Meditations on the Poor Souls in Purgatory

November 25th

The Allotment of Suffrages in Purgatory



Every thing done to help any of the Holy Souls brings some sort of relief to the soul for whom it is offered. But the amount of relief we do not know; it depends on the will of God, and the merits of the individual. A Mass offered for one person may deliver him altogether; for another it may have the effect merely of a drop of water to cool his tongue in the burning flames, or of a breath of cool air amid the furnace of fire. On our life now will depend our speedy relief and deliverance from Purgatory, still more than on the prayers offered for us then.

The potency of the prayers and Masses offered for us, will depend, in a great measure upon what we do now to please God. If we help others now, we shall then have many to help us. A rich man who has been stingy during life, but leaves a large sum of money for Masses to be said for him, will indeed derive some benefit from them, but it may be that God will bestow the great proportion of the satisfaction on some poor man who has been generous and charitable to others during life. The rich man may wait for long years, and the poor man, who had no money to leave, may be delivered at once. Learn then to be generous now.

The satisfactory value of every Mass, though it is in itself infinite, is not infinite as applied to the individual. It is limited by the will of God and the dispositions of man. God looks upon the merits of His Son, and accepts them for that soul in proportion to its conformity to the likeness of Christ before its death. We must seek to be humble and meek of heart as Christ was, if His merits are to avail us then. Pray for more grace and love, now.



by the Rev. R.F. Clarke, S.J.

Meditations on the Poor Souls in Purgatory

November 27th

The Duration of Purgatory



Purgatory will continue until the Day of Judgment. There will be some there still, who have been expiating their sins in dreadful torments for long years, perhaps for centuries. We read in the revelations of the Saints, of men being condemned to suffer the torment of fire as long as the world shall last. The Church, in sanctioning Masses in perpetuity, favors this opinion. At all events, fifty, or one hundred, or one thousand years, will be the extent of the time that some will have to endure the penalty of sins committed during their life. Shall not I have to expect a long Purgatory?

No time on earth will appear a hundredth part as long as the long tedious hours in Purgatory. Those who have been there but for a day, have complained that they had been left there for a hundred years or more; a few moments seem like months. We little know what we are preparing for ourselves when we commit venial sins, or what is in store for us by reason of our imperfect atonement for past sins.

Each soul that appears before God at the particular judgment with sin imperfectly atoned for will be condemned to a certain period of Purgatory, a fixed number of days, or weeks, or months, or years, as the case may be. But the time may be shortened by the prayers and suffrages of those on earth and in Heaven. God will provide relief for those who have relieved others, but those, who have neglected the suffering souls, will in their turn be left to work out their time of suffering unaided. Be wise and provide for yourself friends now, that they may receive you into eternal habitations.



by the Rev. R.F. Clarke, S.J.

Meditations on the Poor Souls in Purgatory

November 29th

How to help the Holy Souls in Purgatory


We should make it our practice to offer each day some special prayer or work for the Holy Souls. We may not do much, but by constancy in laboring on their behalf we shall gradually accuмulate a treasure for their benefit. We should never miss saying a de Profundis for them every night, and we should offer up Holy Communion for them from time to time. In our morning oblation, we should pray that God may accept our labors, our sufferings, our penances for them.

We should also be careful to say as many Indulgenced Prayers as we can for them. Every prayer offered for them benefits them; every Indulgenced Prayer has a double efficacy. It has a satisfactory value in itself, and has a further power to obtain relief for them by reason of the Indulgence attached to it. In this way how much we may do for the Holy Souls!

There are some whom God inspires to make what is called the Heroic Act, by which they offer up the satisfaction of all their works, of the prayers and Masses said for them, and the Indulgences gained for them after their own death, to be bestowed on the Holy Souls according to our Lady's pleasure. This supreme act of self-sacrifice is indeed heroic, for it includes a willingness to remain in Purgatory as long as God shall please for the sake of helping others. What a great reward this will obtain in Heaven! What gratitude it will earn from the Holy Souls! Think how many souls need your help.



by the Rev. R.F. Clarke, S.J.