Several years ago, I found an worn, old piece of paper folded up in the bottom of a box. Dirty and yellowed with age, it was a photo copy of some unknown book and read at the top, “Chapter 13: TO AVOID PURGATORY, DO AS FOLLOWS.” The information following is too insightful and compelling not to share and if you know the source, be sure to send it my way! (All emphasis is within the actual text.)
FYI – more info about Purgatory about half way down this page, starting at paragraph 1030.
Chapter 13
TO AVOID PURGATORY, DO AS FOLLOWS
- In every prayer you say, every Mass you hear, every Communion you receive, every good work you perform, have the express intention of imploring God to grant you a holy and happy death and no Purgatory. Surely God will hear a prayer said with such confidence and perseverance.
- Always wish to do God’s will. It is in every sense the best for you. When you do or seek anything that is not God’s will you are sure to suffer. Say fervently, therefore, each time you recite the Our Father: “Thy will be done.”
- Accept all the sufferings, sorrows, pains and disappointments of life, be they great or small: ill health, loss of goods, the death of your dear ones, heat or cold, rain or sunshine, as coming from God. Bear them calmly and patiently for love of Him and in penance for your sins. Of course one may use all his efforts to ward off trouble and pain, but when one cannot avoid them let him bear them manfully. Impatience and revolt make sufferings vastly greater and more difficult to bear.
- Christ’s life and actions are so many lessons for us to imitate. The greatest act in His life was His Passion. As He had a Passion, so each one of us has a passion. Our passion consists in the sufferings and labors of every day. The penance God imposed on man for sin was to gain his bread in the sweat of his brow. Therefore, let us do our work, accept its disappointments and hardships, and bear our pains in union with the Passion of Christ. We gain more merit by a little pain than by years of pleasure.
- Forgive all injuries and offences, for in proportion as we forgive others, God forgives us.
- Avoid mortal sins and deliberate venial sins and break off all bad habits. Then it will be relatively easy to satisfy God’s justice for sins of frailty. Above all, avoid sins against charity and against chastity, whether in thoughts, word or deed, for these sins|and the expiation for them| are the reason why many souls are detained in Purgatory for long years.
- If afraid of doing much, do many little things, act of kindness and charity,* give the alms you can, cultivate regularity of life, method in work, and punctuality in the performance of duty; don’t grumble or complain when things are not as you please; don’t censure and complain of others; never refuse to do a favor to others when it is possible. These and suchlike little acts are a splendid penance.
- Do all in your power for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Pray for them constantly, get others to do so, join the Association of the Holy Souls and ask all those you know to do likewise. The Holy Souls will repay you most generously.
- There is no way more powerful of obtaining from God a most holy and happy death than by weekly Confession, daily Mass and daily Communion.
- A daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament – it need only be three or four minutes – is an easy way of obtaining the same grace. Kneeling in the presence of Jesus with eyes fixed on the Tabernacle, sure that He is looking at us, let us for a few minutes repeat some little prayer like these: “My Jesus, mercy!” “My Jesus, have pity on me, a sinner.” “My Jesus, I love You.” “My Jesus, give me a happy death.”
*St. Peter tells us, “But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity converteth a multitude of sins” (1 Ptr 4:8). — Editor, 1992
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Find more on the Holy Souls in Purgatory from St. Josemaria Escriva and how to help them from the National Catholic Register.
Katie, praying for the Holy Souls has been one of my favorite devotions. If you can release just one soul from purgatory by saying prayers, offering Masses or making sacrifices for them – especially the soul most forgotten or abandoned – you will have an intercession friend in Heaven for the rest of your life on earth. If you free a soul of a religious or a holy priest, how more powerful can that be? Hours of adoration, Chaplets if Mercy and rosaries…all of these are efficacious. Remember, souls in Purgatory are ” promised” heaven, but they cannot pray for themselves…they RELY SOLELY UPON OUR PRAYER AND SACRIFICE. This, in and of itself, is a spiritual work of mercy.
Pray, pray , pray today!!!
How to Avoid Purgatory by O.P. Fr. Paul O’Sullivan
Thank you, Ed!!
Thank you for sharing this. It was a very insightful read and I absolutely learned a lot from it. The best way, in my opinion, is to follow #2 which is to always wish to do God’s will and #6 which is to avoid mortal sins and deliberate venial sins and break off all bad habits. And of course, prayer is the most powerful of all. Thank you for this very good article!
Is there a certain prayer? I would love to know
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.
