A Responsibility to Pray For All the Souls

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This is a spiritual practice I will never stop doing.

There’s a cemetery right around the block from our house. Most mornings, my wife and I get up early and go over there for a half-hour walk. Her parents are buried there. We say our rosary together, and one of the intentions is always for the faithful departed in our own families and then for all the souls buried at this particular cemetery.

It’s the continuation of a practice I started over twenty years ago when I was living in Milwaukee, near the cemetery where my own grandparents were buried. Then it was evening walks after I got back home from the walk, working the beads and praying for the repose of their souls, and the souls of all buried there.

When I lived in Pittsburgh there was a beautiful cemetery, nestled into a wooded area not far off the Allegheny River, and it was perfect for Sunday rosary walks.

Wherever the location, one thing has remained constant—rosary walks through a cemetery, praying for the departed souls, has always brought the deepest interior consolations of any spiritual practice, outside of the Mass itself.

Pray for the living and the dead.

The last of the spiritual works of mercy is to pray for the living and the dead, and we’re reminded of our obligation to the latter every November 2, on All Souls' Day. We have tremendous power to provide relief to Purgatory’s suffering souls.

Saints and mystics who have been privileged to see inside this other realm testify that the suffering which takes place in Purgatory is intense. It’s certainly a very different kind of suffering than what damned souls suffer in Hell. Those in Purgatory are undergoing whatever purification they neglected to undertake while on Earth.

But the suffering is real nonetheless. Think of being oh-so-close to a goal you’ve worked for a long time to achieve. There’s excitement, but your thirst to get to your destination is overwhelming. That, in a small way, describes the sufferings of what souls in Purgatory have to go through.

Think of the times you’ve gone through a particularly intense period of spiritual growth. Those times were almost certainly marked by intense interior and/or mental angst. Presuming these sufferings were accepted and offered back up to God, they mitigated time we’ll have to spend in Purgatory. Those that didn’t take advantage of these opportunities—which includes most of the human race—have to go through it in Purgatory.

But doing it in Purgatory is harder than it would be to simply go through the purification on Earth. And the biggest difference is the lack of ability to help oneself. When we suffer on this side of eternity, we can still turn to prayer for consolation and to work through the trials. Those in Purgatory can no longer do that. Any advancement they make towards Heaven comes entirely through the offered prayers and sufferings of those of us on this side of eternity.

I have to admit, I really don’t like discomfort of any kind, physical or mental.

I once told my confessor that I feared going to Purgatory. The kindly priest chuckled and said “Well, unless you plan on being martyred, you’re going to go there for a little while.” That’s always stuck with me. It’s why I frequently pray for the suffering souls and have surrounded myself with people that I know will pray for me when my own time comes.

None of us have any shortages of sufferings available to us to offer up. One particularly memorable one came for me in 2012. My first marriage was a disaster and was set to end in divorce. The court gave a date of November 1 for us to appear and finalize it before the judge. That was a non-starter—it was All Saints’ Day, it was my late aunt and godmother’s birthday, and it was the wedding anniversary for my ex’s parents. There was no way either of us were going to taint the day with a civil divorce proceeding.

I asked the court if they could reschedule it for the following day. There was going to be suffering in this process, so it may as well be on All Souls’ Day where someone could benefit from it. So it was. The court finalized the divorce and I dropped the annulment papers off at the tribunal later that same day. It was a long day. I hope somebody on the other side benefited, and I accept on Faith that they did.

God will never be outdone in generosity, and He has allowed our departed souls to watch over us.

Souls in Purgatory can intercede for us even if they can’t help themselves. I’m sure all of us have either felt the presence of deceased family members or even seen concrete examples of their intercession on our behalf. For me, that happened with my grandmother.

She was someone I asked to help me meet the right woma­n. Repeatedly, over the years, when I would seek her intercession, something would happen that the wrong people would disappear. In the case of my first marriage, I never felt any answer one way or the other, so I just barreled in. Lesson learned. Wait for confirmation.

That happened this time around. After some pleasant e-mail exchanges with my future wife on CatholicMatch, we got on Skype. Our upcoming birthdays became a subject of conversation. I found out that my wife’s birthday was the same day (not same year) that my grandmother passed away. Confirmation given.

I don’t know if that help is coming from Purgatory or Heaven. I’d like to think it’s the latter—Grandma said a daily rosary, went to daily Mass as long as she could, and it’s been over 25 years since her passing. But I don’t know.

I do know we shouldn’t rush to assume people are in Heaven.

Not because we’re being judgmental, but because we’re being respectful of the immense gap that exists between us and Almighty God, and that we all may have a long way to go. And I know that the Church calls us to simply pray “for the repose of their souls”, a completely non-judgmental way of taking care of them—and letting them take care of us.

Over the course of this 2020 election year, we’ve heard a lot of reminders to use our vote to protect those who can’t protect themselves—the unborn. That’s very true. So how much more of a responsibility do we have to take care of those who can no longer help themselves—the Holy Souls in Purgatory? So before you get too focused on the events of November 3 (Election Day), make sure to remember the faithful departed on November 2.

“I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid (emphasis added). The flames which were burning them did not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant.

I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in purgatory. The souls call her “The Star of the Sea.” She brings them refreshment. I wanted to talk with them some more, but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave. We went out of that prison of suffering. [I heard an interior voice] which said, “My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it.” Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls.”

St. Faustina, Diary Of Divine Mercy (#20)

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