I think like many things, we take purgatory for granted. We know it's a 'shoe-in' for Heaven, so we perhaps don't think of it as severely as we ought. Before delving into the painful aspects, let's think about the souls awaiting the pearly gates.
Firstly, they cannot pray for themselves.
Once you die, you cannot gain any more graces, indulgences or do any penance to expiate your sins or the punishment they deserve. Once we leave this world and step into eternity, that's it. I believe we can still pray for others, but not ourselves.
When we die ... that moment, we come face to Face with the Lord. Imagine the total JOY at beholding such LOVE, PEACE & MERCY .. and then having to turn away to wait in a place apart from Him. That in and of itself HAS to be a horrific torture. Then we have the actual cleansing part of purgatory because no unclean thing will enter heaven. I won't get into much about how awful this is .. suffice it to say that we really should do all we can while on earth in the way of behavior, penance, prayer and indulgences to keep ourselves as well as our loved ones OUT OF THERE if at all possible.
I realize it's not pleasant to think of our loved ones in purgatory. But if we permit ourselves to become too complacent and not think of it as seriously as we should, well we're not doing ourselves or our loved ones any justice or any good. We must NEVER forget the souls in purgatory!
My dear mother taught me from a little girl, before I even entered school (and I say it STILL, 60 yrs later) "All for the honor and glory of God and the suffering souls in purgatory." Said in the morning upon awakening, you offer everything that day for God and the souls. I always pray for them when I pass a cemetery and I'm always asking for their relief and release.
During my daily 3pm's, I pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and one of my many petitions is for the pain and suffering of the souls in purgatory to be combined with the Perfect & Holy Passions of Jesus, His True Presence in the Tabernacle in the Holy Eucharist and the graces and benefits from all the Masses that day to EMPTY PURGATORY INTO HEAVEN daily during that MERCY HOUR ... and ESPECIALLY those in purgatory that have NO ONE TO PRAY FOR THEM!
If no other day, please take a moment today to join me in this request at 3PM. Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy with me today. If you can't pray the whole chaplet (only takes about 10 minutes), at least at 3PM, just look up to heaven and beg God's Mercy on yourselves, your loved ones and the world, alive and dead.
Don't forget .. the Church is comprised of 3 levels: The Church Triumphant (in heaven), the Church Militant (on earth) and the Church Suffering (in purgatory) .. we are ALL ONE in the Body of Christ.
Do NOT let the world and it's deceptions which are all passing away very quickly rob you of your eternal salvation. The evil one knows how much shorter his time is now and is pulling out all the stops to gain as many souls in the pit with him as he possibly can. We've read the end of the book .. we know WHO wins ... but let's try to get there as UNSCATHED as possible .. and that includes as little time in purgatory as we can. DO ALL YOU CAN WHILE ON THIS EARTH TO HELP THOSE IN PURGATORY NOW AND YOURSELVES. Remember too all those from other denominations that don't even BELIEVE in purgatory .. those poor folks have no hope of help from their loved ones ... we must pray for them!!!!! Don't take indulgences lightly or something from the past that isn't effectual anymore ... they are most efficacious and we SO need them today!
And as often as you can, pray the prayer of St. Gertrude to release 1,000 souls with each recitation:
“Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.”
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