Today we pray for those souls who at least made it to purgatory. Unlike what our pastors (just as protestants) say, all DO NOT go directly to heaven. Good luck to them (the misguided pastors) when they croak! Besides, if everyone goes to heaven as they say, who will be praying for the souls? Nobody in the modern church, that is for sure! Good thing for those souls, WE WILL!
As our beloved Abbot Gueranger says:
'The sins of my youth and my ignorances, remember not, O Lord. Would to God that we now examined our conscience as seriously as we shall be forced to do in the place of expiation, in order to repair our present negligence in that respect! Ignorance, which is now considered so excusable, will be a sad thing for those whose neglect to seek instruction has darkened their faith, lulled their hope to sleep, cooled their love, and falsified on a thousand points their Christian life. Then, too, must be paid, to the last farthing, the debts of penance accumulated by so many sins, which have been forgiven, it is true, as to the guilt, perhaps long ago, and as long ago entirely forgotten. O God, see my abjection and my labor!
Prayer to Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth
O Mary, may the souls who suffer cruel torments in Purgatory, purified by the ardour of the flames, be the object of your compassion!
O Mary, open spring which cleanses our faults, reconciler of sinners, reach out to those who pray you and implore your assistance in Purgatory!
O Mary, intercede for our deceased. They await patiently the end of their suffering when they will see you and taste eternal joys!
O Mary, Model of the Just, guide of the faithful, salvation of those who hope in you, help us to pray ardently for the Souls of the deceased and touch the Heart of your Divine Son.
O Mary, by the merits you have gained, give the dead true life, obtain mercy for them, and be the way which leads to your Son Jesus and to eternal rest. Amen.
Following is the sequence of the Mass for the Dead. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
That day of wrath, that dreadful day,
shall heaven and earth in ashes lay,
as David and the Sybil say.
What horror must invade the mine
when the approaching Judge shall find
and sift the deeds of all mankind.
The mighty trumpet's wondrous tone
shall rend each tomb's sepulchral stone
and summon all before the Throne.
Now death and nature with surprise
behold the trembling sinners rise
to meet the Judge's searching eyes.
Then shall with universal dread
The Book of Consciences be read
to judge the lives of all the dead.
For now before the Judge severe
all hidden things must plain appear;
no crime can pass unpunished here.
Oh what shall I, so guilty, plead?
And who for me will intercede?
When even Saints shall comfort need?
O King of dreadful majesty!
Grace and Mercy You grant free;
as fount of Kindness, save me!
Recall, dear Jesus, for my sake
You did our suffering nature take,
then do not now my soul forsake!
In weariness You sought for me,
and suffering upon the tree!
Let not in vain such labor be.
O Judge of justice, hear, I pray,
for pity take my sins away
before the dreadful reckoning day.
Your gracious face, O lord, I seek;
deep shame and grief are on my cheek;
in sighs and tears my sorrows speak.
You Who did Mary's guilt unbind,
and mercy for the robber find,
have filled with hope my anxious mind.
How worthless are my prayers, I know,
yet, Lord, forbid that I should go
into the fires of endless woe.
Divorced from the accursed band,
O make me with Your sheep to stand,
a child of grace, at Your right Hand.
When the doomed no more can flee
from the flames of misery
with the chosen call me.
Before You, humbled, Lord, I lie,
my heart like ashes, crushed and dry,
assist me when I die.
Full of tears and full of dread
is that day that wakes the dead,
calling all, with solemn blast
to be judged for all their past.
Lord, have mercy, Jesus blest,
grant them all Your Light and Rest. Amen.
In the 2nd Book of Maccabees, which the protestants don't have(probably because of this verse)says: 'It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.'
Eternal rest give to them, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon them. And, may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, give them rest.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, give them rest.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, give them eternal rest.
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