Day 8: Souls in Purgatory

On the eighth day of the Divine Mercy Novena, the Lord turns to the souls in Purgatory. The Catholic doctrine of the Communion of Saints embraces three states: the Church Militant on earth, the Church Suffering in Purgatory, and the Church Triumphant in heaven. The novena's penultimate day is the day of intercession for the Church Suffering, the souls who are being purified for the Beatific Vision.

The Lord's words to Saint Faustina

"Today bring to Me the souls who are detained in Purgatory, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution to My justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to My justice." (Diary 1226)

The Lord's words name the souls in Purgatory as greatly loved by Me. They are not the lost. They are the redeemed who are being prepared for the perfect joy of heaven by a final purification of every attachment to created things that the love of God has not yet fully consumed.

Today's prayer (from Diary 1227)

Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said that You desire mercy; so I bring into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls in Purgatory, souls who are very dear to You, and yet, who must make retribution to Your justice. May the streams of Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your Heart put out the flames of Purgatory, that there, too, the power of Your mercy may be praised.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls suffering in Purgatory, who are enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. I beg You, by the sorrowful Passion of Jesus Your Son, and by all the bitterness with which His most sacred Soul was flooded, manifest Your mercy to the souls who are under Your just scrutiny. Look upon them in no other way than through the Wounds of Jesus, Your dearly beloved Son; for we firmly believe that there is no limit to Your goodness and compassion. Amen.

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Offer it today specifically for the souls in Purgatory: for your deceased family members, for departed friends, for the souls of priests who served you sacramentally and have died, for the most abandoned souls in Purgatory who have no one to pray for them, for those who died in your presence and whom you committed to God in their last hour.

Reflection

The Catholic doctrine of Purgatory is taught with great clarity in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. "All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect" (CCC 1030-1031). Purgatory is not a second chance at salvation; it is the completion of the salvation that is already certain.

The Lord's instruction to draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church refers to the Catholic doctrine of indulgences: the Church's authority, granted by Christ, to apply the merits of His Passion (and the secondary merits of the saints) to the remission of the temporal punishment due to sin. Indulgences may be applied to the souls of the faithful departed by way of suffrage. The Catholic faithful traditionally pray for the souls in Purgatory through indulgenced prayers, the offering of Masses, the gaining of indulgences in cemeteries during the first eight days of November (associated with the feast of All Souls on 2 November), and through any pious work united to the intention.

Bring to mind today the names of those who have died and may yet be undergoing purification. Speak each name aloud or interiorly. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer for ___. The Catholic doctrine of the Communion of Saints means that our prayers for them really do reach them; the chaplet we pray today really does cool the flames of which the Lord speaks.

Closing prayers

Conclude with the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Jesus, I trust in You.