is expedited, God Willing.

Maybe that is not 100% theologically accurate, but I think it’s close.

We are all one body.

 

[MountCarmel]

At the end of the day, prayer sincerely and lovingly said, with a focus on God and others, cannot be a bad thing. As for the promises, well God is moved by ‘good’ prayer, and God has the power to forgive and mitigate. If God could not foreshorten a Soul’s time in Purgatory, then praying for the Holy Souls would be a ‘waste of time’.

p.s. I have personally had indications/‘proofs’ that prayer for the Holy Souls can and does have effect…

 

[Vico]

the merits of Christians who intercede for such souls invokes his Mercy to the degree that their purification is expedited

Yes!

Catechism

1371 The Eucharistic sacrifice is also offered for the faithful departed who "have died in Christ but are not yet wholly purified,"193 so that they may be able to enter into the light and peace of Christ: …

1479 Since the faithful departed now being purified are also members of the same communion of saints, one way we can help them is to obtain indulgences for them, so that the temporal punishments due for their sins may be remitted.

Indulgentiarum doctrina, Norm 1:

An indulgence is the remission before God of the temporal punishment due sins already forgiven as far as their guilt is concerned, which the follower of Christ with the proper dispositions and under certain determined conditions acquires through the intervention of the Church which, as minister of the Redemption, authoritatively dispenses and applies the treasury of the satisfaction won by Christ and the saints.

 

[petra22]

All things are possible with God…