Our Lady visit the souls of our loved one that are in purgatory, bring them refreshment and peace; and if it be God’s Holy Will, at the Consecration at this Holy Mass, carry them into the joys of heaven which you and all of the saints enjoy forever. Mother of Jesus, who is Life Itself, visit and bring refreshment to the Holy Souls in purgatory this day, especially those members of our family, friends and associates.

The Feast of all Souls. Sunday November 2nd, 2014.

Yesterday, we celebrated the great solemnity of All Saints. All Saints, is of course the day that we celebrate with great joy those souls who have made it to heaven and so now enjoy the full and unveiled vision of the Holy Mass and the Holy Eucharist; they are the “Church Triumph.” Today we celebrate the “Solemnity of All Souls.” This day is a special day to remember those who have died and are yet waiting to enter joyfully into the vision of the saints, which is the vision of the face of God. They are undergoing a final “purge” if you will; a purge of the self-love along with any error that they did not fully rid themselves here on earth; they are the “Church suffering.” While they have the joy of knowing that they have been saved, they themselves know that they are still not ready to see God face to face.

While we could spend much time this morning trying to prove the existence of purgatory, we know with certainty from the infallible teachings of the Church and the testimony of all the Saints that Purgatory is indeed real. While many die in friendship with God, that is in the state of grace, many have not yet reach that perfection of love that Jesus in the Holy Eucharist demands, “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The Justice of God demands that we must have perfect love and so no selfishness to enter into the Perfect Love, which is God Himself. As the Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “Purgatory is where the Justice of God is tempered by the Mercy of God!” So thank God for Purgatory! After all, how many of us can say we have reached that perfection of truth, love and virtue that Jesus who is Truth, Love and Virtue demands? And so, many of the greatest saints have stated that the number of those who pass right from this life to heaven is very small. The mystic St. John of the Cross says, “Only a small number of souls achieve perfect love.” (And as we have said, perfect love is necessary to go straight to heaven). St. Teresa of Avila also had the experience that only a few will be able to avoid Purgatory. St. John Vianney said, “It is definite that only a few chosen ones do not go to Purgatory; and the suffering there that one must endure, exceeds our imagination.”

And so what a great responsibility we all have to pray for our associates, friends, and loved ones who have died. How much of a lack of love on our part it is to assume that they are in heaven when they may very well be in purgatory in great need of our prayers for them. We may be the only ones who pray for them. We must remember that souls in purgatory cannot pray for themselves or help themselves; they depend totally on us. It has been revealed to some saints that the souls in purgatory who suffer the most are the ones who have been forgotten, because they themselves neglected to pray for the Holy Souls in purgatory.

We should never doubt that our prayers help the souls in purgatory and our loved ones in purgatory. Our prayers for them truly show our love for them and truly help them. In fact, praying for our loved ones, offering Masses for them is the very best way to continue to show our love for them on earth now that they have gone.

Where I grew up there is a Dominican convent nearby. I remember hearing a true story of a very holy nun there that had a great devotion to the Holy Souls. She spent her whole life praying, doing penance and offering suffering for them. At one point she began to doubt whether or not all her prayers and suffrage had done anything to help them. One day, after she had almost given up on her apostolate to the Holy Souls, she returned to her cell that evening, and there appearing before her on the wall of her cell were thousands upon thousands of faces. She then heard Our Blessed Lord say to her, “These are the souls that you have released from purgatory thus far. Please continue!” Needless to say she did!

How we need then to pray and to offer Masses for our loved ones in purgatory; that is if we truly love them (and we do!). It does nothing to degrade their memory to realize they may be there. They have made it; they are friends of God and will be in heaven someday. And if they happen to be in heaven then our prayers are not wasted because, as I have said, we still show them our love for them and they can actually use our prayers for helping us, and others, from their place in heaven.

The holy souls in purgatory, while they cannot pray for themselves, can if we ask them, pray for us. This is really, I believe, at the heart of why the devil doesn’t want people on earth to believe in purgatory and to pray for the souls there. Think about it, he can’t do anything to them; they are saved. But, satan knows that if we believe in purgatory we can ask the souls that are there to pray for us, and their prayers are powerful because they are truly Holy Souls; they are friends of God. And even more, when they enter into heaven and see the Holy Eucharist unveiled, which is to see the Face of God, in gratitude for our help, they will beseech the throne of God on our behalf. And so obviously the devil doesn’t want this to happen because even though he can’t touch them, he wants the ruin, the death of our soul and so surely doesn’t want them to help us.

Today let us pray for our loved ones, all our loved ones who have gone before us in the true faith. Let us have the hope that they are in heaven, but let us not play the Pope and canonize them. Let us instead pray for them and offer Masses for them whenever we can to show and continue our love for them here on earth. Let us visit the cemetery where their bodies, the former temples of the Holy Spirit, are buried. And at this Holy Mass let us pray for them because here at the Mass they are indeed present. We must never forget that we are never closer to those whom we love and have died and are with God than we are at the Holy Mass, for the Holy Mass is truly heaven on earth. All the Angel and saints are here, but so too are the Holy Souls in purgatory, although they don’t yet get to see the Holy Eucharist unveiled which is the face of God.

Let’s ask the Holy Souls to pray for us as well so that we may increase our love by our cooperation to God’s grace given to us in the Holy Eucharist, becoming perfected in love so that we ourselves won’t have to pass through purgatory. St. Therese the little flower taught, “God our Father loves us and surely doesn’t want us, after we leave this world, to have to pass through purgatory, He wants us in heaven with Him.” This should give us great confidence and trust in His Mercy and in His love. God really doesn’t want purgatory. We should never say, “I hope I make it to purgatory!” What cowardous, what mediocrity and lack of love; we should say instead, “When I die, I want to go straight to heaven to be with my Father who loves me, with Jesus, Mary and Joseph and with all the saints in heaven. And so, I as a member of the Church Militant on earth will, with the help of His grace, fight to live the life of love and of holiness to which He has called me.” Let each of us trust in the Father’s love for us and never take it for granted by sinning and living a life of mediocrity and indifference.

Let us pray; Our Lady visit the souls of our loved one that are in purgatory, bring them refreshment and peace; and if it be God’s Holy Will, at the Consecration at this Holy Mass, carry them into the joys of heaven which you and all of the saints enjoy forever. Mother of Jesus, who is Life Itself, visit and bring refreshment to the Holy Souls in purgatory this day, especially those members of our family, friends and associates. And dear Mother, pray for us sinners who have recourse to thee. Amen.