Pray for the Holy Souls!
"Those who are in Purgatory do not lack peace. They are perfectly at peace, perfectly sure of their salvation and perfectly beyond sin, even though they are themselves not perfect. Dante brings this out in the early stages of his Purgatorio, by portraying two bitter enemies in life, who sit comforting one another as they wait to make the great journey to heaven. The souls in Purgatory are in love with each other and with God. Purgatory is not a place where bad people become good people, but where good people become perfected in love. How that works is open to speculation, which is why there is a great and legitimate variety of speculation about its nature, among mystics and visionaries, as well as theologians.
We would do better to concentrate on the fact of prayer. This is where the doctrine has its life. We pray for the dead, and we do this, not because they need our prayers but because this is what the Holy Spirit has taught us to do. It is a gift of God, to allow us to share in his work in bringing his people to perfection. It is a special gift of hope from God, a great divine courtesy, but it is also a great responsibility on our part.
We need to pray for the dead, because this is a task put into our hands. It is why cemeteries should be happy places for us, as they were in the early church; places to celebrate the power of God, places to live in God. The dead, unlike stocks and shares, can only go in one direction, upwards. Either they are not changing at all, or they are improving."
– Fr Euan Marley, O.P.
This triptych of the Holy Souls in Purgatory being purified by the fires of divine charity, which comes from Christ Crucified, and comforted by the angels and our prayers, is in the Dominican church of St Catherine of Siena, New York City.
Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.
Pray for the Holy Souls!
"Those who are in Purgatory do not lack peace. They are perfectly at peace, perfectly sure of their salvation and perfectly beyond sin, even though they are themselves not perfect. Dante brings this out in the early stages of his Purgatorio, by portraying two bitter enemies in life, who sit comforting one another as they wait to make the great journey to heaven. The souls in Purgatory are in love with each other and with God. Purgatory is not a place where bad people become good people, but where good people become perfected in love. How that works is open to speculation, which is why there is a great and legitimate variety of speculation about its nature, among mystics and visionaries, as well as theologians.
We would do better to concentrate on the fact of prayer. This is where the doctrine has its life. We pray for the dead, and we do this, not because they need our prayers but because this is what the Holy Spirit has taught us to do. It is a gift of God, to allow us to share in his work in bringing his people to perfection. It is a special gift of hope from God, a great divine courtesy, but it is also a great responsibility on our part.
We need to pray for the dead, because this is a task put into our hands. It is why cemeteries should be happy places for us, as they were in the early church; places to celebrate the power of God, places to live in God. The dead, unlike stocks and shares, can only go in one direction, upwards. Either they are not changing at all, or they are improving."
– Fr Euan Marley, O.P.
This triptych of the Holy Souls in Purgatory being purified by the fires of divine charity, which comes from Christ Crucified, and comforted by the angels and our prayers, is in the Dominican church of St Catherine of Siena, New York City.
Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.