November 5, 2026
(SECOND MEDITATION.)
Summary of the Morrow's Meditation.
We will consider to-morrow: 1st, the means of solacing the souls in purgatory; 2d, the lessons we ought to derive from meditating on their sufferings. Our resolution shall be: 1st, to gain as many indulgences as we can, and to offer each one of our actions for the solace of these poor souls; 2d, carefully to avoid the slightest faults, since they are so severely punished in purgatory; 3d, to accept and to offer to God all the trials of life in penance for our faults. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the Machabees: "It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead" (II. Mach. xii. 46).
Meditation for the Morning.
Let us take back our thoughts to purgatory, let us consider with a fraternal compassion the poor souls who there endure so much suffering, and let us listen to the cry that they utter: "Have pity on me, at least you, my friends!" Let us prostrate ourselves in presence of the mercy of God, and let us implore it in favor of these dear souls.
FIRST POINT.
The Means whereby to Solace the Souls in Purgatory.
We should be all the more inexcusable if we did not solace the souls in purgatory when the means of doing it are so easy and abundant. We can do it, 1st, by indulgences, a precious treasure composed of the superabundant merits of Jesus Christ and of the saints, of which the Supreme Pontiff has the principal dispensation. It costs us so little to draw from this treasure, and thereby to abridge the duration of the suffering of these poor souls, or else to diminish ours by gaining for ourselves the indulgences which will hasten our entrance into paradise. What does it cost us to say at every communion which we make: "O good and most sweet Jesus!" to which is attached a plenary indulgence? What does it cost us to make from time to time the "Stations of the Cross," to which are attached several plenary indulgences? Is it not the same thing with other indulgences, some of which are plenary, some partial, and all of which it is easy to gain?—indulgences for the "Angelus," mental prayer, the rosary, and different prayers or good works, the details of which are given in prayer-books. We can, 2d, solace the souls in purgatory by means of our prayers said attentively and piously, as we would that, if we were in their place, they should be said for us; never letting a single day pass without remembering them, if it be only by uttering the pious aspiration: "Good Jesus, give them eternal rest," or by a decade of the rosary said for their intention. We can, 3d, solace them by alms or different good works of which we may apply the merit to them; by the Holy Sacrifice or by Communion; by various mortifications of the taste, of the will, of curiosity, and of other inclinations; lastly, by means of even the most common actions, by offering them to God for their intention. Where is our charity if with so many and easy means for solacing these poor souls we do not do it?
SECOND POINT.
Instructions to be Gathered for our Personal Conduct.
We ought to deduce from it, 1st, a great horror of the smallest sins. We take great care not to commit any action for which human justice would inflict upon us even a single year's imprisonment. With still more reason we ought to abstain from all the venial faults which divine justice punishes with sufferings infinitely more terrible than all earthly dungeons and prisons. What strange forgetfulness of our faith! We know that the penalties of purgatory will be the chastisement of every word we have spoken which is untrue, which is contrary to charity or humility; of all acts of sensuality and of selfishness, of all fits of bad temper, of all the complaisance we derive from vanity, of all the time we have lost or have employed badly; and spite of that we allow ourselves to commit all these faults. What folly to expose ourselves for so little to such great punishments, and to permit ourselves so easily to do things which will bring down such terrible chastisements upon us! We ought, 2d, to deduce by meditating on purgatory a spirit of penance. We have great debts to pay to divine justice, whether it be for the temporal punishment due to sins which are already pardoned, whether for venial sins which we so often commit. Now, in order to acquit ourselves of these great debts, we have only two means to choose from: either penance in this world, or purgatory in the next. Purgatory is terrible, penance here below is easy; for in proportion as God is severe after death He is good and indulgent during life. With this alternative, does not prudence tell us to make our payments here below, where they are easy, rather than to put them off to a future life, when they will be very terrible? It was this consideration which inspired the saints with so great a spirit of penance. They mortified themselves as much as they could; for they said, What is this compared with purgatory, which I am thus sparing myself? If we do not imitate the austerity of the saints, why, at least, do we not accept in a spirit of penance all the troubles of life, the sicknesses which come upon us, the disagreeable events which take place? Why have we not courage to impose upon ourselves some little privation, a slight mortification of self-will, of sensuality, of curiosity, of the taste, of the imagination, of our own comfort? Why do we not often utter aspirations of penitence, "Spare, O Lord, spare Thy people" (Joel ii. 17), acts of contrition, and other acts, which would diminish the season of purgatory for us?
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.