THE HOLY SOULS IN PURGATORY: THE CHURCH SUFFERING: OUR FRIENDS & INTERCESSORS:
The Month of November is dedicated to The Holy Souls in Purgatory
FEAST OF THE HOLY SOULS — NOVEMBER 2nd: NOVENA: 10/24–11/1
“67. Visit to a Church or Oratory on All Souls Day. PLENARY INDULGENCE. A plenary indulgence, applicable ONLY to the souls in purgatory, may be obtained by those who, on All Souls Day, piously visit a church, public oratory, or ‑for those entitled to use it, a semi public oratory. It may be acquired either on the day designated as All Souls Day or, with the consent of the bishop, on the preceding or following Sunday or the feast of All Saints. On visiting the church or oratory it is required that one Our Father and the Creed be recited.”
“13. Visit to a Cemetery. Only applicable to the souls in Purgatory when one devoutly visits and prays for the departed. A PLENARY INDULGENCE is bestowed for this work each day between November 1 and November 8.”
(“Originally published by Liberia Editrice Vatican,
Vatican City, 1968
This is a digest of the works and prayers listed in the Enchiridion of Indulgences. The Enchiridion recites each indulgenced prayer in full. Because most are recognizable they will only be listed by name. The un- translated Enchiridion lists each work and prayer in alphabetical order by their Latin names. The order shall remain the same in this listing. The descriptions of the works and details regarding obtaining the indulgence will be edited and abreviated in this listing. The following is not represented to be an exact reprint of the Enchiridion but and accurate digest of what constitutes an approved indulgenced work by the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary.
In all but the plenary indulgence of In Articulo Mortis, at the moment of death, a plenary indulgence mentioned below MUST be accompanied by the three prerequisites of a plenary indulgence.
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Sacramental Confession,
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Communion, and
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Prayer for the intention of the Holy Father, all to be performed within days of each other if not at the same time.
Thus the formula for obtaining a plenary indulgence are the three constants mentioned above plus any one of the variable works mentioned below as being worthy of a plenary indulgence.”)
(taken from: http://www.catholic.org/clife/prayers/indulgw.php
The Church’s teaching on Purgatory is infallible — without mistake — is true.
How do we know that?
When Jesus founded His New-Covenant Church on Simon-Peter (the “Rock”), He told him: “ ‘And I say to thee: That Thou art Peter (Rock); and upon this rock I will build My Church (The Catholic Church, so-named in A.D. 100, by St. Ignatius of Antioch), and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.’ ” (St. Matthew: 16:18)
Thus, Jesus, God, Himself, gave a guarantee to His Church, which had to be kept — He guaranteed to its first Pope, St. Peter, and, thus, to all of the succeeding Popes, that they would continue to lead their followers to Heaven.
How?
The Holy Ghost would not physically allow any Pope, as the leader of The Universal (Catholic) Church, to teach anything false, concerning what people are to believe (faith) and how they are to behave (morals) to reach Salvation/Heaven. The Pope, unfortunately, can be as bad, morally, as he wants to be, but he will not be allowed to mislead anyone on how to believe and behave, to get to Heaven. Since this is Jesus’ Church, He did not leave us orphans when He ascended into Heaven — He continues, through the Holy Father/Pope to guide His Church — the Catholic Church.
Now, that we have shown, that Jesus’ Church teaches the Truth, including about Purgatory, just what is Purgatory, and why should we worry about it?
Purgatory is one of the greatest gifts of Mercy from Jesus, which He left to us. Since no one is allowed into Heaven if he has any stain on his soul, how many are there, who die, without stain of sin? Not many. If one lied, even a small lie, right before he died, he would not be allowed into Heaven — he would be sent to hell, where “the worm dies not”.
As Jesus Is so Merciful, He created a place for those, who would die in a state of grace/friendship with Him, but who still had some temporal punishment, due to sin, to pay off. When one sins, one can go to Confession and be forgiven through the consecrated hands of the Priest, deputized by Jesus’ Representatives, to do so. Thus, the person is forgiven, but unless the penance is a very hard and strict one, usually, there is some temporal punishment left to be paid off, through suffering, almsgiving, making indulgenced acts, etc. (See below for a definition of an “indulgence”.)
To illustrate “temporal punishment”: think of what would happen if someone stole your laptop computer. Say, that the person came to you and asked you to forgive him for stealing it, you could forgive him, but wouldn’t you expect the thief to either return your laptop to you or give you the money to pay for a new one? This is called restitution, but when it comes to sin, it is called “temporal punishment” In Purgatory, as in hell and in Heaven, there are many levels, because each person is judged by Jesus and receives an individual reward or punishment.
In Purgatory, even though it is temporary, it seems as if the punishment lasts an awfully long time, according to some writings. But, eventually, the Holy Soul will be released to Heaven, to enjoy living in his mansion in perfect joy, peace, and happiness forever, face to Face with God.
A plenary indulgence gives you complete remission of your sins and temporal punishment, due to those sins, so that if you died immediately, you would go straight to Heaven. But, instead, you can also ask The Lord to apply that indulgence to a specific Holy Soul in Purgatory, so that that Soul can go to Heaven. If that Holy Soul is already in Heaven, that indulgence will be applied to another Holy Soul in Purgatory, so nothing will be wasted. For indulgenced acts and prayers, please look at the “Enchiridion Indulgentiam” — I don’t know if you can find it online or not. But, we and the Holy Souls in Purgatory need as much help to get to Heaven, as possible, so start paying attention to these wonderful acts of Mercy on God’s Part, His indulgences for us.
“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace.” (taken from #582, Raccolta)
“Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them everlasting rest.” (taken from #583, Raccolta)
Pray at least once, every day, even after this Feast:
“O Eternal Father, I offer Thee The Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in Union with The Most Holy Sacrifice of The Mass throughout the world this day for all of Thy Holy Souls in Purgatory. Amen.” (St. Gertrude the Great’s prayer — is said to release 1,000 Holy Souls from Purgatory, each time, that it is prayed!)
I hope that you will offer these prayers in honor of the Holy Souls and for your intentions, and reap all possible benefits from doing so.
(What is an indulgence? Let’s think about a father, who is indulgent towards his child. Say, his child broke his favorite gadget by playing with it. When the father comes home, the child confesses his fault, and asks for forgiveness. Normally, the father would forgive the child, but he would make sure that the child paid to obtain a replacement gadget. But, this time, the father decides to forgive his child and let it go at that. This hopefully illustrates what an indulgence is: it is a certain act or prayer, that The Church considers so important that one gains grace not only from doing certain acts or praying certain prayers, but also extra grace to make up for one’s temporal punishment or for that of a Holy Soul in Purgatory.)
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