That doesn't mean that we should give up trying.

Yes.

Poche, thank you for bringing the Heroic Act of Charity to attention again. This is the information I have in my files. I apologize that I don't have the source.

What is the Heroic Act of Charity?

There are heroes in the Catholic Church - they are the canonized saints.
It is true, that all people who enter Heaven are saints, but the canonized saints have done something that is extraordinary and have been made role models for future generations of Christians. All of us can become heroes while on earth. It won’t necessarily lead to our canonization, but it would definitely help those in need and also bring us closer to Jesus. An opportunity has been given to us by the Church to help the souls in Purgatory. It is the Heroic Act of Charity.

Through the Heroic Act, we give all of the indulgences from our prayers, our sufferings, and our works of charity for the benefit of the souls in Purgatory. Also, the indulgences from the prayers offered after your death will go to the souls in Purgatory. Even though we give the Holy Souls the value of our indulgenced acts, we still keep the blessings of what we have done which will bring us glory in Heaven.

The Heroic Act of Charity has been approved by Popes Benedict XIII (1728), Pius VI (1788), and Pius XI (1852). The Sacred Congregation of Indulgences made a decree regarding it on December 18, 1885 and it was confirmed by Pope Leo XIII the next day. Many Christians devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, make it a practice to deposit the said merits and suffrages into the hands of the Blessed Virgin that she may distribute these favors to the souls in Purgatory according to her own merciful pleasure.

If you would like to make the Heroic Act, you can offer the indulgences of all your prayers, your works of charity, and your sufferings for the benefit of the souls in Purgatory. This includes the benefits of all of the prayers said for you after death. If you have a problem with saying this in your own words, use the following prayers:

O Holy and Adorable Trinity, desiring to aid in the relief and release of the Holy Souls in Purgatory, through my devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, I cede and renounce, on behalf of these souls, all the satisfactory part of my works, and all the suffrages which may be given to me after my death. In their entirety, I offer them to Mary, the Most Holy Mother of God, that she may use them, according to her good pleasure, for those souls of the faithful departed whom she desires to alleviate their suffering.

O my God, deign to accept and bless my offering which I make to Thee
through the most august Queen of Heaven and Earth. Amen.

Lord Jesus, King of infinite Mercy, I give all of the indulgences that would have been mine through my prayers, acts of charity, my own sufferings, and for the prayers said for me when I pass into eternity to free my brothers and sisters from the pains of Purgatory. Have mercy on them and bring them into glory
in Your eternal presence in Heaven.  Amen.

Those Who Earnestly Help the Holy Souls
May Well Hope to Avoid Purgatory

The Holy Souls whom we relieve or release by our Masses and good works pray for us with such indescribable fervor that God cannot refuse to hear their prayers. One of the principal graces they ask for their friends is that these shall have little or no Purgatory. No one knows better than they the awful intensity of the Purgatorial flames; no one, therefore, can pray for us as they do. Let us remember that:

a) God thanks as done to Himself what we do to others. When we relieve or release any of the Holy Souls, we relieve or release, as it were, God Himself. How ready, therefore, will He not be to hear the prayers offered by these souls for us.

b) Our Blessed Lord lays down clearly the great law: "By that measure by which you measure, it will be measured to you again" In proportion, consequently, to our generosity towards the Holy Souls will God's mercy and generosity be towards us. Those who work heart and soul for the relief of the Holy Souls may thus well hope that their Purgatory will be entirely remitted, or notably lessened. On the other hand, those who neglect the Holy Souls may justly fear a severe judgment and an extremely long Purgatory.

http://www.shrineofsaintjude.net/home1606.html#12. Those Who Earnestly Help the Holy Souls May Well Hope to Avoid Purgatory

There was a Lady who was a member of one of the Parishes where one of our Priests was the Pastor.  She called her Pastor to ask him if he could go to the local hospital to visit her Father and to say some prayers for him.
After getting the necessary details, the Pastor went to the hospital.  During this visit, the Grace of God touched the heart and Soul of the Father of this Lady and he asked to go to Confession and to receive the Last Rites of the Catholic Church from which he had been away for over 50 years!  Of course, the Pastor was more than happy to comply with the wishes of this very sick man.

A few days later, the Mother of the Pastor called him to tell him she had just become very ill and, with no one else to take care of her, she was hoping he could get permission from his Bishop to leave the Parish and to take care of her during her illness.  She lived about a thousand miles away.  The necessary arrangements were made, the Pastor left, and was temporarily replaced by another Priest.

