Acts of Mercy that Echo into Eternity

[Y]et is their hope full of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of Himself. // Wisdom 3:4-5

“Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory, save us.”

The familiar prayer passed my lips—part of a litany I prayed daily—and as usual, several people came to mind. Family members, military friends and classmates who’d died from combat or other tragedies, parishioners and community members, unknown souls with no one to pray for them. I lifted them to the Lord’s merciful Heart, and hope softened my grief-filled remembrance. 

The Church teaches that prayer is the greatest gift and help we can offer deceased souls in purgatory. As the Catechism says, “Those who die in God's grace and friendship imperfectly purified, although they are assured of their eternal salvation, undergo a purification after death, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of God” (CCC § 1054). 

It’s good to remember that even if we love God and have sincerely repented of grave sin, we might still be attached to lesser sin or worldly things when we die. Jesus tells us that the pure of heart will see God, and most souls need some degree of purification before entering Heaven (see Matthew 5:8). 

Because souls in purgatory cannot pray for or purify themselves, they depend on God’s mercy and our prayers and sacrifices. While purgatory is a place of great suffering because souls see how their earthly attachments have separated them from God, it’s also a place of great hope because these souls will one day be with God forever as saints—guaranteed. 

Today on the feast of All Souls, and during all of November, our Church invites us to remember and pray for these souls in a special way. You can pray the Eternal Rest Prayer,* visit a cemetery to pray for souls, or have a Mass offered. These simple practices can be an especially powerful help as an indulgence. 

No prayer is ever wasted, and your prayer—your act of love—may be the key that helps open the gates of heaven today to a precious soul! 

*Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.