Contemplative Haven

Nov 02 2009

All Souls

Published by gabrielle at 2:23 am under Feastdays, Prayer

Prayer for All the Faithful Departed

Heavenly Father, I believe that in Your wisdom and justice You willed to purify all persons who die without having attained the state that they need for all eternity, all who have still to expiate completely the sins committed on earth. I also believe that You have mercifully arranged that this process of purification can be aided by the prayers of the living, especially the Eucharist.

Help me to pray for my brothers and sisters who have departed from this world. May their time of purification be short and they be quickly guided into that holy light promised by our Lord to Abraham and his descendents. I offer You sacrifices and prayers of praise. Accept them for all the souls of the faithful departed and admit them all to heavenly joy. Amen.

[From: The Catholic Book of Prayers]

2 responses so far

2 Responses to “All Souls”

# terryon 02 Nov 2009 at 9:54 am

I am so glad that the Church now refers to purgatorial experience as “purification.” I believe that we must be pure to enter into the presence of God. I also believe that this is why Mary was conceived without sin. She was utterly pure to bear God within her.

It must be a great joy for the souls in Purgatory to know that they will definitely attain heaven. At the same time, it must be so very painful to not be able to fully participate in the communion of saints until purification is attained. Our prayers are well directed when they target the holy souls.
# gabrielleon 04 Nov 2009 at 7:29 pm

Thanks for stopping in, Terry. There are certainly a lot of different teachings on purgatory out there in the Catholic world; I hope to explore a few of them, especially this month. Yes, our prayers for the souls in purgatory are well-targeted, as you say, and it’s wonderful to know that although they cannot pray for their own benefit, they certainly can, and do, pray for us and our intentions.