whom they owe their deliverance, and will not cease their prayers until the latter are either brought straight to heaven, or released from purgatory.
REFLECTIONS.
IT would seem like carrying coals to Newcastle, or water to the river, to exhort Religious to exercise charity by offering their suffrages in behalf of the poor, holy souls in purgatory.
The true and zealous Religious will not fail to offer the holy sacrifice of the Mass and holy communion very frequently for the faithful departed. The Way of the Cross, the Rosary, Novenas, and Litanies are good devotions for the same purpose. The De Profundis, besides other indulgenced prayers and ejaculations, should be made use of daily and frequently during the day in aid of the poor souls.
The good Religious will nourish the most tender com- passion for those who are now absolutely incapable of assisting themselves, and who must remain separated from God until the last farthing is paid, either by their own sufferings, or by the interposition of the faithful. Many powerful motives should induce you to be most fervent in assisting them: By this spiritual work of mercy you prove your love for God, you benefit your neighbor, and acquire great merit for yourself. You prove your love for God by interceding for those holy souls who are so dear to His divine Majesty, and whom He so ardently longs to glorify for ever. You perform an act of the greatest charity toward these suffering, holy souls, by endeavoring to shorten their banishment where they are tortured by a fire far more terrible than any earthly fire, and deprived of the sight of God, a torment more excruciating than all other pains. And you essentially serve your own soul by providing for yourself powerful advocates who will not forget you when they stand before God.
Let these considerations animate you to do all you can for the souls in purgatory. Devote fervently many prayers, good works, and various actions and mortifications to their relief, and endeavor to gain many indulgences for their benefit. Offer up, in particular, the holy sacrifice of the Mass on Mondays for this intention. But you should particularly impress on your mind that sloth or negligence in the prayers or actions which you offer for the suffering souls would make you very unworthy of being heard, and, far from benefiting those for whom you pray, you would only expose yourself to a severe purgatory hereafter in the same fire which torments them.