(This is a prayer attributed to St. Gertrude the Great)
End by saying Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, 3 times. Supposed to release 1000 souls from purgatory every time this prayer is said.
I’ve always wondered if this prayer was given to St. Gertrude so that SHE might release 1000 souls from Purgatory every time she said it (she was a saint, after all) or if it was given to her with the permission to extend that promise to everyone who said the prayer. Anybody know for sure? After all, wasn’t it St. Faustina who recorded in her diary a request to Jesus to save a sinner for every stitch she knitted and He said that was too much to ask (He did relent after some argument, but Faustina was a saint too.)
You can read the entire book online at EWTN.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/spirit/avoidprg.txt
Katie, Thanks for your article about avoiding purgatory, especially #3 about suffering patiently. Woke up this morning struggling with a family situation and realized I need to be patient and pray more about it and hand it over to God instead of trying to fix it myself.
http://www.shrineofsaintjude.net/home1606.html
Saw this-looks the same
Thanks for sharing!
Obtain a plenary indulgence then make the Heroic Act in favor of the Souls in Purgatory.
thank you! we need to be reminded often!
Katie, thanks for sharing. I am going to send this to all the members of my rosary group. My mother used to practice a particular devotion on Good Friday: she (and I) would say 33 Apostles’ Creeds, one for every year of Jesus’ life, for the release of 33 souls in Purgatory. She passed away 24 years ago, but in her memory and honor, I try to keep up that tradition. Blessings to all!
I have a webpage which has information about ways to help the Holy Souls in Purgatory, including a way which is known as the Heroic Act.
Making this act is very valuable both to the Souls in Purgatory, and to the person who is making the act.
In addition there are testimonies of the powerful intercession of the Holy Souls in Purgatory for their benefactors. The webpage is located at;
http://missionbell.homestead.com/Afavourgrantedbytheholysouls.html
Below are a few of the testimonies.
A marriage healed
Maria and her husband had applied for a divorce. He had already moved on with another woman. Maria was desperate for a reconciliation and to give their marriage a fresh start and a new life, so she started praying for and to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, asking them to obtain this favour for her. Maria had lost all hope that her husband would ever leave his new relationship, and return to her and try to save their marriage. Her prayers were answered, and she is very happy because her husband has returned to her, and is working to heal their marriage.
Hospital waived the fees
My friend suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital. He was scheduled to have Angiography surgery the following day. He telephoned me and asked for help, because he did not have the money to pay for the surgery.
I offered up my merits for the relief of the Holy Souls in Purgatory and asked them to help. I applied for financial help from the welfare department and from other places, (but none of them could help me). Three days later after being discharged, my friend called me to say that the hospital did not require him to pay at all. Thank you Holy Souls. M.W. (Malaysia)
The nursing home placement
Rita was looking after her elderly father. Rita’s husband was away from home, looking after his own dad. He was due to return home on the twentieth of May to go back to his job. There was an urgent need to find a nursing home placement in the country town that they lived in by the twentieth of May. One of Rita’s friends prayed for and to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, asking for their intercession for this intention. A nursing home placement to start on the twentieth of May, was offered the very next day. (Australia)
Washing machine trouble
Dear Mary Ann, This story is long overdue. My washing machine broke down a while ago. A technician came to my home, to take a look at it. He said that there was something wrong with one of the parts, and that it would take two weeks to order the part in. The cost was about two hundred dollars. He told me to call the company, and said that he would fix the machine, when the spare part arrived.
I started praying for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, and also asked them to intercede for me regarding this matter. About an hour later, the washing machine started to work. The Holy Souls have been my best friends since I was in high school. I went through a period where I did not pray much for them, but I have resumed this devotion in the past few years. I have been praying the Saint Gertrude’s prayer for the relief of the Holy Souls in Purgatory, almost every hour of the day, even when taking a walk. E.D. (Canada)
Saintly advice.
The Holy Souls in Purgatory are not able to pray for themselves or do anything at all to relieve their suffering: They rely on our prayers and efforts to help them. It is permissible to believe that they can pray for their benefactors. St. John Vianney said: “If one knew what we may obtain from God by the intercession of the Poor Souls, they would not be so much abandoned. Let us pray a great deal for them, they will pray for us.” St. Theresa of Avila (Spain) said that she always obtained the favours, which she asked from God, through the intercession of the Poor Souls in Purgatory. We must help the Holy Souls in Purgatory. In the bible it says that he, who stops (closes) his ears to the cry of the poor, shall cry himself and shall not be heard.