Within several days after arriving at his Mother's home, the Pastor received an emergency call from the Lady to whose Father he had given the Last Rites only about a week earlier.

She explained to her Pastor that her Father had just died a few hours before that and that he was in desperate need of having her Pastor offer a Requiem Mass for him as soon as possible.

Why was she in such a great hurry?

In her great sorrow and deep grief, she explained to her Pastor, that her Father had just appeared to her!

She and her young Daughter were kneeling on the floor of their living room, saying the Rosary for the happy repose of his immortal Soul, when the floor beneath them opened up, as it were, and she could see her Father in a sea of huge flames! She could also hear him screaming from the horrible pain of the agony of the never-consuming fires of Purgatory!

Yes, her Father told her, he was in Purgatory, although he had been destined to go to Hell.

Her Father explained to his Daughter that because of the Last Rites which he had received from her Pastor, that he was able to escape going to Hell for all eternity!

He also told his grieving Daughter that although God had spared his Soul from going to Hell, there was no way he could go to Heaven without first going to Purgatory because between the time that the Pastor had left him in his hospital room, and the time he died, due to a bad habit, he had committed a few venial sins.

Now this Father begged his Daughter to call her Pastor immediately in order to request that he  immediately Offer a Catholic Requiem Mass for him.

He was very insistent that it had to be her Pastor who was the one to Offer this Catholic Requiem Mass because he knew her Pastor was a validly Ordained Catholic Priest and that her Pastor would use his Requiem Missal with which to Offer the much needed Requiem Mass for him.

He told his Daughter that if her Pastor would offer this one Mass for his Soul, before the conclusion of this one Catholic Requiem Mass, he would be released from Purgatory and go straight to Heaven!

http://www.shrineofsaintjude.net/home1606.html#12. Those Who Earnestly Help the Holy Souls May Well Hope to Avoid Purgatory

To Avoid Purgatory, Do as Follows

1. In every prayer you say, every Holy Mass at which you assist, every Holy Communion you receive, every good work you perform, have the express intention of imploring God to grant you a holy and happy death and that you will go straight to Heaven when you die. Surely God will hear a prayer said with such confidence and perseverance.

2. Always unite and conform your will with God’s will. It is in every sense the best for you. When you do or seek anything that is not God's will, you are sure to suffer. Say fervently, therefore, each time you recite the Our Father: "Thy will be done"

3. Accept all the sufferings, sorrows, pains and disappointments of life, be they great or small: ill health, loss of goods, the death of your dear ones, heat or cold, rain or sunshine, as coming from God. Bear them calmly and patiently for love of Him and in penance for your sins. Of course one may use all his efforts to ward off trouble and pain, but when one cannot avoid them let him bear them manfully.

Impatience and revolt make sufferings vastly greater and more difficult to bear.

4. Christ's life and actions are so many lessons for us to imitate.

The greatest act in His life was His Passion. As He had a Passion, so each one of us has a passion. Our passion consists in the sufferings and labors of every day. The penance God imposed on man for sin was to gain his bread in the sweat of his brow. Therefore, let us do our work, accept its disappointments and hardships, and bear our pains in union with the Passion of Christ. We gain more merit by a little pain than by years of pleasure.

5. Forgive all injuries and offences, for in proportion as we forgive others, God forgives us.

6. Avoid mortal sins and deliberate venial sins and break off all bad habits. Then it will be relatively easy to satisfy God's justice for sins of frailty. Above all, avoid sins against charity and against chastity, whether in thought, word or deed, for these sins [and the expiation for them] are the reason why many souls are detained in Purgatory for long years.  Practice little acts of supererogation.

7. If afraid of doing much, do many little things, acts of kindness and charity, give the alms you can, cultivate regularity of life, method in work, and punctuality in the performance of duty; don't grumble or complain when things are not as you please; don't censure and complain of others; never refuse to do a favor to others when it is possible.

These and suchlike little acts are a splendid penance, but the most perfect penance is to unite and conform you will with God’s Holy Will.

8. Do all in your power for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Pray for them constantly, get others to do so, have Requiem Masses offered for them, gain plenary indulgences and partial indulgences for them.

