Mary, Mercy and the Souls in Purgatory

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Often, it seems to me, God offers us “parallels” – two events, or persons or devotions which seem to reenforce one another. For instance, I see a parallel of “reparation” offered in the First Friday and First Saturday devotions. It seems to me there is a parallel in the revelations of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary and His revelation of Mercy from His Heart to St. Faustina. Yesterday I began to see what seemed very significant for this Month of the Souls in Purgatory a “parallel” in the writings of both St Margaret Mary and St. Faustina concerning our Mother Mary and the Souls in Purgatory.

Yesterday in looking up a reference for First Friday, I came upon this quote from the writings of St. Margaret Mary:

St. Margaret Mary was accustomed to offer her prayers to Our Blessed Lady through the souls in purgatory, and in a letter to Mother Grefie she explains the reason: “It is not through any want of confidence in Our Blessed Lady that we ask the help of the Holy Souls in Purgatory; it is in order that they may join their supplications to ours and offer them up to this Good Mother to obtain for us the continuation of her maternal assistance. By doing so we confess that, after God, it is from the Blessed Virgin that all good comes to us.”

I have often thought and written my own conviction that the Devotion to the Sacred Heart given to St. Margaret Mary has been continued in a certain way by the revelations to St. Faustina on Divine Mercy, but I had never noticed both these saints’ concern for the Souls in Purgatory and the intercession of Mary so connected.

Re-reading the Diary of St. Faustina I found a reference to Mary and the souls in Purgatory early in her writing, in paragraph 20 she wrote:

I saw my Guardian Angel who ordered me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames that were burning them did not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for a moment. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory. The souls call her “Star of the Sea”. She brings them refreshment. I wanted to talk with them some more, but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave. We went out of that prison of suffering, I heard an interior voice which said, “My Mercy does not want this but justice demands it”. Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls.

Tomorrow is the First Saturday of November, please let us remember both reparation to Our Blessed Mother and her tender mercy towards the souls in purgatory. How can we not spend time with her, praying her Rosary with attention and devotion? Mary is the best of all Mothers.

I’m continuing my re-reading of the Diary of St. Faustina, subtitled “Divine Mercy in My Soul” as a good preparation for the Year of Mercy, proclaimed by Pope Francis, beginning Dec. 8, Feast of the Immaculate Conception. How beautiful it is to remember Mary as Mother of Mercy, who comes to comfort us in this life and the next!