Spirit Daily
If Largest Number Of Souls Are Released On Christmas, Next To That Comes Easter
By Susan Tassone
If the greatest number of souls are released on Christmas Day, the next highest number, in my opinion, is at Easter. Let us remember this as Lent nears its dramatic high point.
Our Lady of Medjugorje mentioned purgatory in her messages several times. She tells us to give them “the joy of a Holy Mass.” She tells us that they are “extremely lonely.” She tells us that they “see us when we pray for them by name.” She tells us to pray for them and they will become our “new intercessors.”
The Mass is the greatest act of selfless love. It is also the most efficacious prayer of relieving the souls in purgatory.
At the hour of our death, Masses which we have heard will be our greatest consolation. Every Mass will go with us to our judgment and will plead our pardon. The Holy Mass obtains for us the grace of a happy death and shortens our purgatory.
It is important to have Masses offered for yourself if you are unable to attend Mass while you are alive. Especially, place Gregorian Masses in your will, so that this extremely powerful form of the liturgy can help you after death. Gregorian devotions include thirty consecutive Masses offered for one deceased soul. Have Masses offered for your Family for the grace of a “happy death,” a Mass offered in honor of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
It is our duty to pray especially for the souls of our family, friends, and benefactors. Let us answer the call of Our Lady and be their advocates by our prayers, sacrifices, and almsgiving, turning their pain into everlasting glory. Make their desire your desire to rise with Jesus at Easter!
I invite you in a special way to make your Lenten Journey the best ever for you and for the release of the holy souls languishing in purgatory. Do you realize how many “new intercessors” you will have at Easter by helping to bring about their release!
Be our Lady’s merciful ones. Answer the call this Lent.
Here are a few suggestions to give “Paradise” to our loved ones and friends for Easter:
Double up on your prayers, fasting, and sacrifices, good works and indulgences for your departed loved ones. Practice the five first Saturdays and Nine first Fridays. Read the Bible more. Take a passage each day and remember that passage throughout the day to give you the answers you need for the day. It works!
Insert the St. Gertrude prayer of your favorite Holy Souls prayer in your Easter greetings.
Sprinkle holy Water on the graves of your loved ones and those around the grave when visiting the cemetery for Lent and Easter. Kneel and pray!
Give the Holy Souls the joy of a Holy Mass. Arrange to have Masses offered during Lent. Offer your Mass and indulgence on Easter Sunday and Mercy Sunday. The Mass is the most powerful prayer on earth! The Mass heals the living and the dead!
The Eastern Catholic Church does not celebrate All Souls Day on November 2 but “All Souls Saturdays” during Lent! The Saturdays of Lent are given over to “All Souls Saturdays” in Lent where the Eastern Church remembers them five times where they commemorate them by having a liturgy for the souls of all deceased loved ones and reading out the names of all the deceased ones.
These names are put in a book which is called the “Scroll of the Deceased.” So when we celebrate in this very penitential period they are also praying for those whom Christ has called to Himself. Let us join our Byzantine brothers and sisters during this Great Lent and remember our loved ones on “All Souls Saturdays.” Start with the remaining Lenten Saturdays this year, as preparation for next year.
Our relatives kept our churches going through their talent, donations, prayers and sufferings. They are saints from our life. Let the Saints go marching in Heaven for Easter!
Just think of the power and privilege God has given us to help Him. St. Thomas Aquinas said, “Off all prayers, the most meritorious, the most acceptable to God are prayers for the dead, because they imply all the works of charity, both corporal and spiritual.”
We are their only resource. We alone are their deliverers; for we alone can suffer with merit and release them. Heaven encourages them, we deliver them!
Bishop Fulton Sheen noted, “As we enter Heaven we will see them, so many of them coming towards us and thanking us.We will ask, who they are, and they will say a poor soul you prayed for in purgatory.”
We have this great power given to us to expiate sins by enduring suffering, praying for the deceased, and imitating Our Lord. When we emulate Him by fasting, by abstaining, by praying, and by persevering, we are able to bring our souls and others into the sweet smelling grace of Our Lord’s mercy and forgiveness which is the goal of the Great Lent.
3/26/05
[Susan Tassone is the author of books on purgatory]
[for more information, contact the Catholic Mission Office, 640 N. LaSalle, Chicago, IL, for Mass Offerings. Individual Masses: $5 donation. Gregorian Masses: $130. For the gift of Masses and enrollments visit our website at: www.spiritualtreasury.org]