9. There is no way more powerful of obtaining from God a most holy and happy death than by weekly Confession, daily Mass

10. A daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament, kneeling in the presence of the Eucharist Christ, with your eyes fixed on the Tabernacle, while you say a few prayers such as: "My Jesus, mercy." "My Jesus, have pity on me, a sinner" "My Jesus, I love You" "My Jesus, give me a happy death".  Always remember to make a Spiritual Communion.

http://www.shrineofsaintjude.net/home1606.html#12. Those Who Earnestly Help the Holy Souls May Well Hope to Avoid Purgatory

How We Can Help the Holy Souls

1) Nothing helps the Poor Souls more than Masses.  So, when you are able to do so, have one or more Masses offered for the souls of your deceased family members - parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.  Assist at Masses with the intention of offering up all of the benefits and Graces of the Mass for one or more Poor Souls, or just the Poor Souls in general without mentioning anyone.

2) Pray for the Poor Souls.

3) Gain indulgences, especially Plenary Indulgences for them.

4) Recite the Holy Rosary, make the Stations of the Cross, etc. for the Poor Souls.

It is said that Saint John Massias released more than a million souls from Purgatory primarily by saying the Rosary and offering the Rosary indulgences for them.

5) Brief prayers, called ejaculations, are quick and easy to say.  Offer up the indulgences attached to them to the Poor Souls.  Some people have the custom of saying 500 or 1,000 times each day the little ejaculation: "Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee" or the one word, "Jesus" These are most consoling devotions and bring oceans of graces to those who practice them and give immense relief to the Holy Souls.

Those who say the ejaculations 1,000 times a day would gain 300,000 days Indulgences. What a multitude of souls they can thus relieve! What will it not be at the end of a month, a year, or 5 years or 10 years or more?  But, if they do not say the ejaculations, what an immense number of graces and favors they shall have lost. It is quite possible and even easy to say these ejaculations 1,000 times a day. But if one does not say them 1,000 times, let him say them 500 or 200 times.

6)  "Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, with all the Masses being said all over the world this day, for the Souls in Purgatory."

Our Lord showed Saint Gertrude a vast number of souls leaving Purgatory and going to Heaven as a result of this prayer which the Saint was accustomed to say frequently during the day.

6) Prayerfully consider making The Heroic Act of Charity.  It consists in offering to God in favor of the Souls in Purgatory all the works of satisfaction we practice during life and all the suffrages that will be offered for us after death. If God rewards so abundantly the most trifling alms given to a poor man in His name, what an immense reward will He not give to those who offer all their works of satisfaction in life and death for the souls He loves so dearly.

This Act does not prevent Priests from offering Mass for the intentions they wish, or the Laity from praying for any persons or other intentions they desire. We counsel everyone to make this act.

7) Give alms to help the Poor Souls.  Saint Martin gave half of his cloak to a poor beggar, only to find out afterwards that it was to Christ he had given it. Our Lord appeared to him and thanked him.

Blessed Jordan of the Dominican Order could never refuse an alms when it was asked in the name of God. One day he had forgotten his purse. A poor man implored an alms for the love of God. Rather than refuse him, Jordan, who was then a student, gave him a most precious belt or cincture which he prized dearly. Shortly afterwards, he entered a church and found his cincture encircling the waist of an image of Christ Crucified. He, too, had given his alms to Christ. We all give our alms to Christ.

Give whatever alms you can afford, but consider using the money first and foremost for Masses for the Poor Souls because Masses and many times much more powerful than alms to help the Poor Souls.

8) Offer up your pain and sufferings for the relief of the Poor Souls.

In doing these things, you will deliver countless souls from Purgatory, who will repay you many, many times over and you will also gain a much higher place in Heaven, too!!!

http://www.shrineofsaintjude.net/home1606.html#13. To Avoid Purgatory, Do as Follows

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

On certain days, the Queen of Heaven, who is also Our Lady of Mount Carmel and  the Mother of Mercy, exercises her mercy in Purgatory.  These privileged days are:

1) every Saturday of the year;

2) every Feast Day of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  These Marian Feast Days become festivals in Purgatory.

We see in the revelations of the Saints, that on Saturday, the day specially consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who is also the Mother of Mercy, descends into the dungeons of Purgatory to visit and to console her devoted children. Then, according to the pious belief of the Faithful, she delivers those souls who, having worn the Holy Brown Scapular, enjoy the Sabbatine privilege.


http://www.shrineofsaintjude.net/home1606.html#Our Lady of Mount Carmel